Conspiracy Theory: Did the NCAA punish UNC via refereeing in the title game?

[wyohawk]

Lots of zany theories out there...

I will say, that as a neutral fan who may have even been pulling for Nova, there were some real headscratchers-especially late in the game when it seemed like the refs were swallowing whistles on one end and calling handchecks on the other. Enough to make you think that there may be something else in the works, especially against a program that pulled out all the stops in order to have "one final season" before the sanction hammer comes down...

In any case, the completely subjective nature of college basketball officiating is generally the worst and will forever mar an otherwise fantastic sport.

 

[J_Heater]

Late in the game? I thought the entire first half the refs kept Villanova in it by calling ticky tack fouls where Villanova was allowed to play more physical on their end. I wanted Villanova to win but I thought the whole game they were allowed to play physical where NC got called for cheap fouls.

Also that little white dude for Nova, I can't even remember how many times he pushed off with his non-dribbling hand and they called Berry for it the only time I saw him do it.

This has been going on for years. It always seems one team is allowed to get away with more while the other doesn't. For the record it's not always the team I am rooting against that gets away with more. Case in point last night.

Did anyone watch Syracuse - Gonzaga. I thought Sabonis should have shot about 50 FT's in that game. Just because he is bigger than everyone else shouldn't mean it's not a foul when he gets hammered. It reminded me a lot of watch Shaquile O'Neil while at LSU. It took almost a felony for him to get a call.

 

[ISPHawk]

First, what a great game and Rollercoaster ending. Second, it did seem like the refs changed the game after halftime. Took Carolinas bigs physical play out of the game and turned them into a finesse team. Allowed Nova to be pysical but not Carolina. They let Nova hold and handcheck like crazy. Let the teams play with their style and may the best team win.

 

[DavenportHawk8]

Lots of zany theories out there...

I will say, that as a neutral fan who may have even been pulling for Nova, there were some real headscratchers-especially late in the game when it seemed like the refs were swallowing whistles on one end and calling handchecks on the other. Enough to make you think that there may be something else in the works, especially against a program that pulled out all the stops in order to have "one final season" before the sanction hammer comes down...

In any case, the completely subjective nature of college basketball officiating is generally the worst and will forever mar an otherwise fantastic sport.

I don't think the NCAA would of "fixed the game" over the cheating allegations. Those officials wouldn't do that, they did call some head scratchers and then let some stuff go that I couldn't believe. But as in any championship game in any sport, you play as rough as the officials let you. These guys were letting them play and not calling contact. They were going to let the players decide it and they did.

Officiating overall I thought was good earlier in the year and then as the season went along, it got a little worse. But then I reflected back to when I officiated and I remember one thing. The longer the season went on, the less I was going to call, because I wanted to get the games over. I remember being in a game and not caring what was happening, I just wanted out of that gym. I think that is what we saw this year, I think some of these officials are "over worked" and I think by the time February rolls around, they too want to be done. I mean there were a lot of fouls that were not called in the NCAA tournament (but 3 months earlier were called). So I think what you see if fatigue in some of these guys. I mean I look at some of these guys and they work something like 70-80+ games in a season. That's a lot of basketball and some of these guys are traveling from one spot to another and working the next night. I can't remember who the official was this year, but he was in Iowa City vs MSU and the next night he was in Maryland? That's a lot of travel and back to back nights has to rough.

 

[DogBoyRy]

Lots of zany theories out there...

I will say, that as a neutral fan who may have even been pulling for Nova, there were some real headscratchers-especially late in the game when it seemed like the refs were swallowing whistles on one end and calling handchecks on the other. Enough to make you think that there may be something else in the works, especially against a program that pulled out all the stops in order to have "one final season" before the sanction hammer comes down...

In any case, the completely subjective nature of college basketball officiating is generally the worst and will forever mar an otherwise fantastic sport.

Not sure about a conspiracy but seemed about as bad as Duke vs Wiscky last year.

 

[wyohawk]

I don't think the NCAA would of "fixed the game" over the cheating allegations. Those officials wouldn't do that, they did call some head scratchers and then let some stuff go that I couldn't believe. But as in any championship game in any sport, you play as rough as the officials let you. These guys were letting them play and not calling contact. They were going to let the players decide it and they did.

I don't disagree with your premise, but it just seemed uneven on the two halves of the court. UNC bigs were fighting through rugby scrums and getting hacked across the face with no calls while questionable handchecks were resulting in shots on the other end. Hicks's "foul" on Phil Booth with 0:35 left was an iffy call at any point in the game, but inexcusable at that point. It just all seemed very strange.

Officiating overall I thought was good earlier in the year and then as the season went along, it got a little worse. But then I reflected back to when I officiated and I remember one thing. The longer the season went on, the less I was going to call, because I wanted to get the games over. I remember being in a game and not caring what was happening, I just wanted out of that gym. I think that is what we saw this year, I think some of these officials are "over worked" and I think by the time February rolls around, they too want to be done. I mean there were a lot of fouls that were not called in the NCAA tournament (but 3 months earlier were called). So I think what you see if fatigue in some of these guys. I mean I look at some of these guys and they work something like 70-80+ games in a season. That's a lot of basketball and some of these guys are traveling from one spot to another and working the next night. I can't remember who the official was this year, but he was in Iowa City vs MSU and the next night he was in Maryland? That's a lot of travel and back to back nights has to rough.

Nice insight and identification of what seems like an unfixable problem.
More refs? Remote refereeing technology? Not sure how to address fatigue.

 

[Gary-Waterloo]

No on conspiracy. If the NCAA was going to punish UNC, they wouldn't have waited for the national championship game to do it. Overall, I thought the game was called ok, there were some head scratchers but there always are depending on the angle the refs have to see the plays. NC got a big break when they clearly knocked the ball out of bounds and got it back, Nova got some calls like mentioned above but on the whole I thought it was ok.

 

[StormHawk42]

Definitely no. Even the NCAA isn't that stupid because if anything were ever uncovered, it would bring down the entire organization.

 

[HawkCat]

Lots of zany theories out there...

I will say, that as a neutral fan who may have even been pulling for Nova, there were some real headscratchers-especially late in the game when it seemed like the refs were swallowing whistles on one end and calling handchecks on the other. Enough to make you think that there may be something else in the works, especially against a program that pulled out all the stops in order to have "one final season" before the sanction hammer comes down...

In any case, the completely subjective nature of college basketball officiating is generally the worst and will forever mar an otherwise fantastic sport.

I agree the officiating was skewed very much in favor of Villanova, whether intentional or not. In addition to the disparity on the amount of contact allowed at each end, I thought the refs missed multiple travels by Villanova.

 

[iowalawhawk]

I was rooting for Nova, but yeah, they got away with a lot that UNC didn't. I think the refs tried to hold their whistles a little when I was watching, which meant that every time Archiadinaco dribbled the ball, he extended his off arm and pushed off or hooked, but no calls.

 

[KeyWest Tim]

You are assuming the NCAA is even competent to do this in the first place.

When it takes them 6 months to review a players elgibility!

 

[2432Hawk]

Not sure what game everyone was watching, or they must have been watching the TNT feed and got subliminally Carolina Blue viewing lenses?

I thought UNC especially on the perimeter was hand checking and disrupting as much or more than Nova was. Nova was physical inside but they had to be to combat the size. Nova's guards did a great job being in their faces and making the entry to the post difficult. Just a tremendous basketball game and as I was told by someone today nobody lost that game, it was just won by the team that got the last shot.

 

[rufus-hawk]

On the contrary. I think the NCAA was persuaded to delay making a decision because UNC was preseason number 1. The current team has not had the benefit of the fake program of study as it wa uncovered before they arrived. Roy has another shot at the title before the hammer comes down and they can't take this one away. I imagine he will retire "gracefully" after this season.

 

[hooper56]

I thought the officiating favored Villanova, who I wanted to win. But I think it is nothing more than lousy refereeing which we seem to see week after week. I wish the B1G would set the standard by hiring full-time salaried refs and pay them a good salary (not per game). Hold them accountable and make it a Primo job that everyone aspires to in the refereeing crowd. There is plenty of money to do this. Other power conferences would have to follow suit. The mid majors can get by on the left overs and that would essentially become the referee developmental league.

 

[David1979]

That's just whiny UNC fans saying there was a conspiracy. That is ridiculous.

 

[*hawksrock*]

Not sure what game everyone was watching, or they must have been watching the TNT feed and got subliminally Carolina Blue viewing lenses?

I thought UNC especially on the perimeter was hand checking and disrupting as much or more than Nova was. Nova was physical inside but they had to be to combat the size. Nova's guards did a great job being in their faces and making the entry to the post difficult. Just a tremendous basketball game and as I was told by someone today nobody lost that game, it was just won by the team that got the last shot.

I agree with this! looked to me that unc was walking all over the place, no calls. Also, those unc "hand check" calls to me looked like holding. jmho

 

[HawkGem11]

That's just whiny UNC fans saying there was a conspiracy. That is ridiculous.

No it is not, the refs favored Nova all night kept them in the game in the first half, they let Nova get away with garbage all night and called NC on ticky tack garbage....hate games reffed like that even when Iowa is not involved it is just no fun to watch

 

[LarryMullenJr.]

I agree with this! looked to me that unc was walking all over the place, no calls. Also, those unc "hand check" calls to me looked like holding. jmho

Interesting everyone in this thread--except you two--think it tilted toward Nova. It was a great game, but to say the refs were good/consistent/equal would be a huge fallacy. The best example is the one mentioned above about Ryan Archy extending his lead arm 80% of the time and it was never called. Berry does it once, it's a whistle.

 

[hknation]

OMGosh people.....pick a subject, it doesn't matter; will this meaningless dribble and conspiracy theories ever stop?

 

[EZ2BJZ]

Carolina got whistled for 20 fouls, Nova 16, so not exactly a huge discrepancy in foul calls.

The officials have been inconsistent all tournament and in truth not very good. So, it could be argued that the officials were consistent last night in how bad and inconsistent they have been the entire tournament.

 

[Ronman]

OMGosh people.....pick a subject, it doesn't matter; will this meaningless dribble and conspiracy theories ever stop?

Our government secretly encourages these conspiracy theories.

 

[MepoDawg#]

UNC didn't get called for a foul until 12:07 left in the first half. Meanwhile Jenkins was sitting on the bench with 2 fouls. The fouls were even at 16 a piece with 2:30 to go. UNC shot 15 more FGs but made one less. There's your answer.

 

[ichawk24]

The government puts fluoride in the water to make idiots think of new conspiracy theories.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Anyone who didn't think the officiating favored Nova, must have been rooting for the cheaters to lose. The Arch and Hart are both great, very physical players, who got away with an awful lot of contact, especially around the basket. I wanted Nova to win, so I am not unhappy with the officials, but it seemed pretty one-sided..

 

[hansenhawk]

Would have been the best way to do it. ha

 

[soybean]

Late in the game? I thought the entire first half the refs kept Villanova in it by calling ticky tack fouls where Villanova was allowed to play more physical on their end. I wanted Villanova to win but I thought the whole game they were allowed to play physical where NC got called for cheap fouls.

Also that little white dude for Nova, I can't even remember how many times he pushed off with his non-dribbling hand and they called Berry for it the only time I saw him do it.

This has been going on for years. It always seems one team is allowed to get away with more while the other doesn't. For the record it's not always the team I am rooting against that gets away with more. Case in point last night.

Did anyone watch Syracuse - Gonzaga. I thought Sabonis should have shot about 50 FT's in that game. Just because he is bigger than everyone else shouldn't mean it's not a foul when he gets hammered. It reminded me a lot of watch Shaquile O'Neil while at LSU. It took almost a felony for him to get a call.

I still recall how Dale Brown openly campaigned for Shaq to go pro early because the refs were allowing oppossing players to beat on him all game without fear of hearing a whistle.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I'm pretty sure those officials had mob ties and the mob was betting on Nova. I also thought I saw Ronnie Harmon standing outside the locker room entrance to the court. What was he doing there? Then again, the way college games are officiated these days...it's just the skill level of the officials. Just call it the same on both ends...that's all I'm asking for. Anyone else notice what the off arm is doing with the Nova guards? Holy crap, they are using it to get an advantage...that's a foul. DiJackimo or whatever his name was, had a nice stick arm going for awhile. Not one offensive call on use of the off arm. Foul...you fouled him.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Conspiracy? No.

Inconsistently called games? Absolutely.

Last night, particularly at the end, carolina got the short end of the stick.

When officials are doing a good job, you forget they are even there. Last night they were prominently there.