The one thing this sport needs more than any other single thing is for the officials to be held accountable and oversight - as paid employees (Not contract employees where neither oversight nor accountability exists).
Every single game I see in today's game - FOR YEARS - has been the absolutely sickening way officials ruin the college game.
1) They use poor judgment - period.
Missing a charge/block "bang-bang" play is one thing. Consistently getting them wrong ( which is what they are doing multiple times in each and every single game I watch) is another thing. But all these missed or flat out WRONG calls is something that can only be enforced thru making, no scratch that - FORCING - officials to be held accountable for what they are doing - and NOT doing. You know it's bad when you have to point out to them the numerous things they ARE missing.
2) Making bad - game altering calls - at the end of a game.
Again, no oversight, no accountability, and they can just continue to do what they do unimpeded and it will never change. Making these bad calls (or missing calls) - especially - at the end of games is making it impossible for me to enjoy these games any longer. It's been bad REALLY BAD for YEARS now (ten +) Ulis got called for a foul because he was blocking out a much larger guy and backed into him. How is that even possible ? I see why they called it, but ABSOLUTELY disagree that it was a foul. And that's just one prime example. It happens a lot more frequently and we all notice more at the end of games. But it's happening throughout the ENTIRE game from tip to the final horn. They just can't get it right. They're either incapable, or incompetent to do so - take your pick.
3) Missing calls
The Kentucky game against A&M is a prime example of this point. One of the big reasons we didn't get more rebounds was because the A&M players consistently went over the shorter UK players to get the ball (over the back). Kids don't even know how to play because when they fight for a loose ball rebound, they get called for foul. So they lose aggressiveness (unless it's a home game, of course) and they get sheepish even trying to challenge for a rebound. I don't blame the kids looking and feeling confused as to what to do.
4) Officials aren't invisible in any game that's played in this day and age.
They want to get some TV time. Their EGO needs to be fed. That's just plain wrong. A good official makes calls and you think, well, our guys fouled him, no doubt. They foul us and we should be saying, well, yep, that's a foul on them. But that's not what is happening. They goto the scorer's table to look for a tenth of a second to put back on the shot clock, ostensibly giving teams without any timeouts a free one. Then the officials huddle up, all the while knowing everyone is getting PO'd at the extra long time they are taking to make the call. Nobody knows WTH is going on. Then they go back to the sidelines and point to both coaches to come and meet with them for yet another pow-wow, so the coaches can understand their madness. Then they take more time to go over to the GD announcers so they can explain whateverthehell it is they've come up with. And it happens at least once, sometimes 2,3,4,5 times each GAME. It's unreal and it's ruined the game. Not ruininING the game RUINED the game.
5) Inconsistent calls on both sides of the ball.
What gets called a foul on one end is NOT called on the other. Again, the kids (and coaches too) are totally dumbfounded and don't know what the hell to expect. I know I sure don't. We all see it in every SINGLE GAME.
6) Officials calling games with teams and coaches they "have a beef with." Happens all the time. Yet the same officials work the same teams OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
I'm not even going to mention the ones that consistently do UK games that we all know and hate. And there's far too many officials out there that fits this complaint PERFECTLY. In fact, I'm sure every team and coach in every single league could point out the officials they hate for this very reason. SAD. VERY SAD that we don't have any way to hold them accountable or make them do a different game where such "conflicting interests" can be mitigated.
And I could go on and on, but I've been saying this everywhere I post on every site where CBB is discussed. The coaches would light the NCAA's (and their officials) a new ASS if they could. It's not a matter of money. It's because they know they will get fined and/or suspended, and they know the teams they coach can't have them suspended in any meaningful games (ie - reg season / conf. tournies / NCAAT).
Tonight's game had a technical foul called on a kid because (by the letter of the rule) he spiked the ball, even though it was not directed at anyone, not the other team, not the crowd, not the refs .... it was just exuberance. And the game turns on a officials call that would have best been served if they would have simply used some common sense and used good judgment.
Never seen anything like it in my 40+ years.
And I'm sick to death of it.
You have really got to be bad and work really hard for a LONG time at ti to get me to where I seriously don't care to watch as much basketball as I did in the past. I used to watch games all the time. But It's been in decline for about a little over a decade or so, I would say - for me.
Nowadays, the only games I watch are UK games. And for a CBB junkie (or rather, used to be junkie) like me, that speaks volumes. Hell, I'm even missing more and more of the UK games (especially on the road) now. Because I know what's going to happen. It isn't good for the sport, because I know that if I am feeling this way (and I damned sure well know many of you feel the same way) then the casual CBB fan that doesn't really have a dog in any given game, they aren't watching either.
Hope it changes, and soon. The change is really simple, too. They need to make officials salaried employees that are held accountable for what they are doing out there.
Otherwise, the game of CBB, which is on life support already (noone pays any attention to CBB until after the super bowl now) will continue to wither and die, if it hasn't already.
So congrats, NCAA. Between this and the NCAA pussyfooting around with dirty programs, not making any real penalties that would really be forceful and make damn sure universities cheating stop doing it - because they know how hard the NCAA would come down on them - well .... hell, that's another long thread in and of itself.
SAD. Actually, beyond sad. Disgusting. I'm fed up with it, and they're lucky I love Kentucky basketball, because that's the only game I'm tuning into these days. Screw the rest of the product, it all sucks ass.
Thanks for hanging in there with (what you will hopefully see) as a constructive rant at the massively deteriorated state of college basketball.
Back to your regularly scheduled thread !
Every single game I see in today's game - FOR YEARS - has been the absolutely sickening way officials ruin the college game.
1) They use poor judgment - period.
Missing a charge/block "bang-bang" play is one thing. Consistently getting them wrong ( which is what they are doing multiple times in each and every single game I watch) is another thing. But all these missed or flat out WRONG calls is something that can only be enforced thru making, no scratch that - FORCING - officials to be held accountable for what they are doing - and NOT doing. You know it's bad when you have to point out to them the numerous things they ARE missing.
2) Making bad - game altering calls - at the end of a game.
Again, no oversight, no accountability, and they can just continue to do what they do unimpeded and it will never change. Making these bad calls (or missing calls) - especially - at the end of games is making it impossible for me to enjoy these games any longer. It's been bad REALLY BAD for YEARS now (ten +) Ulis got called for a foul because he was blocking out a much larger guy and backed into him. How is that even possible ? I see why they called it, but ABSOLUTELY disagree that it was a foul. And that's just one prime example. It happens a lot more frequently and we all notice more at the end of games. But it's happening throughout the ENTIRE game from tip to the final horn. They just can't get it right. They're either incapable, or incompetent to do so - take your pick.
3) Missing calls
The Kentucky game against A&M is a prime example of this point. One of the big reasons we didn't get more rebounds was because the A&M players consistently went over the shorter UK players to get the ball (over the back). Kids don't even know how to play because when they fight for a loose ball rebound, they get called for foul. So they lose aggressiveness (unless it's a home game, of course) and they get sheepish even trying to challenge for a rebound. I don't blame the kids looking and feeling confused as to what to do.
4) Officials aren't invisible in any game that's played in this day and age.
They want to get some TV time. Their EGO needs to be fed. That's just plain wrong. A good official makes calls and you think, well, our guys fouled him, no doubt. They foul us and we should be saying, well, yep, that's a foul on them. But that's not what is happening. They goto the scorer's table to look for a tenth of a second to put back on the shot clock, ostensibly giving teams without any timeouts a free one. Then the officials huddle up, all the while knowing everyone is getting PO'd at the extra long time they are taking to make the call. Nobody knows WTH is going on. Then they go back to the sidelines and point to both coaches to come and meet with them for yet another pow-wow, so the coaches can understand their madness. Then they take more time to go over to the GD announcers so they can explain whateverthehell it is they've come up with. And it happens at least once, sometimes 2,3,4,5 times each GAME. It's unreal and it's ruined the game. Not ruininING the game RUINED the game.
5) Inconsistent calls on both sides of the ball.
What gets called a foul on one end is NOT called on the other. Again, the kids (and coaches too) are totally dumbfounded and don't know what the hell to expect. I know I sure don't. We all see it in every SINGLE GAME.
6) Officials calling games with teams and coaches they "have a beef with." Happens all the time. Yet the same officials work the same teams OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
I'm not even going to mention the ones that consistently do UK games that we all know and hate. And there's far too many officials out there that fits this complaint PERFECTLY. In fact, I'm sure every team and coach in every single league could point out the officials they hate for this very reason. SAD. VERY SAD that we don't have any way to hold them accountable or make them do a different game where such "conflicting interests" can be mitigated.
And I could go on and on, but I've been saying this everywhere I post on every site where CBB is discussed. The coaches would light the NCAA's (and their officials) a new ASS if they could. It's not a matter of money. It's because they know they will get fined and/or suspended, and they know the teams they coach can't have them suspended in any meaningful games (ie - reg season / conf. tournies / NCAAT).
Tonight's game had a technical foul called on a kid because (by the letter of the rule) he spiked the ball, even though it was not directed at anyone, not the other team, not the crowd, not the refs .... it was just exuberance. And the game turns on a officials call that would have best been served if they would have simply used some common sense and used good judgment.
Never seen anything like it in my 40+ years.
And I'm sick to death of it.
You have really got to be bad and work really hard for a LONG time at ti to get me to where I seriously don't care to watch as much basketball as I did in the past. I used to watch games all the time. But It's been in decline for about a little over a decade or so, I would say - for me.
Nowadays, the only games I watch are UK games. And for a CBB junkie (or rather, used to be junkie) like me, that speaks volumes. Hell, I'm even missing more and more of the UK games (especially on the road) now. Because I know what's going to happen. It isn't good for the sport, because I know that if I am feeling this way (and I damned sure well know many of you feel the same way) then the casual CBB fan that doesn't really have a dog in any given game, they aren't watching either.
Hope it changes, and soon. The change is really simple, too. They need to make officials salaried employees that are held accountable for what they are doing out there.
Otherwise, the game of CBB, which is on life support already (noone pays any attention to CBB until after the super bowl now) will continue to wither and die, if it hasn't already.
So congrats, NCAA. Between this and the NCAA pussyfooting around with dirty programs, not making any real penalties that would really be forceful and make damn sure universities cheating stop doing it - because they know how hard the NCAA would come down on them - well .... hell, that's another long thread in and of itself.
SAD. Actually, beyond sad. Disgusting. I'm fed up with it, and they're lucky I love Kentucky basketball, because that's the only game I'm tuning into these days. Screw the rest of the product, it all sucks ass.
Thanks for hanging in there with (what you will hopefully see) as a constructive rant at the massively deteriorated state of college basketball.
Back to your regularly scheduled thread !
