Higgins Fact Sheet
I know not everyone has time to read the entire Thread, so here’s a summary of what we have discussed so far concerning John Higgins’ Missed Calls vs. Kentucky. There will still be more to come.
Here’s his record officiating Kentucky games: http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Officials/John_Higgins.html
Some of our biggest NCAA Tournament losses were games he officiated:
2005 Double Overtime loss to Michigan State (94-88)
2011 Final Four loss to UConn (55-56)
2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin (64-71)
2017 Elite Eight loss to UNC (73-75)
Every one of those controversial losses were went down to the final seconds and he is a common denominator. Even as far back as 2005, getting our best players into early foul trouble seems to be a trend. I’m not here to debate whether or not we still had a chance to win those games; of course we did. But there’s no excuse for repeatedly making egregious calls against one team in the game. Former UK player Jon Hood tweeted out during the game, “Players can’t be worrying about the refs. Must play through it and be 15 points better.” What a sad state of officiating to where a team has to win by 15 to win by 1. All of these losses were games where a “little” call –or no-call—here or there made a big difference.
We have never won an Elite Eight or Final Four Game that Higgins has officiated. He has never officiated a UK Championship Game.
Cal only has 4 losses between Elite Eights and Final Fours in his tenure at UK - Higgins officiated 3 of them. (It should be noted that he did officiate the controversial 2010 Sweet Sixteen game vs Cornell which was just prior to the other Elite Eight loss in which he did not officiate, 2010 vs. WVU. #1 UK vs. #12 Cornell was hard-fought and only a 9 point game with 1:11 to go).
Higgins has officiated some game of the Final Four or Championship every year since 2010, except for one year: 2012.
Even the wins had numerous issues (2005 First Round NCAA Tournament vs. EKU, 2010 Sweet Sixteen vs. Cornell and 2017 Senior Night vs Vandy. Our regular season 12/03/16 loss at Rupp to UCLA had its issues, too. It should be noted that the UCLA game was our first loss, so Higgins officiated both our first and last losses of the 2016-2017 Season).
Also of note is that Higgins officiated Cal's last loss in the FedEx Forum as the Memphis coach. It was to Syracuse on 12/20/08, 72-65. Their overall record was 33-4. It was their only home loss of that season.
Post-season stats since 2011 can be found at https://phillyref.com/basketball/postseasonmen.html. Since 2011, UK is 0-3 in games Higgins has officiated. (Other notable NCAA Tournament stats since 2011: Arizona 3-0, Wisconsin 3-0, UConn 3-0, Wichita St 2-0. The SEC is 2-6). Since 2005, we are 2-4 in the NCAA Tournament and 3-5 overall (including the two 2016-2017 regular season games) Higgins has officiated.
Coaches and Referees: Seth Greenberg, who says Coach Cal is one of his dearest friends, stated a few times in the days following the game---on The Playbook and KSR---that it is well-known that Higgins doesn't exactly get along with Calipari. He says without a doubt there are refs that don’t like certain coaches. (See https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...as-is-no-secret-seth-greenberg-agrees.232338/andhttps://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/seth-greenberg-voice-of-reason.232368/).
Other notable coaches who have had issues with John Higgins are WVU’s Bob Huggins, a dear friend of Cal’s, and Bobby Hurley, who went ballistic when Higgins ejected him. Bob Huggins has advocated for referee reform, and John Higgins is the prime example in this article: http://westvirginia.247sports.com/Bolt/Huggins-Likes-Centralizing-Evaluating-Referees-51156677 The fan bases of West Virginia and Iowa State feel similarly about Higgins as do KY fans. A reporter for WVU recruiting even tweeted during the game, “Kentucky nation, let me introduce you to Mr. John Higgins. Mountaineer & Big 12 fans in general feel your pain.”
Half-Time Intervention: Dick Gabriel of the Big Blue Insider reported on March 29 that during halftime of UK-UNC, someone in authority from the NCAA got a hold of the referees and told them to “get their stuff together” in the second half (hear it beginning around 5:30 mark here: http://bigblueinsider.com/2017/03/march-29th-podcast-with-mike-pratt/ If there had to be an intervention, what does that say about the integrity of the game?
Kentucky fans weren’t the only ones who noticed what went on at the game. Even Coach Cal couldn’t help but say at the post-game press conference, “You know, it’s amazing that we were in the game where they practically fouled out my whole team. Amazing that we had a chance.” (See http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...lite-eight-results/1s87ijvzm6qbq1kbin53htwgfb and http://www.coachcal.com/44831/2017/03/kentuckys-post-north-carolina-press-conference/)
The game was called so poorly in the first half, that even the national media and other fan bases took notice. Former UK players, some who had played in losses officiated by Higgins, spoke out about it on social media.
We don’t know Higgins' motivations for making bad or no-calls against Kentucky, and I don’t want to get distracted by passing judgment on those motives. But the fact remains that when it really mattered most, UK did not get a fair chance to advance in games that John Higgins officiated. It happened for years and the BBN was told to “move on and quit whining.” But then the Elite Eight vs. North Carolina happened. And a lot more people have taken note this time. The collective voice of the BBN is being heard. NEVER AGAIN can this happen to another Kentucky team.
For our 2005, 2011, 2015 and 2017 Teams. They Deserved Better. The BBN Deserved Better.
I know not everyone has time to read the entire Thread, so here’s a summary of what we have discussed so far concerning John Higgins’ Missed Calls vs. Kentucky. There will still be more to come.
Here’s his record officiating Kentucky games: http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Officials/John_Higgins.html
Some of our biggest NCAA Tournament losses were games he officiated:
2005 Double Overtime loss to Michigan State (94-88)
2011 Final Four loss to UConn (55-56)
2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin (64-71)
2017 Elite Eight loss to UNC (73-75)
Every one of those controversial losses were went down to the final seconds and he is a common denominator. Even as far back as 2005, getting our best players into early foul trouble seems to be a trend. I’m not here to debate whether or not we still had a chance to win those games; of course we did. But there’s no excuse for repeatedly making egregious calls against one team in the game. Former UK player Jon Hood tweeted out during the game, “Players can’t be worrying about the refs. Must play through it and be 15 points better.” What a sad state of officiating to where a team has to win by 15 to win by 1. All of these losses were games where a “little” call –or no-call—here or there made a big difference.
We have never won an Elite Eight or Final Four Game that Higgins has officiated. He has never officiated a UK Championship Game.
Cal only has 4 losses between Elite Eights and Final Fours in his tenure at UK - Higgins officiated 3 of them. (It should be noted that he did officiate the controversial 2010 Sweet Sixteen game vs Cornell which was just prior to the other Elite Eight loss in which he did not officiate, 2010 vs. WVU. #1 UK vs. #12 Cornell was hard-fought and only a 9 point game with 1:11 to go).
Higgins has officiated some game of the Final Four or Championship every year since 2010, except for one year: 2012.
Even the wins had numerous issues (2005 First Round NCAA Tournament vs. EKU, 2010 Sweet Sixteen vs. Cornell and 2017 Senior Night vs Vandy. Our regular season 12/03/16 loss at Rupp to UCLA had its issues, too. It should be noted that the UCLA game was our first loss, so Higgins officiated both our first and last losses of the 2016-2017 Season).
Also of note is that Higgins officiated Cal's last loss in the FedEx Forum as the Memphis coach. It was to Syracuse on 12/20/08, 72-65. Their overall record was 33-4. It was their only home loss of that season.
Post-season stats since 2011 can be found at https://phillyref.com/basketball/postseasonmen.html. Since 2011, UK is 0-3 in games Higgins has officiated. (Other notable NCAA Tournament stats since 2011: Arizona 3-0, Wisconsin 3-0, UConn 3-0, Wichita St 2-0. The SEC is 2-6). Since 2005, we are 2-4 in the NCAA Tournament and 3-5 overall (including the two 2016-2017 regular season games) Higgins has officiated.
Coaches and Referees: Seth Greenberg, who says Coach Cal is one of his dearest friends, stated a few times in the days following the game---on The Playbook and KSR---that it is well-known that Higgins doesn't exactly get along with Calipari. He says without a doubt there are refs that don’t like certain coaches. (See https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/...as-is-no-secret-seth-greenberg-agrees.232338/andhttps://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/seth-greenberg-voice-of-reason.232368/).
Other notable coaches who have had issues with John Higgins are WVU’s Bob Huggins, a dear friend of Cal’s, and Bobby Hurley, who went ballistic when Higgins ejected him. Bob Huggins has advocated for referee reform, and John Higgins is the prime example in this article: http://westvirginia.247sports.com/Bolt/Huggins-Likes-Centralizing-Evaluating-Referees-51156677 The fan bases of West Virginia and Iowa State feel similarly about Higgins as do KY fans. A reporter for WVU recruiting even tweeted during the game, “Kentucky nation, let me introduce you to Mr. John Higgins. Mountaineer & Big 12 fans in general feel your pain.”
Half-Time Intervention: Dick Gabriel of the Big Blue Insider reported on March 29 that during halftime of UK-UNC, someone in authority from the NCAA got a hold of the referees and told them to “get their stuff together” in the second half (hear it beginning around 5:30 mark here: http://bigblueinsider.com/2017/03/march-29th-podcast-with-mike-pratt/ If there had to be an intervention, what does that say about the integrity of the game?
Kentucky fans weren’t the only ones who noticed what went on at the game. Even Coach Cal couldn’t help but say at the post-game press conference, “You know, it’s amazing that we were in the game where they practically fouled out my whole team. Amazing that we had a chance.” (See http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...lite-eight-results/1s87ijvzm6qbq1kbin53htwgfb and http://www.coachcal.com/44831/2017/03/kentuckys-post-north-carolina-press-conference/)
The game was called so poorly in the first half, that even the national media and other fan bases took notice. Former UK players, some who had played in losses officiated by Higgins, spoke out about it on social media.
We don’t know Higgins' motivations for making bad or no-calls against Kentucky, and I don’t want to get distracted by passing judgment on those motives. But the fact remains that when it really mattered most, UK did not get a fair chance to advance in games that John Higgins officiated. It happened for years and the BBN was told to “move on and quit whining.” But then the Elite Eight vs. North Carolina happened. And a lot more people have taken note this time. The collective voice of the BBN is being heard. NEVER AGAIN can this happen to another Kentucky team.
For our 2005, 2011, 2015 and 2017 Teams. They Deserved Better. The BBN Deserved Better.
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