women college basketball officiating

[JellyBean]

I find it quite funny that this beat writer makes such an effort to amplify his and the Maryland players feelings of an unfair foul disparity against the Terrapins while the photo his news outlet chose to use for his game story is Cardoso getting sandwiched & hammered by two Terps on one play.

this happens to SC bigs every game, all the time. SC fans are used to it.

Terps get slowed down and jostled by South Carolina, fall 86-75

Maryland was whistled for a season-high 26 fouls and could not contend with the No. 1 Gamecocks’ physicality.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com

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This is why I always laugh when coaches, teams & fans complain about the refs calling fouls. For once, I want to see and hear a coach go up to a ref and be like "Look. My players are hacking the crap out of the other team! You gotta call those fouls. Come on, now!"

 

[JellyBean]

I expect the same issue to arise for Iowa

What are you trying to suggest?

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Bad calls occur every game. This game had atrocious calls. I usually give refs the benefit of the doubt because players think they never foul. But...two calls on Meyer, possibly a third were just outrageous. And I'll add...all bad calls are not the same.

 

[Orangutan]

The complaints Maryland are making today are exactly the same ones Notre Dame fans were making after ND's loss to Maryland.

Sometimes you benefit from the officiating and sometimes your opponent does.

In this case, it's probably to be expected that the undefeated #1 seed and quasi-home team got the benefit of the doubt.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Cardosa was like...Girl, stop playing.

Masonious... She was here a second ago.

Sellers...No she didn't.

Having said that...she did it because the officiating suggested she could get away with it. And Diamond, don't go into acting. lol

 

[cancontent]

The officiating during the tournament overall has been confusing and frustrating. I don't see it as favouritism however. The consistency in calls and who makes them is the larger issue.

For example, Lobo made a good point about one of Meyers fouls. The referee who made the call wasn't in position to make it (let alone see) while the ref on the baseline was right there. It's confusing and frustrating for teams and fans because it doesn't make sense, but of course we have the luxury of seeing it replayed several times unlike the referees.

No idea if this is something that is brought up to the NCAA for discussion or review. It would be interesting to hear what they think if it is.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

The complaints Maryland are making today are exactly the same ones Notre Dame fans were making after ND's loss to Maryland.

Sometimes you benefit from the officiating and sometimes your opponent does.

In this case, it's probably to be expected that the undefeated #1 seed and quasi-home team got the benefit of the doubt.

Notre Dames did have some complaints in their game against the Terps. However, the difference in fouls was only 21-16. But 26-12 foul difference? Plus, the weird thing is the Terps didn't even try to foul at the end of the game.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

I'll say this, I thought this way a poorly officiated game. In general WBB at all levels suffers from subpar officiating. Maryland definitely had missed calls but so did SC.

I believe two factors play a key role in this foul disparity, size and style of play. It's no secret that SC has a size advantage and much like most of the year smaller and less physically imposing players have often have to be overaggressive to stand a fighting which leads to fouls. Whereas on the other end you'll see Diamond trying to attempt a post move onto Boston and she doesn't even budge for a moment.

As for the style of play SC is known for their defense and rebounding. Many of the fouls were on the boards where SC thrives and their smaller counterparts would foul in attempt to get the ball or to attempt to stop the put back.

What also doesn't help is that Miller flop in the video above. When players try to flop like that it leaves doubt for the refs on future plays. So some swallowing of the whistle may be due to the gamesmanship.

Again the refs were bad all around and I feel for Meyers to have to go out like that. But it would be dishonest to not note that Maryland set the pace for physicality to start the game and gambled throughout which led to some of these fouls. There were missed and wrong calls all night, unfortunately those calls were more impactful for Maryland.

 

[sweetspot]

The complaints Maryland are making today are exactly the same ones Notre Dame fans were making after ND's loss to Maryland.

Sometimes you benefit from the officiating and sometimes your opponent does.

In this case, it's probably to be expected that the undefeated #1 seed and quasi-home team got the benefit of the doubt.

Didn't see any Maryland fan accounts tweeting things like this during the ND Game.

 

[mikeboss550]

Example of how bad Maryland was flopping all night....pull this stuff and refs stop calling them for you

 

[JstVisiting]

Three plays are critical to understanding how the refs intended to call the game.

1. Boston’s first (or close to it) touch. She got the ball about 15 feet out on right wing. Turned, on ball defender flopped. Refs ignored her, giving Boston clear path. She drove to basket, second MD defender met her and also flopped. Refs ignored her too. Bucket.

2. Boston’s first foul, early in the 2nd Q. She blocked a MD guard with no one else nearby. MD player flailed about, officials blow the whistle, replays show perfectly clean block. Staley ripped into the officials.

This was a turning point in the officiating. From that point, the game was called much tighter, and Maryland started to accumulate fouls.

3. I’m glad someone else posted the egregious flop on the OOB play. It’s the most extreme example of what MD was doing all night.

Maryland tried two things - flopping to draw calls and playing aggressively inside.

The first was not tolerated from the officials at all, and they sent a message early they wouldn’t fall for it. This is good. There’s far too much of players exaggerating contact. If I wanted to see people roll around for a couple hours, I’d watch CONCACAF soccer.

MD should have stopped the theater and played basketball. I don’t feel sorry for the MD girl picking up her 5th foul on a flop where she exaggerated contact. You’re an athlete. Act like an athlete, not a dainty flower who must be protected by the officials.

The second reason MD picked up the fouls is the officials started calling a tighter game about halfway through the second. It still wasn’t touch fouls inside, but they definitely called things they had overlooked through the first quarter and a half.

I think the officials intended to “let ‘em play” in general, but Staley crawled all over them to the point they changed that approach.

MD didn’t adjust to that, probably because they couldn’t. When the other team is bigger and stronger across the front line and killing you on the glass, you either foul or you let them score. Maryland fouled.

- CONCACAF mention was probably appropriate because, like soccer, I’ve learned basketball is played differently in different regions. In courts across the South, you keep your feet. If you get knocked down? Weight room. Even if it was an offensive foul, it’s kind of embarrassing. Only charge that gets respect is one where you stand there on a fast break and take a full speed knee to the chest that everyone knows is coming. Otherwise, what’s wrong with you? Maybe you need to go to the kids’ court.

 

[JstVisiting]

Didn't see any Maryland fan accounts tweeting things like this during the ND Game.

I’ve also noticed South Carolina fans have been less partisan and more level headed in this conversation.

Edited to add: that was the joke reply. The serious reply is the fans of the winning team are often magnanimous in these conversations. In an alternate reality where every flop was rewarded and Boston played 15 minutes in a huge upset, you’d probably see some very sympathetic posts from Terrapins.

 

[jumpstart]

What I saw was a more aggressive attack by South Carolina that forced more fouls by Maryland. There were many fouls both ways that did not get called. This was not a one way street in calls. The fact that South Carolina forced their hand being more aggressive was the whole reason for the difference in numbers. South Carolina has the players on the bench that can stop an attack and Maryland knew if they got ahead by very many points they were done....that made them foul more. It's more "sour grapes" than truthfulness of what transpired. I thought Maryland played a great first period and then South Carolina said..."not going there again, we will attack".....the rebounding was lopsided too...refs do that also ?
Geez.....

 

[cancontent]

Three plays are critical to understanding how the refs intended to call the game.

1. Boston’s first (or close to it) touch. She got the ball about 15 feet out on right wing. Turned, on ball defender flopped. Refs ignored her, giving Boston clear path. She drove to basket, second MD defender met her and also flopped. Refs ignored her too. Bucket.

2. Boston’s first foul, early in the 2nd Q. She blocked a MD guard with no one else nearby. MD player flailed about, officials blow the whistle, replays show perfectly clean block. Staley ripped into the officials.

This was a turning point in the officiating. From that point, the game was called much tighter, and Maryland started to accumulate fouls.

3. I’m glad someone else posted the egregious flop on the OOB play. It’s the most extreme example of what MD was doing all night.

Maryland tried two things - flopping to draw calls and playing aggressively inside.

The first was not tolerated from the officials at all, and they sent a message early they wouldn’t fall for it. This is good. There’s far too much of players exaggerating contact. If I wanted to see people roll around for a couple hours, I’d watch CONCACAF soccer.

MD should have stopped the theater and played basketball. I don’t feel sorry for the MD girl picking up her 5th foul on a flop where she exaggerated contact. You’re an athlete. Act like an athlete, not a dainty flower who must be protected by the officials.

The second reason MD picked up the fouls is the officials started calling a tighter game about halfway through the second. It still wasn’t touch fouls inside, but they definitely called things they had overlooked through the first quarter and a half.

I think the officials intended to “let ‘em play” in general, but Staley crawled all over them to the point they changed that approach.

MD didn’t adjust to that, probably because they couldn’t. When the other team is bigger and stronger across the front line and killing you on the glass, you either foul or you let them score. Maryland fouled.

- CONCACAF mention was probably appropriate because, like soccer, I’ve learned basketball is played differently in different regions. In courts across the South, you keep your feet. If you get knocked down? Weight room. Even if it was an offensive foul, it’s kind of embarrassing. Only charge that gets respect is one where you stand there on a fast break and take a full speed knee to the chest that everyone knows is coming. Otherwise, what’s wrong with you? Maybe you need to go to the kids’ court.

I understand your point about Meyers' fifth foul, to an extent, however it looked like she was established outside the circle which is what I don't understand. She's allowed to absorb the contact for her safety versus crashing to the floor from the impact. There is some allowance for movement provided the player got their first which is what I believe happened.

The other examples you've outlined were obvious. This play is one of those examples where a challenge/review could have been helpful to see if a block call was warranted. Unfortunately it wasn't at a point in the game where Coach Friese could ask for a review I believe.

 

[Matthew1589]

The officiating in women's basketball isn't in a good place. Players shouldn't have to wonder how a game will be called, it should be called by the rules set forth by the NCAA rules committee. Too many teams are allowed to push, pull, hack, body check, while other teams who play by the rules are at a disadvantage. Then when a teams players decide to fight back the officials often change how they call the game. We all know when our teams go to certain arena's that it is going to be like a WWE match, this should be unacceptable and if the officials have to call 50 fouls on a team so be it. In postgame interviews after Iowa/Colorado Jaylyn Sherrod said it was hard for her to play because she didn't know what a foul was and what wasn't. That is on the officials for being inconsistent, when a team hits tournament play they get officials who they aren't used to and the game is called differently.

Maybe it's time to look into combining the officiating pool from the men's and women's game keeping only those who are proven to be the best and grade out as such. You'd have to think this could lead to more consistent officiating and create more efficiency having these officiating teams work more games in fewer locations, maybe in the same arena on back to back nights (men's game / women's game). I'm sure they could figure something out, anything would be an improvement.

 

[shiverz45]

With All the physical banging of opposing centers during the games and not being called for fouls, you got to wonder how they called a foul on Meyers, when she barely touched Boston, if she touched her at all, during this called foul below. Meyers was completely taken out of the game with this call and her fifth foul call which also seemed to be a bad call.

I agree with the poster who stated the change in foul calling during a game is tough to adjust to during the rest of the game.

Everyone agrees that should have been a charge because she was not in the box. However, we see that almost every game. For some reason I thought you could review if the player was in the box or not.