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Higgins Missed Calls Thread 2005-2017

Wildcat Sheli said:
There have been a number of John Higgins Threads already posted so far. I thought it might be good to have a dedicated Thread to post his missed calls.

First, a little background. . . .

Here’s his record officiating Kentucky games: http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Officials/John_Higgins.html

Would like to have his record vs Cal at UMass and Memphis. There’s another Thread about that (https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/higgins-vs-cal-at-umass-memphis.232113/).

Here’s some of the recent Threads on this board related to Higgins:
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/john-higgins-ref-for-tomorrow.231561/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/tubbys-2005-loss-higgins.232114/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/decoursy-sporting-news-on-officiating-and-higgins.232051/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/cal-calls-out-officials.231957/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/tom-leach-pounding-the-refs.232080/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/dear-matt-jones.232079/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/if-unc-wins-the-title-give-john-higgins.232075/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...st-ky-and-terrible-seeding-towards-uk.231978/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/worst-calls-of-the-game.231889/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...ly-called-one-technical-in-7-uk-games.231712/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...icials-for-tonights-game.231093/#post-5781208

To clear up a few misconceptions: No, he did not call a technical in every UK game he officiated. No, we have not lost every game he officiated. No, he is not related to Ellen Calipari (although that is her maiden name. If all else fails, we could try using that to disqualify him from officiating any future UK games:>). No, he is not related to the famous now-retired referee Tim Higgins. {But he does have a brother named Tim, who also played basketball and was a referee http://www.lopers.com/news/2015/6/8/MBB_0608153516.aspx and http://lopers.com/hof.aspx?hof=206&path=&kiosk=}

But it IS TRUE that we have never won an Elite Eight or Final Four Game that he has officiated. Even the UCLA regular season game he officiated in December had questionable calls. If we win that game, our seeding might have been different.

Here’s an old radio interview where he casually dismisses non-reviewable missed calls: http://kxno.iheart.com/onair/the-morning-rush-52935/referee-john-higgins-talks-dunks-his-14445856/

Here’s a couple feature stories on him:
http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1067762/nebraska-basketball-referee-has-earned-his-stripes
http://www.si.com/college-basketbal...recognized-referee-well-traveled-john-higgins

Some of our biggest tournament losses were games he officiated:
2005 Elite Eight Double Overtime to Michigan State
2011 Final Four loss to UConn
2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin
2017 Elite Eight to UNC (we were ranked #5 and they were #6 and #8, we beat them, yet we were the #2 Seed to their #1)

Every one of those losses were controversial and he is a common denominator. These were games where a “little” call –or no-call—here or there made a big difference.

If anyone has video clips or still shots of missed calls, let’s post them here!
Click to expand...

Good post. I'm not sure what's your point is about the one vs two seed thing though. we would have played them anyways if we were the one and they were the two because of geography.
 
UKWildcats#8 said:
Good post. I'm not sure what's your point is about the one vs two seed thing though....
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks. I wasn't making any particular point; just put it there for the record (over time, I can forget those little details:>).
 
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A week later and former UK player and current media personality Rex Chapman is still not letting up. Here’s a few tweets (there are more, this is just a sample):






 
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Even legend Oscar Combs has chimed in on the officiating. Here’s a sampling from his twitter feed:




 
Higgins' Officiated NCAA Tournament Games Since 2011

This is a follow up to a previous post with a summary of wins/losses going back to 2011 for teams John Higgins officiated more than once in the NCAA Tournament (see: https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/higgins-missed-calls-thread-2005-2017.232127/page-2). According to phillyref, these are the stats for games Higgins has officiated in the Tournament since 2011. Game winners are in bold.

4/01/17: Final Four Semi Final (West-1) Gonzaga 77-73 (South-1) South Carolina John Higgins, Doug Sirmons, Jeff Anderson

3/26/17: Elite Eight (South-2) Kentucky 73-75 (s-1) North Carolina John Higgins, Keith Kimble, Mike Reed

3/18/17: 2nd (West-2) Arizona 69-60 (w-7) Saint Mary's John Higgins, Ron Groover, Eric Curry

3/16/17: 1st (West-9) Vanderbilt 66-68 (w-8) Northwestern John Higgins, Kevin Brill, Tommy Nunez Jr.


4/04/16: Championship Final (South-2) Villanova 77-74 (East-1) North Carolina John Higgins, Michael Stephens, Terry Wymer

3/27/16: Elite Eight (Midwest-1) Virginia 62-68 (m-10) Syracuse Michael Roberts, John Higgins, John Gaffney

3/20/16: 3rd (Midwest-15) Middle Tennessee 50-75 (m-10) Syracuse Lee Cassell, John Higgins, Ted Valentine

3/18/16: 2nd (East-7) Wisconsin 47-43 (e-10) Pittsburgh Kevin Brill, Lee Cassell, John Higgins


4/04/15: Final Four Semi Final (Midwest-1) Kentucky 64-71 (West-1) Wisconsin Verne Harris, John Higgins, Doug Sirmons

3/22/15: 3rd (Midwest-7) Wichita State 78-65 (m-2) Kansas John Higgins, Kipp Kissinger, Gregory Nixon

3/20/15: 2nd (West-1) Wisconsin 86-72 (w-16) Coastal Carolina William Covington Jr., Clarence Armstrong, John Higgins

3/18/15: 1st (East-11) Dayton 56-55 (e-11) Boise State John Higgins, Timothy Kelly, Tony Padilla


4/05/14: Final Four Semi Final (East-7) Connecticut 63-53 (South-1) Florida John Higgins, Doug Sirmons, Michael Stephens

3/30/14: Elite Eight (East-4) Michigan State 54-60 (7) Connecticut Tom Eades, John Higgins, Michael Roberts

3/23/14: 2nd (Midwest-14) Mercer 63-83 (11) Tennessee Dwayne Gladden, Verne Harris, John Higgins


4/08/13: Championship Final (Midwest-1) Louisville 82-76 (South-4) Michigan John Cahill, Tony Greene, John Higgins

3/30/13: Elite Eight (East-4) Syracuse 55-39 (3) Marquette Verne Harris, John Higgins, Randy McCall

3/23/13: 3rd (West -1) Gonzaga 70-76 (9) Wichita State John Gaffney, John Higgins, Brian Dorsey

3/21/13: 2nd (West-6) Arizona 81-64 (11) Belmont John Gaffney, John Higgins, Donnie Eppley

**NOTE: 2012 was the only year from 2010-2017 that Higgins did not officiate a Final Four or Championship Game**
3/24/12: Elite Eight (East-1) Syracuse 70-77 (2) Ohio State Tom O'Neill, Michael Nance, John Higgins

3/18/12: 3rd (Midwest-2) Kansas 63-60 (10) Purdue John Gaffney, John Higgins, Ray Natili

3/16/12: 2nd (West-7) Florida 71-45 (10) Virginia Timothy Kitts, John Gaffney, John Higgins

3/13/12 1st (14) Iona 72-78 (14) Brigham Young John Higgins, Michael Kitts, Sean Corbin


4/02/11: Final Four Semi Final (3) Connecticut 56-55 (4) Kentucky Les Jones, John Higgins, Mark Whitehead

3/24/11: 3rd (West-1) Duke 77-93 (5) Arizona Michael Nance, Tom Eades, John Higgins
 
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UK vs. Wisconsin Final Four 2015
This was not considered a foul by Verne Harris, Doug Sirmons and John Higgins

This was the lead photo for a USA Today article entitled, "Kentucky-Wisconsin was the crescendo of awful tournament officiating"

usp_ncaa_basketball__final_four-wisconsin_vs_kentu_72110110-11.jpg
 
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Here's Bill Walton's eccentric interview. Around the 1:20 mark he starts talking about the referees and the UK-UNC game.

 
Here’s a tweet Arizona State Bobby Hurley sent out in January 2016 after he was ejected by Higgins (we’ve got the video and story in an earlier post):

 
Derek Willis and Dominique Hawkins did not hold back their feelings on officiating, especially the UK-UNC game, in this interview (cued to comments):

 
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UK vs UNC, Elite Eight, March 26, 2017

a slightly different frame than above

deaaron-fox-of-the-university-of-kentucky-wildcats-shoots-against-picture-id658061026
 
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Wildcat Sheli...
This is a really good thread....It might really have an impact if we could get other team fans to share their Higgins bad calls.

Also...you've posted a lot of material here. Have you considered cross posting on a website? This data should be preserved. If you want, I can help....I'll provide the website & free hosting if you post the content. That might also help getting other teams fans to contribute.
 
barryn2000,
Thank you for your kind words. At this time, I wouldn’t be able to devote the proper time to posting on a website, but I would be happy for you to use the content I’ve posted here, and will continue to post, with attribution. I took the time I would have normally taken in the week leading up to the ‘Cats playing in the Final Four and instead of getting ready for the game(s), used that energy to get content for these posts. More are still to come. Need to still collect additional pertinent data from the games, play-by-play, and post them, as well as more pictures and video clips. I think including other fan bases is good, too; I know the fans of West Virginia, Iowa State, Boise State, Arizona State, Virginia and Oklahoma share similar grievances with the way their games have been called. I’ve actually got some material to post in the coming days on that very issue.

From reading your posts, I think we agree that sticking to the issue is key: Higgins does not call games well for UK. I’m not here to judge Higgins’ motives or make this about him as a person. It’s strictly about the games he has officiated and how that has affected UK’s chances to winning a title (even the way he called the UCLA game, which we lost in the regular season, might have affected our eventual tournament seeding. If we had won that game, we likely would not have been in UNC’s region). There are just so many “what ifs” on games Higgins has refereed. The fact is we have never advanced when he has called an Elite Eight or Final Four game. Every UK loss (and even the wins) has been controversial; every loss has been close, coming down to the final seconds (even vs. Wisconsin, where we had to play foul ball and lost by 7); and every loss has left fans and commentators alike wondering what the outcome might have been had Higgins not been on the whistle. We will never know. But what I do know is that he should not be permitted to officiate UK basketball games again.

Go 'Cats! Go Big Blue!
 
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Wildcat Sheli said:
barryn2000,
Thank you for your kind words. At this time, I wouldn’t be able to devote the proper time to posting on a website, but I would be happy for you to use the content I’ve posted here, and will continue to post, with attribution.
Click to expand...

I also don't have the time to be the editor/author/contributer but would help anyone interested by showing them how to grab your post content and publish it to a website. Someone would need to buy a domain, I would provide the hosting, webdesign and manage the backend.

Anyone interested?

Wildcat Sheli said:
More are still to come. Need to still collect additional pertinent data from the games, play-by-play, and post them, as well as more pictures and video clips.
Click to expand...

One important thing...while they might have a tough time suing a forum poster, Getty Images is notorious for suing website owners for use of their images. They put them out there in the public and then look for people that used them and extort them for ridiculous usage fees. I have a client dealing with them right now.

It would be better to screenshot from game video if possible...or make sure images are not Getty's.

Wildcat Sheli said:
From reading your posts, I think we agree that sticking to the issue is key: Higgins does not call games well for UK. I’m not here to judge Higgins’ motives or make this about him as a person. It’s strictly about the games he has officiated and how that has affected UK’s chances to winning a title
Click to expand...

We do agree...the best strategy is sticking to the facts and staying away from ad hominem attacks and theories on motive. Higgins motives are unimportant in the sense that if he's not reffing, he cannot affect games.
 
Thanks, barryn2000. (Update: I have checked with Getty and we are okay to use the photos as we are here, but not on a website). Appreciate the advice and also the offer to host/design/manage a website!

Go ‘Cats!
 
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The Syracuse-Ohio State 2012 NCAA Elite Eight game had 49 fouls called during the game. Higgins was the lead official. It had its controversies and generated quite a stir in the media. (Note: Higgins did not work any game of the Final Four/Championship that year, 2012; this is the only year from 2010 to the present that he did not work a Final Four or Championship Game. We all remember 2012 quite well!). The last article is from the pool reporter from that night.

http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2012/03/syracuses_loss_to_ohio_state_d.html
http://sujuiceonline.com/2012/03/25/referees-whistle-49-times-during-syracuses-loss-to-ohio-state/
http://radio.cbssports.com/2015/11/04/john-feinstein-blog-officials-need-to-be-held-accountable/


 
Wildcat Sheli said:
There have been a number of John Higgins Threads already posted so far. I thought it might be good to have a dedicated Thread to post his missed calls.

First, a little background. . . .

Here’s his record officiating Kentucky games: http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Officials/John_Higgins.html

Would like to have his record vs Cal at UMass and Memphis. There’s another Thread about that (https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/higgins-vs-cal-at-umass-memphis.232113/).

Here’s some of the recent Threads on this board related to Higgins:
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/john-higgins-ref-for-tomorrow.231561/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/tubbys-2005-loss-higgins.232114/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/decoursy-sporting-news-on-officiating-and-higgins.232051/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/cal-calls-out-officials.231957/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/tom-leach-pounding-the-refs.232080/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/dear-matt-jones.232079/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/if-unc-wins-the-title-give-john-higgins.232075/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...st-ky-and-terrible-seeding-towards-uk.231978/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/worst-calls-of-the-game.231889/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...ly-called-one-technical-in-7-uk-games.231712/
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...icials-for-tonights-game.231093/#post-5781208

To clear up a few misconceptions: No, he did not call a technical in every UK game he officiated. No, we have not lost every game he officiated. No, he is not related to Ellen Calipari, although that is her maiden name. No, he is not related to the famous now-retired referee Tim Higgins. {But he does have a brother named Tim, who also played basketball and was a referee http://www.lopers.com/news/2015/6/8/MBB_0608153516.aspx and http://lopers.com/hof.aspx?hof=206&path=&kiosk=}

But it IS TRUE that we have never won an Elite Eight or Final Four Game that he has officiated. Even the UCLA regular season game he officiated in December had questionable calls. If we win that game, our seeding might have been different.

Here’s an old radio interview where he casually dismisses non-reviewable missed calls: http://kxno.iheart.com/onair/the-morning-rush-52935/referee-john-higgins-talks-dunks-his-14445856/

Here’s a couple feature stories on him:
http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1067762/nebraska-basketball-referee-has-earned-his-stripes
http://www.si.com/college-basketbal...recognized-referee-well-traveled-john-higgins

Some of our biggest tournament losses were games he officiated:
2005 Elite Eight Double Overtime to Michigan State
2011 Final Four loss to UConn
2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin
2017 Elite Eight to UNC

(A note about 2017 Seeding: Going into the Tournament, in the national polls, UK was ranked #5 and UNC was ranked #6 and #8, as well as UCLA [flipped polls]. In the regular season, UCLA beat us; they were the South's 3 Seed. In the regular season, UK beat UNC; UK was the #2 Seed to UNC's #1 in the South Region. UK faced 3 teams in the Tournament who had 30 wins; according to Corey Price, this was a "first" in NCAA Tournament History).

Every one of those losses Higgins officiated were controversial and he is a common denominator. These were games where a “little” call –or no-call—here or there made a big difference.

If anyone has video clips or still shots of missed calls, let’s post them here!
Click to expand...

Did you send this to the SEC Conference and NCAA? I would like to seek that melodramatic Higgins and his pal th Sheriff respond to this documentation?
 
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I know this is a touchy subject, but this is a very interesting article about Louisville’s 2013 Title run. Higgins officiated the Championship Game that year.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2013/4/9/4204318/final-four-2013-louisville-referee

Another article about the Championship from Bleacher Report stated, “The year that gave us absurdly low scores, poor officiating and enough parity to make us believe some school named Florida Gulf Coast could go and win the thing is over now.”
 
Sad that fans have to get to this level to create facts to show the NCAA how incompetent their officiating has become.

The consistency that you attempt to build through the year is a waste of time. When you reward a roofer with big $ games, he's not going to care what anyone thinks. Just because he thinks he's doing a good job only matters to the ones who control his assignments. That Big12 official who gives Higgins his assignments is clearly not impacted by any social media on this. That is the area we need to get to.

Doesn't it make more sense to give assignments to groups of officials who work well together as opposed to slotting guys who have no familiarity?

And never, ever should a roofer have the control he has over a NCAA tournament game like Higgins does. He can overrule other decisions and he proved that more than once this past year.
 
I thought Bam fouled on the jump ball because he had to go over the unc player, becase the official tossed it up behind the unc player.
 
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