USA Today: A terrible call ruined a perfect ending to Iowa and UConn's Final Four matchup and fans are livid | Page 2 | The Boneyard

USA Today: A terrible call ruined a perfect ending to Iowa and UConn's Final Four matchup and fans are livid

REB1094 said:
It was a foul, but not a foul that you should call in that situation and not a foul that was consistently called this game. Players were getting mugged off ball all game with minimal calls. Just a few minutes prior to that, Clark shoved KK off with an extended elbow to hit a clutch jumper and it wasn’t called

It was a foul, but a horrible time to start enforcing it last night
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You are spot on
 
That foul hurt a little but not getting the rebound on the missed free throw was what really ended the game. No excuse for that one and it happened on a few missed foul shots in the game. But in the end UConn played into the final weekend so the fans got a full season to watch the team we all love.
 
Superhuskies said:
UC was STILL down one, and STILL had to score to tie/take lead, if that call hadn't made..and Iowa may have STILL had some time for a last shot IF we scored...
That one apparently correct, call, to me, right in front of that WNBA ref- she looked like a blocking NFL lineman on the replay, even if it had been wrong, didn't cost them the game--(but I do admit that almost all screens are "moving," somewhat )--
What did was too many horrible turnovers, not enough Paige shots, especially in 4th quarter, very few/no down low shots by our big Aliyah, who took 15-16-17 ft jumpers instead, ...and bad coaching (?),...
They beat themselves-- gave the game away, I think, especially with Killer Kaitlin being mostly not very good....
Of course, the Iowa D may deserve credit, too--..I'll check the DVR 14 times to check-- Just a casual fan, here !!
Also the very underrated Miss Martin was awesome- good for her- the offensive MVP.....BUT GOOD LUCK SUNDAY, HAWKEYES !!! SQUAWK !! SQUAWK !!
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Casual fan who pointed out he was a WNBA ref. I haven’t watched a WNBA game I’m sure in 5 years but he proves all womens refereeing is awful and it needs to change. They are consistently bad game after game and the women’s game deserves better.

Having said that he was awful all game, clueless to say the least and he ended it with a beauty. That’s not a blocking call at the 5 minute mark of the first quarter never mind with 4 seconds left. She picked one way and turned to pick another way, the defender didn’t call it out for Marshall as it was bang bang and Marshall acted it out after running into a brick wall called Edwards. An awful call no doubt about it you’re wrong.

You are right though the Huskies were behind and Paige needed to make a play. But that’s what ESPN and womens college basketball wanted. The ball in the hands of Clark or Bueckers to win a one point game with time running out. Not some stiff referee making a call off the ball that was questionable at the very best. He took the spotlight off of what everyone wanted so he’s an awful ref WNBA or not, period!
 
Blame Geno. He could have just inbounded the ball to Paige and let her try to win it instead. Too much can go wrong trying to get a play set up for her. And they never got a shot off.
 
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A ref's (close) call should never decide the outcome of a game this important. That being said, Paige was correct in saying that the call did not determine the outcome of the game. The game was decided when Aaliyah missed some early bunnies and fts. It was decided when KK threw the ball to no one and/or was stripped by being out of control. It was decided when Ash forgot how to shoot. Only Paige was blameless. W/out her UConn would never have gotten this far. It is not the case that this moment will be forever etched on the minds of the participants, as one writer suggested. This team wasn't supposed to get to this game, probably shouldn't have been there, and likely would have been decimated by SC in the end (as Iowa will be). The Hawkeyes' high water mark has been reached on the slim shoulders of a celestial talent, and the team will fall back into familiar anonymity day after next.
Geno will be back, though, and reloaded (especially if Sara S. decides to come to Storrs) and ready for the next campaign. What's sad, in the end, is that so much time, work, effort that went into overcoming great odds to reach the Final Four should be wiped out by some nameless, faceless, ref whose purported blunder impacted so many. Paige is blessed and cursed in (equal?) measure--she'd say blessed. Ditto.
 
That foul call was tantamount to Jim Joyce’s “safe” call that ruined Armando Galarrago’s bid for a perfect game. Ultimately the sports media’s response to the foul along with social media’s response may finally shine a spotlight on the poor officiating in NCAA Women’s Basketball and result in some positive action by the governing body. What say you NCAA?

“Crickets”
 
The call wasn't literally wrong, just bad. A great game that should have been decided by whether Paige hits or misses was instead decided by a ref making a marginal call. Like offensive holding in football, calls on screeners could be called on almost every possession. Refs will tell you they try not to decide games unless the foul/penalty is obvious, agrigious, and directly affects the play. AE's screen was pretty ordinary and any good ref wouldn't basically say game over.
 
Yesterday I watched a video that showed a frontside court level view of the pick. You could clearly see Edwards back foot leave the ground as she moved towards the defender even after contact. It was not just her body leaning in but her foot moving forward. You can even see her feet seem to slide forward from the side views. Even the higher front view shows the heel of her foot off the ground, In the lower view it shows her entire foot off the gound. That is beyond a doubt a moving pick. Since the pick freed up the ball handler that was a call that needed to be made.

I also think it is about time that an official made a foul call at the end of a game. That is when a call is most important and to not make a call is pure cowardes. A non call on a legit foul can impact a game as well as a call on that is non legit. Where does the idea come from that you are supposed to swallow the whistle at the end of a game.
 
Last edited:
willtalk said:
Yesterday I watcheda video that showed a frontside court level view of the pike. You could clearly see Edwards back foot leave the ground as she moved towards the defender even after contact. It was not just her body leaning in but her foot moving forward. You can even see her feet seem to slide forward from the side views. Even the higher front view shows the heel of her foot off the ground, In the lower view it shows her entire foot off the gound. That is beyond a doubt a moving pick. Since the pick freed up the ball handler that was a call that needed to be made.

I also think it is about time that an official made a foul call at the end of a game. That is when a call is most important and to not make a call is pure cowardes. A non call on a legit foul can impact a game as well as a call on that is non legit. Where does the idea come from that you are supposed to swallow the whistle at the end of a game.
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Watch a video of CC pushing KK to get her shot off. The whistle was swallowed there. So what is the difference? You can’t have it both ways
 
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WestCoastHusky said:
UCONN was robbed. There is no way that screen was a foul. If that was a foul, almost every screen in the game should have been called a foul. The ref ruined a good game, and it sucks we got the worst end of it.
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The foul call may have been unfortunate but, it was the correct call. Edwards was called for moving screens all season. Being a senior, she should know how to set a screen and hold it. A foul is a foul no matter what part of the game it happens. I believed if the game was close at the end that any close call would go Iowa's way. The discrepancy in number of fouls called is very suspect but, the call on Edwards was the correct call. I believe ESPN very much wanted a SC Iowa matchup for the final.
 
Superhuskies said:
UC was STILL down one, and STILL had to score to tie/take lead, if that call hadn't made..and Iowa may have STILL had some time for a last shot IF we scored...
That one apparently correct, call, to me, right in front of that WNBA ref- she looked like a blocking NFL lineman on the replay, even if it had been wrong, didn't cost them the game--(but I do admit that almost all screens are "moving," somewhat )--
What did was too many horrible turnovers, not enough Paige shots, especially in 4th quarter, very few/no down low shots by our big Aliyah, who took 15-16-17 ft jumpers instead, ...and bad coaching (?),...
They beat themselves-- gave the game away, I think, especially with Killer Kaitlin being mostly not very good....
Of course, the Iowa D may deserve credit, too--..I'll check the DVR 14 times to check-- Just a casual fan, here !!
Also the very underrated Miss Martin was awesome- good for her- the offensive MVP.....BUT GOOD LUCK SUNDAY, HAWKEYES !!! SQUAWK !! SQUAWK !!
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Its as simple as this - you DO NOT make that call to end the game. EVER
 
donalddoowop said:
The foul call may have been unfortunate but, it was the correct call. Edwards was called for moving screens all season. Being a senior, she should know how to set a screen and hold it. A foul is a foul no matter what part of the game it happens. I believed if the game was close at the end that any close call would go Iowa's way. The discrepancy in number of fouls called is very suspect but, the call on Edwards was the correct call. I believe ESPN very much wanted a SC Iowa matchup for the final.
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Nope. You don't end the game on a foul call on a screen.
 
Kaizen said:
Wild things happen at the end of basketball games all the time. There are game-winning shots, incredible defensive plays, wild turnovers. You can see it all at the end of any given basketball game. That’s just the nature of the sport.

But the one thing you always hope for in the end is that the game is left in the hands of the players. You want to see someone make a play to either win or lose it. That’s the perfect way to determine which team is the better one.

What you absolutely don’t want to see is an official effectively ending the game with a call one way or another. Especially when that call is an egregiously bad one.

That’s exactly what happened at the end of Iowa and UConn’s Final Four matchup.

ftw.usatoday.com

A terrible call ruined a perfect ending to Iowa and UConn's Final Four matchup and fans are livid

Wild things happen at the end of basketball games all the time. There are game-winning shots, incredible defensive plays, w
ftw.usatoday.com ftw.usatoday.com
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I still think AE should have set a cleaner screen and it’s something our team(s) seems to have trouble with. Moving beyond that, let’s assume there is no call in an alternate universe and Paige drives to the basket and get hammered.

Would the refs call that foul? I doubt it.

Last night there were phantom fouls called on us (Nika, KK, etc.) and fouls by Iowa that were not called. Free throws were 14 to 4 in favor of Iowa. Fouls were 18 to 9 in favor of Iowa. Iowa gets the win on the free throw line due to the significant disadvantage.

This feels as bad as the loss to Miss State.
 
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Superhuskies said:
UC was STILL down one, and STILL had to score to tie/take lead, if that call hadn't made..and Iowa may have STILL had some time for a last shot IF we scored...
That one apparently correct, call, to me, right in front of that WNBA ref- she looked like a blocking NFL lineman on the replay, even if it had been wrong, didn't cost them the game--(but I do admit that almost all screens are "moving," somewhat )--
What did was too many horrible turnovers, not enough Paige shots, especially in 4th quarter, very few/no down low shots by our big Aliyah, who took 15-16-17 ft jumpers instead, ...and bad coaching (?),...
They beat themselves-- gave the game away, I think, especially with Killer Kaitlin being mostly not very good....
Of course, the Iowa D may deserve credit, too--..I'll check the DVR 14 times to check-- Just a casual fan, here !!
Also the very underrated Miss Martin was awesome- good for her- the offensive MVP.....BUT GOOD LUCK SUNDAY, HAWKEYES !!! SQUAWK !! SQUAWK !!
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This is a huge word salad of nonsense. Are you saying you agree with the call and wish the best for Iowa? Just say that.
 
You have to look at the totality of the game. There were calls that went both ways. It happens. If you want the game bad enough, you beat the opponent by 20 points not lose by 1 or 2 points then complain about the refs. C'mon UCONN fans, you're better than this.
 
CTFIRERETIRED said:
This call like many others, in countless games, across ALL SPORTS, is just an indication that the level of officiating has deteriorated. The questions we have to ask is WHY IS IT?
Is it the fact that players have gotten so big, fast, and powerful, that officiating is not able to keep up? Is it because the game itself has gotten too fast for official's? Is it the fact that there's not enough official's in games, today. Remember that there was only 2 officals, calling games. Now there's 3, maybe it's time to increase that number to 4. Is it because some officials, umpires, and referees are not that very good? Some of these think that THEY are the most important part of the game. Finally, and the most sinister, is it because outside forces like the media, gamblers, administration's may want certain teams to win certain games to further their own agendas?
The answers to ALL of these questions is a sad YES. We may not want to believe it, and some may call me a "CONSPIRACY THEORIST ", but the signs are there. You cannot ignore them. What do you do, to change this?
My thoughts on that are too long, as I already have gone on too long. But just look at past incidents, in ALL sports and ask yourself if it was just a coincidence?
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It's very simple, the answer to why and it's the elephant in the room.. MONEY !! the networks and NCAA crave ratings and matchups to hype, players want to make more NIL money giving companies more power in the player movement to different programs they support, and the biggest of them all Gambling especially now that it's legal it's probably easier to fix games than before and now the game starts to be stained and tainted. If Iowa has the same advantage in call in Sunday's game as they did against Uconn and that same call is made against SC will there be any doubt that the fix is in for CC and Iowa?..let's see how Sunday's game unfolds..SC should win big but big money and the NCAA wants Iowa
 
Stinger92860 said:
@donalddoowop is right.

Two different things here. Should they make the call? No. Should AE know how to set a proper screen in that situation? Yes.

It not was not an egregious moving screen, but AE gave the ref the opportunity to make the call.
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Great point. Watching the videos posted here make it look like a reasonable call. AE has consistently been called for moving screens (probably 30% o her fouls) and the fact that after 4 years it has not been corrected is disappointing.
 
Kaizen said:
Wild things happen at the end of basketball games all the time. There are game-winning shots, incredible defensive plays, wild turnovers. You can see it all at the end of any given basketball game. That’s just the nature of the sport.

But the one thing you always hope for in the end is that the game is left in the hands of the players. You want to see someone make a play to either win or lose it. That’s the perfect way to determine which team is the better one.

What you absolutely don’t want to see is an official effectively ending the game with a call one way or another. Especially when that call is an egregiously bad one.

That’s exactly what happened at the end of Iowa and UConn’s Final Four matchup.

ftw.usatoday.com

A terrible call ruined a perfect ending to Iowa and UConn's Final Four matchup and fans are livid

Wild things happen at the end of basketball games all the time. There are game-winning shots, incredible defensive plays, w
ftw.usatoday.com ftw.usatoday.com
Expand ...
Edwards has been getting called for illegal screens during her entire time at UConn. Who do you blame, her or the coaches? Or both?
 
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THIS IS NOT SOUR GRAPES. THIS IS FACT WITH NO PROOF. The way the world is today with society breaking down and confrontations everywhere. it is MY opinion that because of Uconn's success , there are "people" that do not like Uconn. Before the BY clamped down, I read a lot of hate posts, especially from ND posters,on the BY. Geno has many times criticized Refs on some of their calls. Being human nature the way it is, is it possible that that could affect the outcome of a game? 18 fouls on Uconn and only 9 on Iowa makes me wonder .Uconn outplayed Iowa in every facet of the game except rebounds. The deciding factor of the game were the Free throws. Uconn is known for their defense and LACK of fouling. My opinion..... I wish ALL of the people in the Uconn hemisphere a happy summer and will see all of you in October. GO FRESHMEN!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!
 
Gabby Marshall, in her post game press conference, said she was hunting for that call, which is why you can see her throw her head/body back even though the contact was lateral. Unfortunately, the ref bit on the flop.

If you going to make that call at that time of the game, you need to be sure you've made the SAME CALL every other time it's happened. You can call a moving screen on almost every possession.

In this game, it seems only UConn committed moving screens while Iowa never did, which shows that the refs used their judgement on when to call it. Obviously. that judgement failed here.
 
You could go back and forth all day long on this and yes, when it gets to this point in any game, you want the infraction to be egregious and this didn’t qualify, no way in hell. One play did not make the game though and we played sloppy far too often. Cannot say enough about our girls and what they accomplished this year with more adversity than any other program could have endured. Edward’s? We teach this in AAU ball, if not earlier, let the person with the ball run their defender into you. You? You stand there like the Statue of Liberty and take the hit. Don’t move!!!
 
iri10 said:
I've been reading social media about this, and you get two camps. One is "You shouldn't make that call at that point in the game," and the other is "a foul is a foul."

And it seems to me that it's an issue of whether you see the forest or the trees.

If you're asking whether or not Aaliyah committed a violation of the rules, re: screening position, the answer is probably yes, IMO. You could call her for a violation and be following the letter of the rules. That's the "trees" side of things.

You could also point out that because the referee chose to make that particular off ball call, at that particular time in the game, with that tight score...people are no longer talking about the actual basketball game. That was a very competitive, close, dramatic matchup. It should have been a showcase for the sport in its own right, with more people paying attention than they have in decades. But people are no longer talking about the 39 preceding minutes. Instead they're talking about a referee. That's the "forest" side of things.

But I'm a UConn fan. I don't claim to be unbiased. I'm sure I'd get over it more easily if the situation were reversed. But (I hope), I wouldn't feel completely sanguine about it. That's a rough, rough way to end a national semifinal.
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My gripe is, if you are going to call that moving screen you’ve got to call CC’s push off against KK (she scored on it).
 
Paige showed how to lose gracefully in the post game press conference, something that is beyond many of the posters here. The slow-mo video clearly shows Aaliyah moving. The fact that the ref saw it and called it is, to me, a sign that the officials are not nearly as bad as fans make them out to be. I see it as a gutsy call. It was a great tourney run by an undermanned UConn team, one of the best in the 30 year I've followed them. Accepting loss as part of the game is very hard for many here.
 
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