ADVERTISEMENT

and this one belongs to the Ref's

IMO People that don’t think refs are a major factor in basketball games either don’t really know the sport. Or maybe they were always on the fortunate team that got the BS.

I’ve seen and been on both and just ask any ref. They are real people with real biases and emotions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: paulcalhoun
The biggest issue with refs in general, and why this discussion will take place until it is resolved, is that they are contract employees of the SEC and NCAA. There is no standard that is measured, no maintained relationship, no audit-ability to ensure they are solely focused on being fair with no outside influence, etc. They come in, officiate and then get paid. If they WERE (and I am not saying any are) on the take there would be zero chance to prove it. And IMO this game was one where there was a very obvious difference in the types of fouls called, the timing of when certain fouls were called meaning gap filler fouls that don’t mean anything were much, much more prevalent on our side than theirs. Did it cost us the game? Nope, we pussed out at several positions all game. But when you are playing behind both on the scoreboard, in foul trouble for most of the game, etc. then its even more impactful.
 
My counter point here is that players are fully aware of the way the game is being officiating.. from HS to college to the NBA. It can get into their heads. If we can see it, the players certainly can see it.

Now I won't excuse the lack of effort.. you have to play through it. But it still has an effect on the way the players play the game. Eventually the players will respond. They might be frustrated, or they might think to not play defense because that's the only way they can not get fouled.
If the refs called the game evenly I’d be right there with you. Georgia was able to be ruthless on one end and Williams was getting called for touch fouls on the other end, repeatedly.
 
We won against Florida. First 5 threads were about how horrible the officiating was. Free throws 2-1. Phantom Calls.
It’s not after a lose, It’s after every game.

Exactly. If we win, tho, hardly anyone comes back to the boards. If we lose, EVERYONE hits the boards to btch. They only notice it when we lose. This is a decades old problem for UK.
 
There seems to be some confusion about the refs. There are no SEC-specific refs. Refs are national. They jump from conference to conference every day. They are independently contracted to ref games.
 
I have always wondered why the refs seem to dislike us so much. I think Cal made it worse with his attitude, but it goes back further than that. Anyone have any ideas. I would really appreciate some insight.💙💙

My buddy explained it to me this way years ago, and I haven't seen it proven wrong-

In basketball they use UK to get other SEC teams into the tournament conversation and off the bubble. It helps with ratings and revenue from the tournament and ads. There's little we can do to change it, because there is no accountability.

In football they use UK to help push other SEC teams into better bowls and higher rankings. The difference with football is that, if we show we can play disciplined football and overcome our mistakes, we haven't gotten shafted so much. We've gotten a fairly called game occasionally when we do so. There's nothing we can do to change it, because there's no accountability.

Part of it is how a coach treats the officials.
Part of it is how we play.
Part of it is how officials have been treated off the court and on.
The biggest part of it is who we are playing when and how it affects conference revenue.
There are also officials that absolutely hate UK no matter who we are playing.

Networks dislike UK because they have a small supporting audience. Viewership is high, but most root against UK because of how the media portrays Kentucky.

It also, as my friend surmised years ago, is because UK integrated the SEC. You don't hear the networks talking about Mississippi schools, coaches, programs, or fanbases as racist like you do UK. Same goes for EVERY other SEC institution. Why not?

Only reasonable answer is what separated UK from the rest of the SEC. They caused the entire conference to integrate.
 
There seems to be some confusion about the refs. There are no SEC-specific refs. Refs are national. They jump from conference to conference every day. They are independently contracted to ref games.

Sort of.

There are officials that don't work for X or Y conference.
There are officials that only work for certain conferences.
There are (or were) some that can't work for certain conferences or officiate certain programs' games.
Some are limited by common sense regional boundaries.

The main problem is that the officials are supposed to call the game according to the rules and not according to conference, regional, or style variances. Traveling is traveling no matter which jersey you are wearing. A foul is a foul.

When the referee brings a bias or a preference to the job, they are no longer impartial and part of the court. They then become a help to one team and a hindrance to another.

The other problem is that officials can't admit they made a mistake and correct things going forward. Instead they double or triple down on their mistakes because their egos are inflated. A lot of society is that way, so it's no surprise.
 
Sorry. I don't get on here after every loss and complain about officiating, but the officiating in the game last night was among the worst I've ever seen! Kentucky didn't play well, but the officiating was the deciding factor in that game. You can try to come on here with the holier than thou stuff about it being fair, but that's just garbage. Anyone who actually watched the game could see what was going on, even other ESPN announcers.
 
Of note , considering how beneficial the whistle was to the home team last night .. LSU had 8 fouls to the home teams 2 at the 8 minute mark last night in Missouri . It happens almost every night in the SEC .. ref's need to make a mental note to quit playing to the crowd , and just call the game straight up .. near every game looks so biased .
 
Of note , considering how beneficial the whistle was to the home team last night .. LSU had 8 fouls to the home teams 2 at the 8 minute mark last night in Missouri . It happens almost every night in the SEC .. ref's need to make a mental note to quit playing to the crowd , and just call the game straight up .. near every game looks so biased .
Don Day was right into the crowd. Notice on his calls how animated he is. Poole and Anderson are crap also. How did we get three weak minded bias refs at once?
 
GA scored 29 points from the free throw line and we only shot 19 free throws.
Ky shot 10 free throws after the game was decided. That's called trying to even it up. Why is the team down more than 10 shooting free throws in final 2 minutes while team with big lead isn't? Don Daily, Poole, and Stephenson were really bad
 
If the refs called the game evenly I’d be right there with you. Georgia was able to be ruthless on one end and Williams was getting called for touch fouls on the other end, repeatedly.
I was surprised they didn't try to toss Amari out when he slammed the ball. Hard to blame Amari for being pissed...at least 2 of his fouls were bullshit.
 
Not falling for that.

We have to be tougher.
We have to play better.
We have to make shots.
We have to be ready at tip off.
We half-assed a road SEC game.
We f'ed around and found out.

Did the refs suck? Yes they did but it's not the reason we lost.
The weren't the ONLY reason but if they are no factor then why are they present?

Our guys need to overcome the garbage home cooking but I'm not inclined to hand waive the garbage home cooking in the process either.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT