POLL: Worst Referees From Last Season?
- Thread starter WACB
- Start date
FYI. Records last seasons with the above refs:
Tony Greene 3-0
Doug Shows 5-2 (UCLA and Kansas)
Karl Hess 5-0
Mike Nance 1-1 (loss to Florida)
Pat Adams 3-0
Ted Valentine 3-0
Doug Sirmons 1-0 (only reffed Canisius game).
Roger Ayers 2-2 (wins UNC & Wichita State, losses Louisville and UT)
John Higgins 1-2 (losses to UCLA and UNC..... Also reffed losses to Mich St 05, UConn 2011, Wisconsin 2015)
h/t jon scott/bigbluehistory.net
The clear winner (loser?) is Higgins. Both based on w% and the importance of the game he threw.
Tony Greene 3-0
Doug Shows 5-2 (UCLA and Kansas)
Karl Hess 5-0
Mike Nance 1-1 (loss to Florida)
Pat Adams 3-0
Ted Valentine 3-0
Doug Sirmons 1-0 (only reffed Canisius game).
Roger Ayers 2-2 (wins UNC & Wichita State, losses Louisville and UT)
John Higgins 1-2 (losses to UCLA and UNC..... Also reffed losses to Mich St 05, UConn 2011, Wisconsin 2015)
h/t jon scott/bigbluehistory.net
The clear winner (loser?) is Higgins. Both based on w% and the importance of the game he threw.
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We do a lot better with Cal in games reffed by Hess. His most controversial games came with Tubby as our head coach, and he was suspended from ACC games for (sort of) racist comments... makes you wonder about Karl.
If he does he will be booed unmercifully all night. He will deserve every bit of it too.
I'm not sure what is more shocking. That Higgins only has 88% of the vote. Or that 3 people were upset enough about the way Doug Sirmons reffed the Canisius game to vote for him instead.
Shows has cooled some with us. Lot of people don't know that Nance is bad news with us from several years back. Higgins basically a crook. Sirmons kind of like Higgins. Even though the record doesn't show it from last year Adams is a 0 as a ref. Green has some bias with us also for some reason.
Call it a bad after-taste. Sirmons is a really bad official, currently. You can't just look at one season in isolation. You really have to look at the career arc in general.
Like Roger Ayers he used to be one of the best and now is one of the worst, which is a huge red flag IMO.
In fact if I was looking for mob or gambling ties I'd look squarely at Ayers, Sirmons and Higgins.
The only ref who has noticeably improved of late is Doug Shows, which I attribute more to recovering from his accident he seems to be a lot less arrogant and confrontational than in the past and that's helped his reffing.
Someone like Tony Greene has gotten better compared to the times Billy G was coach at UK, but that might be more of a personality clash which good refs are supposed to be able to rise above.
I thought for a minute about Pat Adams but still had to go Higgins for obvious reasons.
Adams is really bad though. I don't think he's biased as much as he's just a self-centered ass that wants to be the focus of the game and he makes calls just to throw his weight around. I HATE that.
Adams is really bad though. I don't think he's biased as much as he's just a self-centered ass that wants to be the focus of the game and he makes calls just to throw his weight around. I HATE that.
Yes, Adams is doing what "TV" Ted Valentine used to do, making himself the focus of the game. Valentine has mellowed some over the years and he's a better ref because of it.
The OP limited the scope to last season. That's what makes the inclusion of (and votes for) Sirmons odd. I agree he's terrible.
I think the number of big games that UK has lost on "questionable" calls when he has officiated makes Higgins the worst.
I honestly pay little attention to who the refs are before or during a given game. That said, there have been UK games where the officiating was sooo putrid the refs could not go unnoticed. Sadly, the games that most immediately come to my mind have Higgins in them. I don't wanna hear about the refs don't effect the outcomes of games, either. They absolutely can effect games. Case in point. This year's tourney game with UNC. Literally, 2 UK baskets that were legitimate baskets were waived off, and a UNC basket that should have been waived off was counted. Any way one looks at that it is a 6 point swing. That's a fact. In a 2 point game that matters. This doesn't even take into account our 3 best players sitting on the bench for 1/2 of the first half, or just the horrible, one-sided calls/no-calls that occurred in that game.
In all my years, I will never forget how horrible that game was officiated---along with the 2011 and 2015 Uconn and Wisconsin game (not to the degree of the 2017 UNC game IMO but still pathetic)---all done by Higgins. I would complain about those 3 games regardless of whether Higgins happened to be the common denominator or not, and I don't simply say that b/c of what was at stake in those games either.
In all my years, I will never forget how horrible that game was officiated---along with the 2011 and 2015 Uconn and Wisconsin game (not to the degree of the 2017 UNC game IMO but still pathetic)---all done by Higgins. I would complain about those 3 games regardless of whether Higgins happened to be the common denominator or not, and I don't simply say that b/c of what was at stake in those games either.
There are so many poor refs out there that Karl Hess is becoming my lifetime favorite.
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