Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

[WarriorVoice]

Saturday's Men's B-Ball game between Lock Haven and ESU may have set the game back 40 years, and it happened right in front of PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray. With the PSAC Home Office in Lock Haven, it's no surprise he was at the game, but even he must have been frustrated trying to watch two teams compete when whistles interrupted play on almost every trip down the floor. Over 60 personal fouls, and 4 technical fouls were called during a 40-minute game. How is either team supposed to get into a flow of a game when there's more than 1 whistle for every minute of the game? Plus, the officials determined that none of the 3 techs called on players were personal fouls (a new one to me)...I was told after the game that is the officials discretion to charge a personal foul on a technical...It has gotten to the point that I'm not sure what a foul is anymore, as more and more players try to trick the officials into calling a foul, when no foul was committed...Flopping should be eliminated from the game IMO, as it takes away from the flow of the game as well...To me it is an easy fix. If you initiate the contact you're guilty of the foul. Lowering a shoulder into a defensive player's chest should be an offensive foul. Bottom line? The refs need to let the kids play, and be darn sure they are in position to make the right call. Frankly, many of today's players run much faster than the officials do, and they often seem to be playing catch up, and in many cases are calling the foul from behind the play...Commissioner Murray, please address this issue...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

Our friends on the MEC board frequently reference PSAC basketball in much the same way you just did.

I totally agree with you. It's beyond ticky-tack at this point. The flow is non-existent. I get excited now watching 2-3 possessions make it that far without a stop.

Tune in to an MEC game some night. They are officiated totally different.

I actually made the comment on the West Liberty board earlier this season (after watching Fairmont lose to West Liberty, 106-100) that if that game had been played in a PSAC gym both starting fives would have been fouled out by halftime.

[Fightingscot82]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

One of the challenges for officials is how the game has changed from 'pass to the open shooter' to 'drive to the hoop'. A lot more fouls will be called because there is now a lot more contact.

One of the challenges for everyone else is that nobody in their right mind wants to be a basketball official.

[WarriorVoice]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

One of the challenges for officials is how the game has changed from 'pass to the open shooter' to 'drive to the hoop'. A lot more fouls will be called because there is now a lot more contact.

One of the challenges for everyone else is that nobody in their right mind wants to be a basketball official.

Seems pretty simple to me...If you initiate the contact, you get whistled for the foul...I realize it won't solve the problem entirely, but it's a start...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

One of the challenges for everyone else is that nobody in their right mind wants to be a basketball official.


LOL ... isn't that the truth. Imagine being stuck in between Joe Lombardi and Kevin Reynolds for a whole night. Suicide watch. It's not like football. You don't have that buffer space. Then you add the crowd right on top of you mouthing off. Those guys earn their paychecks.

Some of them, however, cherish the attention. Blowing that whistle all night gives them that attention. I cannot stand when referees play a large part in dictating outcomes of games.


In your example, WarriorVoice, ... 60-some personal fouls in a 40-minute game? Come on. Lock Haven and ESU play real basketball. It's not 1990s PSAC West Wrestlemania. You have two team who like to run and the ref's ambush the game.


SIXTY fouls plus 4 technicals. In FORTY minutes. Incredible.

There's always two sides to the story ... but, I've watched an awful lot of basketball games. Too many. I don't think I've ever seen 64 called fouls.

[pennbraz]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

60 is a lot...Being a WJU fan, I went to their website and totaled the total fouls in the 8 MEC games to this point of the season and there has been an average of 37.75 fouls per game in 8 games. The highest being 48 with a low of 28. This should be around where today's college game should average.

I won't go as far as saying the MEC calls a lot less, but it would be interesting to see a PSAC vs. MEC total fouls called comparison if someone has the time to do that.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

That's a heck of a project. Time consuming.

I agree. There are certainly fouls every game. Lots of them. They vary from crew to crew, too. Heck, some coaches get more calls than others.

Even at the 37.75 that's still about one per minute. Seems high even at that but perhaps it's about the national average. I'd be curious to see the numbers from D1 also. Those may actually be more accessible.

One example from the recent past I can give is both of Fairmont's last two trips to the KCAC they had severe foul issues -- in particularly last season. Their players seemed genuinely shocked at many of the calls ... not just the usual pouting players do when they get called.

I can only site the FSU/WL game this year. I watched the whole thing. I'm not joking ... if that was in a PSAC gym all 10 starters would have been in foul trouble by halftime. Maybe it was just a fluke game.

Believe me ... I like the more flowing game. The constant fouls and stoppages are annoying as all get up.

[Knightmoves]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

Bellarmine actually played a game against Maryvill last week in which Bellarmine was called for only 4 fouls for the game. Maryville was called for 15, but 8 of them were in the last 2 minutes and were intentional to stop the clock (that is a different problem that needs to be addressed). So there were only 11 non-intentional fouls called in the entire game. There were obviously some missed foul calls, but all in all it made for a very good game to watch. This is not typical for the GLVC, however.

I agree that too many foul calls ruin the flow of the game. I am even more upset with this obsession with instant replay in order to get things exactly right. Basketball is meant to be a continuous play game. It does not need instant replay. The delays damage the game far more than a possible mistake by the ref.

[WarriorVoice]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

One of the challenges for everyone else is that nobody in their right mind wants to be a basketball official.


LOL ... isn't that the truth. Imagine being stuck in between Joe Lombardi and Kevin Reynolds for a whole night. Suicide watch. It's not like football. You don't have that buffer space. Then you add the crowd right on top of you mouthing off. Those guys earn their paychecks.

Some of them, however, cherish the attention. Blowing that whistle all night gives them that attention. I cannot stand when referees play a large part in dictating outcomes of games.


In your example, WarriorVoice, ... 60-some personal fouls in a 40-minute game? Come on. Lock Haven and ESU play real basketball. It's not 1990s PSAC West Wrestlemania. You have two team who like to run and the ref's ambush the game.


SIXTY fouls plus 4 technicals. In FORTY minutes. Incredible.

There's always two sides to the story ... but, I've watched an awful lot of basketball games. Too many. I don't think I've ever seen 64 called fouls.

Just to be completely accurate, it was 63 personal fouls and 4 technicals in a 40 minute game...

[Golden89]

Re: Officiating travesty right in front of the Commish...

Bellarmine actually played a game against Maryvill last week in which Bellarmine was called for only 4 fouls for the game. Maryville was called for 15, but 8 of them were in the last 2 minutes and were intentional to stop the clock (that is a different problem that needs to be addressed). So there were only 11 non-intentional fouls called in the entire game. There were obviously some missed foul calls, but all in all it made for a very good game to watch. This is not typical for the GLVC, however.

I agree that too many foul calls ruin the flow of the game. I am even more upset with this obsession with instant replay in order to get things exactly right. Basketball is meant to be a continuous play game. It does not need instant replay. The delays damage the game far more than a possible mistake by the ref.

Agree ... Replay was intended to correct obvious mistakes. Not spend five minutes looking frame by frame at an out-of-bounds play. Or to add 0.3 seconds to a clock. It is being highly overused.