What needs to be fixed about college basketball officiating?

[KingOfBBN]

I'm absolutely sick of what officials have done to the game. I've honestly seen better self-officiating in pick-up games. No one calls touch fouls in pick-up. No one calls anything that doesn't affect the play and no one is calling charges.

Get rid of the charge call short of throwing elbows. The falling down stuff has got to stop. These are D1 athletes who act like they have the body of a toddler getting run over by a freight train. So sick of it because the officials have no idea how to determine a flop or a charge.

My suggestions

1) Get rid of touch fouls that have no affect on the possession
2) Get rid of the charge especially guys just letting themselves get knocked over
3) Allow coaches to actually challenge BS calls with no limitation on what they can challenge.

 

[JerseyCat84]

Everything....starting with personal vendettas on the part of officials.

 

[Kentucky fan 1989]

Younger refs?

 

[UKfan215]

I'm really not sure what the answers are, but I wish we could go back to seeing games like we saw in the 1990s when teams could get up and down the court and get into a flow. Now it is just whistle, whistle, whistle. The game has become ugly and is not particularly fun to watch.

 

[mdlUK.1]

I thought the emphasis was supposed to be to give the offense the edge going to the basket? It seems just the opposite. If the defense gets a shoulder slightly in front and the offense dips his shoulder a little, it's being called a charge. Saw it in several games, not just ours.

AND FLOPPING SHOULD BE A TECHNICAL !!!!!!!!!

 

[madison1329]

Everything. Number 1 on the list should be the charge. It has RUINED the game. I'm sick of watching college basketball. Refs have completely ruined it and home games have become way too much of an advantage for the home team because of the officials.

 

[Fancatstik]

Get rid of fouls. Let it be a free for all.

 

[EvilMD]

Quit anticipating fouls and turnovers. Wait until you actually see the transgression occur.

 

[wentzel25]

Get rid of fouls. Let it be a free for all.

That's actually how they did it when Naismith invented it. Bring the game back to its roots.

 

[CatsnRoses]

Literally everything. The sport has become unwatchable, and I've been saying this for years. Not good for a sport that's already a niche sport.

 

[mdlUK.1]

Quit anticipating fouls and turnovers. Wait until you actually see the transgression occur.

Beat me to it on the anticipating crap!

 

[wildcatglenn]

The charge needs to go. #1

 

[BoulderCat]

I don't pretend to have the answer's, but I can sure see the question. It's probably college basketball's biggest problem. I saw an interview with Huggins back in December, and he remarked about how we have all these tremendous athlete's on the court together, 10 of them, and they're going to contact one another. If we can't find a way to limit the number of fouls then we might as well repeal the shot clock, and 3 point rule and go back to the worst period of NCAA basketball, the 4 corners.

Thanks Dean. Not.

 

[wildcatglenn]

The charge became a rule in the 28-29 season. It needs to go! Make teams play defense instead of stand there and hope you get ran over.

 

[EvilMD]

On every shooting foul, the offensive team gets one point and one attempt at the line. If the basket goes, it counts as usual. No foul charged to the defender.

Fouls are accumulated on player control fouls only. Any contact initiated by the offense, offensive foul. Any initiated by the defense, defensive foul. Two players moving at once, no foul.

 

[Bluest Member]

Too many refs with personal favoritism or bias imo,not sure how you fix it short of cleaning whole house.Gambling on games has ruined the sport,can't tell me some officials aren't either gambling themselves or tied up with gamblers in some form to shave points or cut losses.
The first UK game was officiated about as good as can be,the 2nd looked like an IU Lovefest with an unusual amount of Offensive fouls on Kentucky,and some pretty blatant no calls on IU walks and illegal screens

 

[wildcatglenn]

At least widen the lanes and instead of a half circle, make it no charges in the paint

 

[Wildcat Sheli]

I know this is wishful thinking and would never happen, but you wish a team of refs over the in-game refs could actively monitor each call with video proof. During the timeouts the bad ones get negated if points were involved (ie, a charging call that took a basket away, etc). But then that would open a massive can of worms.

It was a travesty for the head of officials to knowingly watch a bad call get affirmed for Duke in last year's Championship. . . and it might have made a difference at a critical moment....(NOT that I watched it live...oh, no, I couldn't).

 

[KingOfBBN]

Too many refs with personal favoritism or bias imo,not sure how you fix it short of cleaning whole house.Gambling on games has ruined the sport,can't tell me some officials aren't either gambling themselves or tied up with gamblers in some form to shave points or cut losses.
The first UK game was officiated about as good as can be,the 2nd looked like an IU Lovefest with an unusual amount of Offensive fouls on Kentucky,and some pretty blatant no calls on IU walks and illegal screens

I absolutely believe officials are influenced by gambling. Let's not pretend Donaghy was the only ref to ever do this crap. We know damn well the officiating plays a huge part. Of course, they're influenced. I've always thought officials should be audited from a third party.

 

[GOING FOR #9]

Fire all of them and bring in a new director of officiating. Also there needs to be accountability. If officials blow a game they should see a suspension or some punishment. Officiating is a good ole boys net work that targets players, coaches and teams. The ethics of of officiating have become corrupt like most other institutions currently. You have people who run the NCAA that have made their opinions known about who they favor and who they don't. The entire system needs to be turned on its head. The problem is it's going to take a big statement to make them budge. I don't see anyone out there with the courage to challenge them.

 

[KingOfBBN]

If football can use replay to get some calls right then why in the hell can basketball not do that?

Of all things, the 2015 shot clock violation with Wisconsin should have been a no-brainer to be able to review right then. That single-handedly changed the game.

You should be able to review flops and assess technicals. You should be allowed a set number of challenges to review ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! If a team walked or was out of bounds and got a three out of it, that should be reviewed if a coach wishes to do so.

 

[mdlUK.1]

If football can use replay to get some calls right then why in the hell can basketball not do that?

Of all things, the 2015 shot clock violation with Wisconsin should have been a no-brainer to be able to review right then. That single-handedly changed the game.

You should be able to review flops and assess technicals. You should be allowed a set number of challenges to review ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! If a team walked or was out of bounds and got a three out of it, that should be reviewed if a coach wishes to do so.

BB is too fast paced to do that many replays. How would you even decide which plays to review?

 

[wildcatglenn]

Officials need to be held accountable. Each league should have its own official's.

 

[KingOfBBN]

BB is too fast paced to do that many replays. How would you even decide which plays to review?

Based on the challenge of the coach.

 

[mdlUK.1]

Officials need to be held accountable. Each league should have its own official's.

I was thinking just the opposite on each league having it's own officials. If anything, they should not be allowed to be associated with one league.

 

[BlueRunner11]

Absolutely Nothing. We feel that the standard and level of officiating is the highest it's been in years. We are very proud of our officials and the work that they do for us.

Signed,
Your friends at the NCAA

 

[JohnBlue_]

Not sure what can be done but I'm not sure that we are not seeing the best there is right now.

 

[HenryMuto]

Notice how Buddy does the same thing Murray does with the push off with the arm but it isn't being called here. Refs can make all the difference on how they call a game just on if they are calling what you normally do which Murray had done all year and hardly ever got called for it so he was used to doing it.

 

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

No matter what the rules are humans are going to have to make split second decisions.

The best and easy fix would be video reviews for cut and dry calls all game, not some of this last 2 minutes crap.

Give coaches 1 or 2 "challenges " per half and review these horrible charge/block calls and such.

Problem is the game would go 2:30 hrs so you have to consider tv time slots

But I like my idea. Other sports have greatly benefited from video replay, maybe Cbb would too

 

[mj2k10]

This is the coaches' fault, not the refs. The coaches are the ones who've persisted, for 20+ years, in teaching their players to continually push the envelope in terms of physical play. It helped turn the game from one in which teams got up and down the floor and moved the ball to the often stagnant mess that's been common for the last 10+ years. The only way to change that is to call more fouls (and the 30 second clock helps some), which is what happened this year. No, the refs haven't done a great job of being consistent, but calling more fouls is a step in the right direction. It is absolutely NOT a coincidence that 2012-13 was the lowest scoring season since 1952 and also the season in which fewer fouls were called than any time since they tracked stats (which goes back to 1948).

Refs need to be more consistent, but coaches and players need to adjust. Stop calling fouls, and we'll go right back to 53-41 sh**fest national title games.

 

[Nawlij]

It's real simple...make every game evaluation public.

 

[KingOfBBN]

How many of us go to a game to watch 50 free throws between the teams? I don't.

 

[YouKay]

For starters can we at least make sure they are using the same rules in the tournament? Therehas been an INSANE number of offensive fouls called in this entire tournament. Waaaay more than during the regular season. Star players are coming out of games because of it. Probably cost UK their game and Stephen F. Austin today. Providence was totally rapes last night with offensive fouls.

 

[mj2k10]

How many of us go to a game to watch 50 free throws between the teams? I don't.

Do you go to watch games in which neither team breaks 50 points? Because that's what happens when you call fewer fouls.

Some people act like fouls calls have taken this huge, unprecedented uptick. It's true that this year's UK team got called for more fouls than any we've seen for the last 20 years, but it WAS NOT something wildly out of the historical norm (and honestly, UK's frontcourt players just fouled a lot, by any standard). UK committed 20.5 fouls per game this year. Going back in 10 year increments, here are the averages:

2006-17
96-20.3
86-17.8
76-21.1
66-18.6
56-18.8

And while there were games that seemed like a parade to the foul line, what we didn't have were any mudfight games where neither team broke 60. UK averaged close to 80 ppg this year, the highest since 09-10 (and UK hasn't broken the 80 ppg mark since 97-98), and it wasn't all just taking more FT's. UK averaged 59.7 FG attempts per game, the highest mark of the Cal era.

A less physical game makes for a better game. It's just an adjustment process for refs, coaches, and players. But to get to that less physical game, you have to go through a period of calling more fouls.

 

[SpensBRJ]

Referees should be graded by a 3rd party non affiliated group for accountability in my opinion. There should also not be "prep" sessions for officials to "learn" team/player tendencies. Call what you see.

It's the digital video age, you don't always have to be graded live but that would also be criteria.

Also, referees need to get better at doing what's best for the game, not being the game.

 

[kydan64]

Transparency in ref evaluation. Fans and coaches should have access to the official reviews of the ref's performances.

Technical fouls for flops. If video shows a player clearly flopping; two shots, a personal foul and possession.

Physical fitness and continuing education requirements for refs.

Increased pay for refs so that it is a coveted position for athletic individuals; not a pool for wanna-bes.

Penalize refs for demonstrative behavior. They are not the show, stop acting like it!

 

[rodserling]

The entire officiating crew should have to have a Q & A with the news media after every game just like coaches and players. Make them accountable and put a face to refereeing that everyone just witnessed. It's like they can do whatever they want without impunity it will never change

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

Less teams. The product is diluted.

Pro leagues have superior officiating because 30 some teams in thr leagues means they can pick the best refs and get all games covrredd

 

[UK90]

"Anticipation" calls have gotten intolerable ever since those rule changes a few years ago. Today's refs don't just blow the whistle for fouls they actually see, instead they often blow the whistle just because there's a situation where they anticipate a foul was likely to happen ..even if one actually did not. There are SO many completely unnecessary whistles today.

Today's refs need to stop constantly looking for any excuse to blow their whistle and make themselves part of the game, Don't call things you didn't actually see just because you decided it probably happened. Let the players play. The game is not about you. It is about them.

 

[Katwatcher]

Fire all of them and bring in a new director of officiating. Also there needs to be accountability. If officials blow a game they should see a suspension or some punishment. Officiating is a good ole boys net work that targets players, coaches and teams. The ethics of of officiating have become corrupt like most other institutions currently. You have people who run the NCAA that have made their opinions known about who they favor and who they don't. The entire system needs to be turned on its head. The problem is it's going to take a big statement to make them budge. I don't see anyone out there with the courage to challenge them.

Could you name those people and who they favor ? "You have people who run the NCAA that have made their opinions known about who they favor and who they don't.