College Basketball has a serious problem.

[jfred59]

Let me start by saying that this is not just about game tonight, even though we got screwed at the end.  There is a serious problem in College Basketball.  Just looking at this weekend, how many games were decided by clearly missed or wrong calls by officials?  At least half of them.  We all know that most officials are hired by the "Good ole Buddy" system.  The supervisors take care of their buddies instead of getting rid of the bad officials.  Except for the Hogs I have just about quit watching College Basketball because it appears that the officials are so corrupt.   I dont know if it is "bonus payments", Vegas or what but its got to get cleaned up.  When the National guys are calling them out you know its bad.

[hogginbama]

Spot on. XM announcers called them out during the Wisconsin game yesterday and today. Said it was ridiculous that refs are not held to a high standard and allowed to show up unprepared to call a game. Said it was sad that refs could be crappy in situations where players careers were on the line with no penalties to face.

Those announcer were Scott Graham and Donny Marshall. They were not afraid to call it like they saw it and neither were our announcers today. Our announcers were John Thompson and John Sadak.

[BadHog]

Correct and nothing ever changes

[WorfHog]

All I'm gonna say is there a big opportunity for some kind of automation in officiating...bunch of washed out wanna be players making game altering decisions with ZERO accountability.

[Smalltownhog95]

I hope this lights a bonfire under MA. I hope first game next year that we start to get hosed he gets an ejection for threatening to kick a refs ass. It might cost us 1 W but it would go a long way to let the zebras know hes not taking any more crap.

[Rbill]

Guys, seriously. No joke. This isn't the usual conspiracy theory nonsense. There were a bunch of legitimate terrible eyeballs bleeding bad calls at the end of this game. Really really bad stuff. They even got to use the monitor on one and watch the guys fingers bend backwards on the ball in slow motion and still blew it. Something needs to be said.

[azhog10]

All I'm gonna say is there a big opportunity for some kind of automation in officiating...bunch of washed out wanna be players making game altering decisions with ZERO accountability.,

Id normally agree but they used replay and still got it wrong in our game.

[PORKULATOR]

We didn't have THE WORST goaltending call NOT CALLED ever, but we had sufferage.

[hawgdavis]

It's all about so called good TV and ratings and who the big media decides who is the best draw. You can beat them but you have to get so far up in a game that they can't beat you like SC did, they tried to help Duke but SC kept scoring anyway. We had a chance to extend our lead and did not so the refs were able to save it for UNC not UNC saving themselves. Straight up officiating and we win that game by 7 or better.

[TebowHater]

Id normally agree but they used replay and still got it wrong in our game.

Replay isn't automation. Automation is automatic, e.g. a computer, not these clowns. The technology cannot be too far off, and it is desperately needed.

[luke hawg]

The bonus free throws need to go if they are going to call the game this close.

[lasthog]

It's all about so called good TV and ratings and who the big media decides who is the best draw. You can beat them but you have to get so far up in a game that they can't beat you like SC did, they tried to help Duke but SC kept scoring anyway. We had a chance to extend our lead and did not so the refs were able to save it for UNC not UNC saving themselves. Straight up officiating and we win that game by 7 or better.

Couldn't agree more.

The old saying in boxing is that you've got to knock out the champ, you're never going to win by decision.

UNC wasn't the champ, but this goes to your point: You had better not let it get close, or the decision (s) by the refs will essentially bestow the win upon the Chosen One.

[hogsanity]

Then everyone who thinks its rigged needs to quit watching. It is why I quit watching boxing 20 years ago. I could not get passed thinking it was rigged.

One problem is fewer people are getting into officiating at a young enough age to get the experience needed to get to power 5 level before they are too old to keep up with the game. Many that do start young quit, especially in basketball, because they cant or won't put up with how coaches and fans treat them. Plus the travel in basketball is killer. 3-5 nights a week on the road is tough, especially if you have a family.

[5 little pigs]

Still zero tolerance for poor performance!

[hoglady]

Refs are going to miss calls - they're human.
It just seems like the clear mistakes made by refs (no calls, bad calls) most of the time favor the bigger name program. That's not just ineptitude - that's a built in prejudice.
It's been that way for a long time - but probably worse now than ever before.

[hogsanity]

Refs are going to miss calls - they're human.
It just seems like the clear mistakes made by refs (no calls, bad calls) most of the time favor the bigger name program. That's not just ineptitude - that's a built in prejudice.
It's been that way for a long time - but probably worse now than ever before.

So is it bad calls or crooked refs?  Understanding there is more money to be made shaving points or helping underdogs win than helping a favorite win.

[Rbill]

So is it bad calls or crooked refs?  Understanding there is more money to be made shaving points or helping underdogs win than helping a favorite win.

Of course the odds are it's just bad calls. Built in prejudice is different than being crooked. Basketball needs to look to the NFL and their model for getting the call right and the challenge system. Fans just want the right calls and to be able to trust the system. I don't know how to help these guys though because they blew it even with the monitor.

[XavierZane]

I find it so absurd that we expect the players to follow the rules correctly the entire game, penalizing them when they don't and setting up officials to enforce the rules, but we don't hold the officials to the same standard as the players or have a consistent system in place to penalize them when they don't enforce the rules correctly.

[lasthog]

So is it bad calls or crooked refs?  Understanding there is more money to be made shaving points or helping underdogs win than helping a favorite win.

Would you agree that teams playing at home generally receive more favorable treatment by officials than when they play on the road?

It is hard for one to believe that money is changing hands and thereby corrupting game officials, but there are circumstances that influence how games are called, both during the regular season and especially when chips are stacked so high, like in this tournament.

Bad calls due to human error? Of course. But while you or others may dispute that there were several pivotal decisions made by game officials today that profoundly redirected the course of the game to UNC's benefit, no one can doubt that games are not always called fairly; in fact this occurs quite frequently.

But I have no quarrel with those who don't believe that every bad call is intentional, nor every referee a bum.

Just some. Take today for instance...

[forrest city joe]

http://fansided.com/2017/03/19/march-madness-2017-poor-officiating-costs-arkansas-loss-north-carolina-video/

[hogsanity]

Of course the odds are it's just bad calls. Built in prejudice is different than being crooked. Basketball needs to look to the NFL and their model for getting the call right and the challenge system. Fans just want the right calls and to be able to trust the system. I don't know how to help these guys though because they blew it even with the monitor.

But the nfl system does not apply to challenge penalties, only matters of scores & possession. They cant challenge a holding call or pi.  Also what most people want are calls that help the team they are backing win.

[Sow Lancelot]

I find it so absurd that we expect the players to follow the rules correctly the entire game, penalizing them when they don't and setting up officials to enforce the rules, but we don't hold the officials to the same standard as the players or have a consistent system in place to penalize them when they don't enforce the rules correctly.

Preach it, brother. There seems to be no accountability or recourse. And the seeming lack of improvement in officiating from season to season makes it appear that the PTB are fine with the officiating product.