I never thought I would write this, but I wish Tim Higgins and Jim Burr could be on the officiating crew for the final game of the CBI Championship. No. I’m not joking. I’ll get to the recap a little later. These morons deserve their own post.
I realize many of you didn’t see the game last night. Let’s jump ahead to the final seconds. Pitt has a 6-point lead after Lamar Patterson hit both free throws. There are under 15 seconds left. Washington State can’t mess around, despite their offense being slower than Pitt’s. They have to get a quick bucket. Pitt is not letting them. It is already under 10 seconds, so they do what they can to free a shooter. Forward Abe Lodwick literally plows through John Johnson in an attempt — I suppose — to provide a screen for Reggie Moore. Lodwick for extra emphasis puts a forearm into Johnson’s jaw. Johnson as he is being hit has his arms go around Lodwick. Legs tangling and Lodwick falls on top of Johnson. The whistle blows….
Intentional foul on John Johnson.
What?
Somehow the ref managed not to see Lodwick steamroll Johnson, and only saw Johnson “take down” Lodwick.
Courtesy of PantherSports, here is the video.
Unbelievable.
Sadly, while that was probably the worst, most egregious call it was not atypical. The refs called a total of 39 fouls in the 40 minute game. 26 fouls were called just in the second half.
Sadly, the refs probably feel that they called a fair game since Pitt was whistled for 20 and WSU for 19. The calls completely disrupted the game. The frustrating thing was watching them call every defensive stand by Pitt in the paint a block. That was how Washington State got back into the game. They just drove straight into Pitt players in the paint and got the call. At one point, Dante Taylor was called for a block. He was standing straight up, arms up. Reggie Moore drove, jumped right at the chest, bounced off and got the call.
The HDNet playcalling crew looked at the replay and even they were befuddled by these calls. Finally Keno Davis utters the statement, “At some point you just have to fall down.” Yes, it was so bad that the color commentary advocated flopping by the big men.
And to answer the question of where they got these guys. Donnie Eppley (R), Brian Dorsey, Ron Tyburski are mainly NEC and MAAC refs. All three have a whistle-happy history of averaging around 37 fouls called per game.
I live in Cleveland area and even the locals were complaining despite OSU winning.
What I hate the most are the non-consequential, brush fouls called 40 ft away from the basket (hell, Dante had been called for these at least 2 dozen times this year) … yet people are mauled underneath the basket and nothing called.
Patterson has become the go-to guy at the end of games. I think Jamie sees him as a Wanamaker in the making, and to be honest, I think he’s much better at this point than Wanamaker was.
Not a bad time to monitor their actions and cash flow. Perhaps they are in debt. If College players can point shave, why would officials be immune?
Just glad Jamie didn’t get a T after that call.
That being said, it is hard to imagine what the official thought he saw if he made that call honestly. And frankly, the other two officials aren’t completely off the hook either. For the number of times you see officials huddle together to try to get a call right, it makes no sense that the other two did not at least try to question whether the foul was intentional, let alone getting the foul on the right player/team.
Yeah, that was about as bad a call as I’ve ever seen in a college hoops game.
And all of the 3s are ridiculous. Moore has regressed in that department. I know this isn’t the fastest, most athletic bunch, but they have got to get to the rack.
I do think part of that, though, is Dixon’s offensive scheme. It’s not built around guys driving to the hoop in any form. It’s pass, move, and get the good look. I’m all for patience, but I think it breeds a certain sense of reluctance, almost fear, particularly among younger guys, who feel that if they drive and get blocked or up a bad shot, they’re gonna get the hook.
Don’t know if I’ll be able to see the last game. But a win would at least be something. WSU, on the whole, is not an impressive team. To lose 2/3 to them would be some serious salt in the wound, and say something about the state of this team.
Seeing him in videos I agree with the analysts he is not NBA quality but a solid first team big east or ACC guard by his junior year.
Adams will be here and he will make Robinsons transition easier. The last thing we need is Woodall on the court throwing up wild three’s when you have a force down low.
