Officiating, What do you suggest?

[HoosierPal]

It is common practice across basketball for fans to blame partially or fully the officiating crew when their team losses a close game.  Last year, this board's consensus was that the Houston game was the worst officiated game in college basketball ever, which apparently has been surpassed by the Dayton game, which has been surpassed by the VCU game.  That's fine.  You pay your ticket, you are allowed to complain.  And how many times has our beloved Rammer called "That's the worst call I have EVER seen?"

Every conference has the same issue.  Anyone who saw the LSU / TN game last weekend witnessed an interesting call that pretty much gave LSU the game.  Our 'friends' from Mizzou are convinced the SEC officials have all agreed that Tilmon needs to have two fouls by the 15:00 minute mark in the first half.  McCafferty had to be separated from the officials after the game last night, calling them a disgrace and accusing them of cheating.  Any game, every game has questionable calls. It is part of the game.  No, the A-10 has not singled out SLU and French and issued an edict to call excessive fouls.

It is easy to complain.  But much more difficult to provide solutions. If you don't like how games are officiated, how would you change what's going on.  For anyone who has ever officiated a sport, it is darn difficult.  I have (attempted) to ref AA volleyball and middle school baseball, and it simply isn't easy.  I have sat in the front row at Chaifetz.  The game is extremely fast, the players are strong and big, and on every play, you could whistle something.  It isn't easy. 

So what needs to change?  I personally hate replay, but would you increase it's use, decrease it's use, jump up the technology so that each and every play is review-able in 'the booth' where calls can be made?  I don't understand why plays can be reviewed in the last 2 minutes, but not before.  So a play at the 2:10 minute mark isn't as important as a play at the 1:50 mark?  [I read this past weekend where due to replay, the last 60 seconds of a game took 10 minutes to play.]   "We need to get it right."  Really?  But we only after the 2 minute mark.  

Do you increase the number of officials?  Do you decrease the number of officials?

Increase official's training?  How would you do that?  Officials typically have day jobs, so do you make them full time officials?

Remove the 'offensive foul' semi circle under the rim?  Increase it in size?

Do you have a clearinghouse review officials efforts and penalize those that fall below the line?  [Watch out, you may not have  enough to play a full season across college ball.]

Do you increase the number of fouls before disqualification to 6, like the NBA?

Do you go back to the way games were officiated 40 years ago, where there was no Eurostep?  A travel was easy to call.  Do you call a carry if the hand slips below the center line of the ball.  Do you call a foul for any touch of a player?  That's the way it was called when I played, and we all survived.

Looking for recommendations.  If you don't like what is going on, come up with some innovating solutions.

[rgbilliken]

The conspiracy theory I am originating right now and am 100% in on is that A-10 refs are fixing games to make them closer to the Vegas line. (I started saying it as a joke to my husband and have continued to say it because it annoys him, but now I'm starting to believe it because I've said it so often.) FOLLOW THE MONEY.  Don't @ me.

[billikenfan05]

2 minutes ago, rgbilliken said:

The conspiracy theory I am originating right now and am 100% in on is that A-10 refs are fixing games to make them closer to the Vegas line. (I started saying it as a joke to my husband and have continued to say it because it annoys him, but now I'm starting to believe it because I've said it so often.) FOLLOW THE MONEY.  Don't @ me.

I’m here for it. 

[3star_recruit]

The officiating was fine before Coach K's teams began flopping all over the place in the early 1990s.  Then other teams began to emulate it.  Now flopping is just part of the game.  And heavy contact used to be called no matter what team did it.  But now that certain big name coaches like Tom Izzo has established "toughness" as a brand, certain programs can get away with it. 

We are relative nobodies in the basketball hiearchy.  Our big strong guys pick up fouls just for looking tough -- actual fouls are unnecessary.   Yet another reason to load up on shooters.  The NCAA isn't going to allow us to ascend any other way.  It's a more efficient way to score anyway.  

[JMM28]

It is a common issue across all NCAA. Usually it is equally bad so it evens out. 

The biggest problems, in no particular order.

There is no overarching entity governing the refs. A few conferences have a consortium, but that is just to hire and schedule. There is very little accountability in the NCAA refereeing world. 

Because of this, some of these guys are working 70+ games a year. 

There are a lot of old referees. 

When you have a 70 year old Tom O'Neill working a game in Nevada and then flying to the midwest for a game the next night, you can't expect a good result. The 20 year old athletes that are playing 20+ minutes in games are tired the next day, what about the 70 year old financial advisor that is doing a back to back 40+ minute game? You think the quality is going to be there on the back end of the back to back? 

Regardless of age, working 70+ games a year means they're working 4 or 5 games in a week. That is crazy. 

[rgbilliken]

2 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I’m here for it. 

I'm basically 2 close losses away from going Beautiful Mind and/or Carrie Matheson in Homeland level on this sh!t and turning our office into a mess of pictures of refs and red string FOLLOWING THE MONEY. 

[billiken_roy]

25 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

It is common practice across basketball for fans to blame partially or fully the officiating crew when their team losses a close game.  Last year, this board's consensus was that the Houston game was the worst officiated game in college basketball ever, which apparently has been surpassed by the Dayton game, which has been surpassed by the VCU game.  That's fine.  You pay your ticket, you are allowed to complain.  And how many times has our beloved Rammer called "That's the worst call I have EVER seen?"

Every conference has the same issue.  Anyone who saw the LSU / TN game last weekend witnessed an interesting call that pretty much gave LSU the game.  Our 'friends' from Mizzou are convinced the SEC officials have all agreed that Tilmon needs to have two fouls by the 15:00 minute mark in the first half.  McCafferty had to be separated from the officials after the game last night, calling them a disgrace and accusing them of cheating.  Any game, every game has questionable calls. It is part of the game.  No, the A-10 has not singled out SLU and French and issued an edict to call excessive fouls.

It is easy to complain.  But much more difficult to provide solutions. If you don't like how games are officiated, how would you change what's going on.  For anyone who has ever officiated a sport, it is darn difficult.  I have (attempted) to ref AA volleyball and middle school baseball, and it simply isn't easy.  I have sat in the front row at Chaifetz.  The game is extremely fast, the players are strong and big, and on every play, you could whistle something.  It isn't easy. 

So what needs to change?  I personally hate replay, but would you increase it's use, decrease it's use, jump up the technology so that each and every play is review-able in 'the booth' where calls can be made?  I don't understand why plays can be reviewed in the last 2 minutes, but not before.  So a play at the 2:10 minute mark isn't as important as a play at the 1:50 mark?  [I read this past weekend where due to replay, the last 60 seconds of a game took 10 minutes to play.]   "We need to get it right."  Really?  But we only after the 2 minute mark.  

Do you increase the number of officials?  Do you decrease the number of officials?

Increase official's training?  How would you do that?  Officials typically have day jobs, so do you make them full time officials?

Remove the 'offensive foul' semi circle under the rim?  Increase it in size?

Do you have a clearinghouse review officials efforts and penalize those that fall below the line?  [Watch out, you may not have  enough to play a full season across college ball.]

Do you increase the number of fouls before disqualification to 6, like the NBA?

Do you go back to the way games were officiated 40 years ago, where there was no Eurostep?  A travel was easy to call.  Do you call a carry if the hand slips below the center line of the ball.  Do you call a foul for any touch of a player?  That's the way it was called when I played, and we all survived.

Looking for recommendations.  If you don't like what is going on, come up with some innovating solutions.

i'd tell refs they are REQUIRED to call everything by the book.   there would be some ugly games initially, but i bet the likes of the vcu havoc getting guys fouled out in 8 minutes would begin to change the way teams play.    and if the refs truly started calling everything.   it would likely make their jobs easier as well.   twice last night, the refs only blew their whistle after they knew the player missed the shot.   wtf?   if he got fouled, call it when it happens.   

i'm sorry but that was poor last night.   and it was not even.   vcu plays ultra agressive defense and we had more fouls than them from beginning to end.   b.s.

[Old guy]

Roy, having lived a long time and seen a lot of things in my life, I cannot but wonder what the life expectancy of a group of refs would be if they did what you suggest they should do. Just saying.

[slufan13]

Officiating sucks in all sports and all levels. Who cares. Play on.

[willie]

Here are a few of my thoughts: 1. Limit the number of games a referee can do in a week. 2. Increase replay but limit the time allowed to make a decision. One minute to reverse or call on the floor stands. 3. A powerful  review board with the power of suspension. Coaches should be allowed to complain about individual refs without fear of retribution. 4.Enforce offensive contact by centers backing down the man guarding them. {I know this could hurt us]. 5. Do away with stupid  rules like hook and hold. 6. Make coaches shut up. Keep them out of the  referees ear. 7. This is the most important one. Let me make the calls from my seat. 

[CBFan]

First I agree with Roy call the game by the rule book or your fired refs.  Not calling all fouls give the impression that the refs are favoring a team because the calls are never consistent.

Stop the favorable calls to the home team call the game as you see the game.

Reprimand every single ref that makes a call that they think they see when the ref is out of position to make the call this should eliminate the phantom call.

”T” every obvious flopper that eliminates that nonsense.

[JMM28]

Oh and don’t forget, these guys at the A10 level are getting paid minimum $1600 a game. Probably closer to $2500 a game. 

[HoosierPal]

18 minutes ago, willie said:

Here are a few of my thoughts: 1. Limit the number of games a referee can do in a week. 2. Increase replay but limit the time allowed to make a decision. One minute to reverse or call on the floor stands. 3. A powerful  review board with the power of suspension. Coaches should be allowed to complain about individual refs without fear of retribution. 4.Enforce offensive contact by centers backing down the man guarding them. {I know this could hurt us]. 5. Do away with stupid  rules like hook and hold. 6. Make coaches shut up. Keep them out of the  referees ear. 7. This is the most important one. Let me make the calls from my seat. 

Consider reading this article on What It's Like Being a NCAA ref.  https://www.valuepenguin.com/whats-it-being-ncaa-basketball-referee

Some of this article addresses your and other's points.

Willie, limiting the number of games, setting an age limit (per JMM), having a review board (they already have one) - all good suggestions --could quickly reduce the number of officials that are available.  I do like your 5, stop the backing down concept.  That goes along with BRoy's enforce the rules.  How many times have we seen basically a sumo contest in the lane.  Turn and hit a jumper.

And if you want control of the game, you got it!

[billiken_roy]

The biggest thing "call everything" would do imo is make it easier for the refs to be consistent.   At least approach consistency.

[Clocktoweraccords2004]

We just need to send more money to them than the other team 

[brianstl]

I suggest we put a better team with a better offensive system on the court next season.

[HoosierPal]

40 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

The biggest thing "call everything" would do imo is make it easier for the refs to be consistent.   At least approach consistency.

I wonder what the rule book looks like these days.  How is the Euro-step addressed?  "You can take two steps before shooting"?  I wonder if they will adopt the LeBron Step next?

Calling everything would give Rabion and Courtney some solid clock time!  But you know, they start calling everything but then they slowly back off and let the game go back to what it is now.

[Pistol]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

So what needs to change?  I personally hate replay, but would you increase it's use, decrease it's use, jump up the technology so that each and every play is review-able in 'the booth' where calls can be made?  I don't understand why plays can be reviewed in the last 2 minutes, but not before.  So a play at the 2:10 minute mark isn't as important as a play at the 1:50 mark?  [I read this past weekend where due to replay, the last 60 seconds of a game took 10 minutes to play.]   "We need to get it right."  Really?  But we only after the 2 minute mark.  

Do you increase the number of officials?  Do you decrease the number of officials?

Increase official's training?  How would you do that?  Officials typically have day jobs, so do you make them full time officials?

Remove the 'offensive foul' semi circle under the rim?  Increase it in size?

Do you have a clearinghouse review officials efforts and penalize those that fall below the line?  [Watch out, you may not have  enough to play a full season across college ball.]

Do you increase the number of fouls before disqualification to 6, like the NBA?

Do you go back to the way games were officiated 40 years ago, where there was no Eurostep?  A travel was easy to call.  Do you call a carry if the hand slips below the center line of the ball.  Do you call a foul for any touch of a player?  That's the way it was called when I played, and we all survived.

Looking for recommendations.  If you don't like what is going on, come up with some innovating solutions.

First thing I'd do is change the signal for charge to this:

But without a bell, obviously. I guarantee you'd see a lot less charges if refs didn't get to take a big running step forward and punch their fist in the air. If you make the charge signal relatively humiliating, they won't call charges unless they're undeniably charges.

I think any call should be reviewable in the last minute. Yes, the last couple minutes are already an eternity, but I don't get why only certain calls can be reviewed when any call can decide a game. We all have HDTV, instant replay from multiple angles, social media, etc. - we know when they get it wrong. They should be forced to get it right.

I think another fundamental issue is that these guys are independent contractors with almost no accountability whatsoever. They spend the season trying to maximize the number of games they call. They arrive just before a game, they shower up and leave the locker room area under a fog of Brut cologne, and then it's right back to the airport or rental car to the next one. So there's not a ton of incentive to call a great game, just enough to maintain contracts with conferences. Unless there's a formal complaint, conferences almost never refuse to hire refs. So I think there needs to be some sort of more formal oversight. I'm sure the NCAA would botch it, but maybe some kind of joint effort among conferences?

I don't think the answer is to purge guys; we've seen in the NFL that when you have to suddenly promote the next level down, officiating gets even worse. So the focus has to be on making the current refs better with an emphasis on regular training and consistency in applying the rules. I don't think the rules are broken. I just can't stand the fact that every ref calls them differently.

[JMM28]

4 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Unless there's a formal complaint, conferences almost never refuse to hire refs. So I think there needs to be some sort of more formal oversight. I'm sure the NCAA would botch it, but maybe some kind of joint effort among conferences?

There are a couple 'consortium' setups. There is a west coast version mentioned here - https://tucson.com/sports/greghansen/bobby-dibler-in-no-win-situation-scheduling-pac--refs/article_4649def8-25b2-507c-a36c-9738d6a1c6ae.html (Note all the ages of the 'alphas') 

CUSA, Big12, MVC, OVC, and Southland have one as well - https://siusalukis.com/news/2016/8/17/mvc-joins-mens-basketball-officiating-consortium.aspx

It may be a self fulfilling supply issue as well. When you think you have to only use guys that are known, it is hard for a 30something to break into some of these. Then you turn around and say these guys are the only ones that are experienced enough to work for the conferences. 

[billiken_roy]

my guess "eurostep" is just something that has evolved.  it is traveling.  

like i said there would be an adjustment period where most everyone fouls out lots of turnovers, etc.   but the coaches and players will adapt.  

call everything and players quit playing bully ball and slap and pull/push, basketball would be a thing of beauty imo.   

[dlarry]

I think making the refs sit in front of the camera and answer questions after the game would be a good start.

Why is a player who misses a game winning free throw forced to answer media questions but the ref who blew the call not?

Id even give them 24 hours. You ref a game, have 24 hours to review the film then you have a press conference.

If you did a good job no big deal. 

If you blew a few calls they can answer “After looking at the tape I may have missed that one.” No big deal. People will move on.

I think being forced to face the firing squad would clean up their acts real quick.

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

27 minutes ago, dlarry said:

I think making the refs sit in front of the camera and answer questions after the game would be a good start.

Why is a player who misses a free throw that would have won the game forced to answer media questions but the ref who blew the call not?

Id even give them 24 hours. You ref a game have 24 hours to review the film then you have a press conference.

If you did a good job no big deal. 

If you blew a few calls they can answer “After looking at the tape I may have missed that one.” No big deal. People will move on.

I think he forced to face the firing squad would clean up their acts real quick.

Couldn't agree more with this. They should have to own up to mistakes they make 

[wgstl]

The worst is when refs wait to see if the shot is made or not before calling. 

[billiken_roy]

8 minutes ago, wgstl said:

The worst is when refs wait to see if the shot is made or not before calling. 

that happened at least twice last night.   i agree if they thought it was a foul call it right away!

[HoosierPal]

18 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

that happened at least twice last night.   i agree if they thought it was a foul call it right away!

This would be one of the interesting questions to ask in the aforementioned 24 hour interviews.  Why did you wait?  Did the making of the basket influence your decision?

And I agree, Eurostep is TRAVELING, every time, every player.