Big Monday Referees
February 5, 2007 1:18 pm by Coach OWell, it’s BIG MONDAY again and who will be the referee???
I hope it’s not Jim Burr. It seems in big games in the Big East either Tim Higgins or Jim Burr do the game. Why not Jim Burr? Because he usually makes a call in a close game that will determine the outcome. maybe tonight won’t be close but I don’t want Burr anyway.
Here are some games he has done this season:
Syracuse 70 Marquette 58 – SU shot 35 free throws and MU shot 15
Pitt 59 DePaul 49 – Pitt shot 14 DePaul 8
Marquette 89 Seton Hall 76 - Marquette shot 31, the Hall 18
West Virginia 64 DePaul 52 – WVU shot 19 DePaul 6
Georgetown 72 St. John’s 48 – This was close for a while in the 1st half. G’Town shot 17 FT, SJU shot 4
West Virginia 81 Seton Hall 70 – WVU shot 25 SHU 13
And on and on…… Yeah sometimes teams do foul at the end of a game but on the average, Burr can be counted on to make a big call that will decide a game. As a former coach you want the referees to be consistent. Either consistenly good or consistently bad. But what you don’t want to see is a disparity in fouls called or FT’s taken.
I found one game where Higgins had this kind of difference, Marquette shot 24 and Providence 11 in a 69-62 win.
Other Higgins games look like this:
SU 21 FT Rutgers 25,….. WVU 32 and UConn 27, …….Uconn 24 LSU 22,…… Louisville 33 UConn 26,…. DePaul 18 UConn 14,…… DePaul 25 SJU 20,……………. WVU 23 Marquette 23,…….. Providence 28 SHU 22,…….. SJU 32 Cincinnati 27,…….. Pitt 36 Marquette 31.
In High School a coach will get a list of referees for a game and are able to cross out a few they don’t want to do a game. This should also be the case in NCAA hoops. If I was Calhoun or even Boeheim I know who I would take the pen to.
Postscript: Well, if you watched the game you saw that my worst fears came true. Burr came onto the court and I said “Well, at least one person knows before the game starts who will win.” And UConn prevailed 67-60 in a tight game played by two less than good teams.
Oh yeah, how about the fouls?????? UConn shot 37 free throws and the Cuse shot 14.
Your honor, I rest my case.
Categories: Coach O, Commentary
4 Comments »
4 Responses to “Big Monday Referees”
I like that rule about being able to cross out a few referees they don’t want. In general, I don’t think any sports have done a good job with addressing issues with refs. The sport that seems to be the most honest about this is the NFL. Agree or disagree?
I saw the game. A few observations:
1. Marcus Johnson might be able to provide UConn with a player who can shoot the ball. I’ve only seen a few games this season, but his baseline jumper is fundamentally smooth.
2. I was pleased with how patient UConn played against the 2-3. I thought this would be a rough game, and it was, but you can really see the progress of the UConn players. I think you could sense how much more confident they were playing at home (in Gampel) with their student crowd.
3. That skinny white dude on Syracuse — Rautins. Did you hear the announcers? I think Raftery said he put on 30 lbs of muscle this year. I can’t imagine what he looked like before.
Johnson, in my estimation has been the biggest disappointment this year. He should be the leading scorer, take charge guy. He showed a little of that last night. He’s so athletic but has been afraid to take his jumper.
Good work against the zone. The middle is the key and they were patient and got the ball into Adrien which opened up everything else.
I guess the playes and coaches at Syracuse University sort of feel as I do about Jim Burr:
Something Foul About This Loss
These Big East refs in this Pitt=Uconn game are atrocious. Not consistent at all. All year the Big East refs are ruining good match ups with ticky tack and inconsistent calls. Uconn and Calhoun seem to own the refs at home.