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Higgins Missed Calls Thread 2005-2017

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.
 
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Kentucky vs. Wisconsin, 2015 Final Four
shot clock violation resulting in 2 points for Wisconsin while Higgins and Harris are photographed officiating

img_1661.jpg
 
Most are probably aware of ESPN’s 30for30 special on Coach Cal, “One and Not Done” that was aired this week (4-13-17). It is excellent and gives insight into his story. Made me appreciate him even more --- and I was already a big fan. It is available to stream on WatchEspn and the app for applicable subscribers (and assuming on-demand for those with boxes). Any KY fan should watch it.

Here’s a Thread that started while the special aired and the comments continue: https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/watching-the-espn-30-for-30-on-cal-thread.233758/

I mentioned the documentary here because there is a segment that shows Cal as UMass head coach getting a technical in 1992 --- very unjustly --- (against UK, of all teams!) in the NCAA tournament. It also shows last season’s A&M game where Pat Adams called that ridiculous technical on Humphries, which most agree cost us the win (and our NCAA seeding, which put us vs. rival Indiana in the 2nd round of the tournament. A very unfortunate snowball effect. Not trying to drift, but see http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Officials/Pat_Adams.html for his record). You can hear Cal yelling at Adams something to the effect of, “You didn’t call other fouls throughout the game, but you choose to call that one.” Cal yells after the game, “We got cheated!” And goes into the locker room and tells the team, “You got cheated. Don’t worry about it!” Finally, we heard him say what we’ve all thought.

As others have noted, the documentary shows that referees have not “just started” making questionable calls against Cal. It's happened for years. Again, not here to judge motives, but it’s unfortunate that in so many games where a little call here or there really mattered, some measure of injustice has been done. May it never happen again!
 
I really do wonder if higgins will ref another uk NCAA tourney game. Maybe like first weekend but no further.

Nah, knowing the NCAA they'll get him next year e8
 
I really do wonder if higgins will ref another uk NCAA tourney game. Maybe like first weekend but no further.

Nah, knowing the NCAA they'll get him next year e8
I didn't realize that Higgins was one of the officials in the 2005 MSU game. Who was the official that didn't call a foul on Michigan State when the MSU player literally fell on top of Patrick Sparks on his game tying three point shot? No way that was a "no call".
 
Catscratch81,

He was standing right there, with full view of the foul.

I tried to cue it to that final play, but for some reason, couldn't; fast forward to around 1 hour, 14 minutes of the video
 
Catscratch81,

He was standing right there, with full view of the foul.

I tried to cue it to that final play, but for some reason, couldn't; fast forward to around 1 hour, 14 minutes of the video

The video was a little blurry to me but it looked like the ref out near the top of the key with the best view of the foul was Mark Whitehead. Jim Burr was on the sideline and had a good view of the shot but not the foul. John Higgins was on the endline under the basket.

Only Whitehead could have reasonably made that call IMO.
 
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Thanks JP, for your insight. (Oh, what memories we have with Whitehead, too!)

I wish they had listened to Tubby and reviewed the play.
 
I know it would be impossible to track but you know the greed factor has to come into play with officials. I mean they could easily have a friend bet on the spread and effect the outcome, winning themselves a lot of money. I know some will say that could never happen but it has happened with NBA officials who were caught and with players who were caught shaving points for money so why would NCAA officials be any more moral than the others.
 
I know it would be impossible to track but you know the greed factor has to come into play with officials. I mean they could easily have a friend bet on the spread and effect the outcome, winning themselves a lot of money. I know some will say that could never happen but it has happened with NBA officials who were caught and with players who were caught shaving points for money so why would NCAA officials be any more moral than the others.

I would argue it's much more likely to see gamblers target college refs rather than NBA refs, simply because there's very little real oversight, very little accountability and the quality and consistency of NCAA reffing is all over the map so it's easier to hide.

As you noted, cheating by NBA refs has already been uncovered not too many years ago. It would be naive to think college refs are completely innocent.

Given all that, it's frankly amazing to me how blasé the powers that be are towards enacting any type of improvement to the current situation. If anything, going by their decision to have Higgins ref the Final 4, they'd rather double down and revel in incompetence than seriously try to address any of the issues that they've been ignoring for decades.
 
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Do they think by putting Higgins in the final four it is a big ole double middle finger up at fans or are they trying to make the fans think they are wrong about what kind of job those guys are doing? I tend to think it's the latter but with the NCAA you never know.
 
Thanks for all your research. Maybe we need NBA refs for the tournament.

(I wonder if he was enrolled in the UNC fake refereeing class?)
 
Do they think by putting Higgins in the final four it is a big ole double middle finger up at fans or are they trying to make the fans think they are wrong about what kind of job those guys are doing? I tend to think it's the latter but with the NCAA you never know.

There's no legitimate claim that Higgins did a credible job calling the UK-UNC game. If someone tries to do so they lose all credibility and if they're an official, deserve to be fired themselves.

The most damning piece of information to come out of the whole fiasco is the news that the same committee members who put the tournament field together were also grading the referees. Frankly that goes a long way in explaining why instead of seeing referees advance through the tournament based on merit (as is supposed to happen) we tend to end up with the same cast of characters in the Final Four year after year. (With half of them having not deserving to be there.)
 
Good question. Has anyone been arrested over these Higgins "threats"?

I assumed it was bs anyway, but I certainly wouldn't put it past him to claim the threats occurred just to change the narrative of the story about how ridiculous uk got jobbed in that game by the officials---primarily Higgins.

Jp I agree! How does the ncaa ignore what many have called the worst officiated tourney ever---by doing nothing?
 
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Good question. Has anyone been arrested over these Higgins "threats"?

I assumed it was bs anyway, but I certainly wouldn't put it past him to claim the threats occurred just to change the narrative of the story about how ridiculous uk got jobbed in that game by the officials---primarily Higgins.

Jp I agree! How does the ncaa ignore what many have called the worst officiated tourney ever---by doing nothing?
There is a reason there are so many so bad and so crooked. There is a reason they are ALLOWED to dominate a game any time they want. There is a reason none ever gets fired. The NCAA either encourages it or cares too little to fix it.
 
There's no legitimate claim that Higgins did a credible job calling the UK-UNC game. If someone tries to do so they lose all credibility and if they're an official, deserve to be fired themselves. . . .

Appreciate your thoughts, JP! Your website is such a great resource and so many of us 'Cats fans sincerely appreciate you and your dedication. Over the years, I have read the stats or game summaries and they've taken me back to a place in time to a special game and brought back such great memories.

Would you happen to know when Higgins officiated his first game with Cal as a coach or if they met some time before? I know he officiated some games at Memphis and refereed Cal's last home loss at the FedEx Forum while he was coach, but I'm curious to know when they first met. Any idea how or where to find this?
 
Appreciate your thoughts, JP! Your website is such a great resource and so many of us 'Cats fans sincerely appreciate you and your dedication. Over the years, I have read the stats or game summaries and they've taken me back to a place in time to a special game and brought back such great memories.

Would you happen to know when Higgins officiated his first game with Cal as a coach or if they met some time before? I know he officiated some games at Memphis and refereed Cal's last home loss at the FedEx Forum while he was coach, but I'm curious to know when they first met. Any idea how or where to find this?

You'd have to go back and look at every boxscore of every game that Memphis played in while Cal was coach. (and potentially back to UMASS days. Not sure how long Higgins has been a college ref.)

It's a long painstaking process, and that's assuming that they list the officials. Many boxscores you find in newspapers do not. Your best bet would be to contact Memphis directly to see if they have access to the original boxscores, or barring that if their media guides list boxscores with officials.

FWIW, filling in this missing information even for UK games is something that I've been working on for nearly 20 years now, and there's still a ton of missing information. Below is a current list of missing officials going back to 1930:

Link to Missing Officials in UK games

Slowly but surely these holes are being filled in, with assistance from a handful of UK fans who have helped locate the data over the years.
 
Thanks, JPScott, for the advice. The Memphis site http://stats.gotigersgo.com has game stats with officials, but the one for UMass http://umasshoops.com/games/history_sb.htm, though excellent, does not as far as I can tell. Will keep trying.
I read an article that indicated Higgins began officiating college games (Missouri Valley, Big 8) not too long after attending a camp in 1987 (as a college player, he played in the 1982 NAIA Final Four, as well).
Thanks to your research, some of us here on the board were well aware when the officials were announced that the game would have its challenges. In light of how it turned out, I am hopeful that more attention is being paid to the numbers and stats when he and others have called our games.
 
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He left a recruit's family at dinner drunk, puked in his car, and risked people's lives. If you don't care about that you think different than me.
So he got to drunk and tried to drive home, happens every day
 
Comeback Games

Not yet making any particular point, but I do want to note an observation: John Higgins has officiated a number of NCAA Tournament games with what the media called “stunning comebacks”:

Syracuse vs. Virginia, Elite Eight, March 27, 2016
http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...nside-syracuses-stunning-comeback-vs-virginia

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...d-collapse-syracuse-miss-final-four/82330632/

BYU vs. Iona, March 13, 2012
http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2012/...back-in-ncaa-tournament-history-downs-iona-78

Kansas vs. Purdue, March 18, 2012
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor.../gIQAFxSoLS_story.html?utm_term=.44d6ac488172

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/kansas-ncaa-tournament-final-comebacks_n_1397153.html

Will post some more later.
 
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Karl-Anthony Towns was a guest on The Vertical Podcast. KSR has a summary and link to the podcast here:
http://kentuckysportsradio.com/bask...wisconsin-loss-the-biggest-defeat-of-my-life/

KAT called Wisconsin "the greatest defeat of his life." An excerpt from the article/podcast states, "We had a chance to really solidify ourselves. Now we have that ‘What if?’ next to our name. ‘They had the talent, they were the best team ever assembled in basketball history, but what if they would have won, would we really have crowned them that?’ Now it’s like a discussion. We never wanted a discussion. We wanted to go out and win. It’s one of those things you remember for the rest of your life. I’ve never let it go. I never will. I will take that as the biggest defeat of my life. I lost the chance to go to the Olympics. I’ve lost the TOC Championship in New Jersey, I’ve lost a lot of games in my life but that definitely will always hold up as the pinnacle and it’s something that you just never want to deal with again.”

Wisconsin haunts us all. Our 2015 team deserved better than how that game was officiated. It was an absolute travesty.

Never Again!
 
Amazing that not a single photo above was called a foul! Just pathetic. Not a conspiracy theorist though. Can't wrap my head around the notion that the ncaa would protect/favor unc a team that is so blatantly thumbing its nose at the ncaa. Just haven't been able to bridge that gap yet
 
Amazing that not a single photo above was called a foul! Just pathetic. Not a conspiracy theorist though. Can't wrap my head around the notion that the ncaa would protect/favor unc a team that is so blatantly thumbing its nose at the ncaa. Just haven't been able to bridge that gap yet

Maybe the NCAA wasn't the one behind it. Maybe it was a ref thing since Vegas stands to gain or lose a lot of money on these games. When UK made it to the Final Four in 2015 and I heard how much some Vegas odds makers stood to lose if they went 40-0 I knew it wouldn't happen. You know that $100,000 paid to officials was much easier to swallow for the odds makers than millions lost on 40-0 bets.

As a side note of the thousands of calls and death threats made to Higgins, his family, friends, pets, neighbors and employees have any of them resulted in arrest? Seems like his tactic worked perfectly. Everyone was too distracted by the UK fan death threat story to focus on what a horrible job he did. Now it seems that it was just a façade.
 
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Anyone arrested yet?

Haven't heard of one yet.

You'd think they would've gotten to the bottom of it by now with charges brought if these were such serious threats that the FBI had to be brought in and entire world had to be alerted about them. I mean, it's almost as if the entire thing wasn't anywhere close to being as serious as Higgins and sports writers were making it out to be. Hmmm...
 
Flashback to UK vs UCLA at Rupp on 12/3/16. It was our first loss of the season, which Higgins officiated. He also officiated our last loss, too.
 
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