Game 17: Michigan at Iowa Recap

Michigan Basketball
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ChathaM, thank you for your refereeing input.

You spoke about making officiating calls “in anticipation” of what an official expects will happen. I think this is so unfair to the player!

In my opinion, if a referee, for example, doesn’t actually see CONTACT by the defender on a shooter, NO call should be made! It is far more UNFAIR to potentially be putting a DEFENDING PLAYER into foul trouble causing him to be benched temporarily or permanently when he did nothing wrong than It is to not call a foul to help out the OFFENSIVE PLAYER that missed a shot without the defender having touched him.

When watching a game on TV and seeing a replay that shows a defender having made NO CONTACT on a shooter (ie, he got all ball) but the defender gets a foul call anyway, I become quite frustrated and even wonder whether I should stop following basketball.

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BillG, I agree 100%. An official should only make a call when they are absolutely certain that they saw a play. I’m OK with being criticized for missing some calls, but I never want to be criticized for calling things that didn’t happen.

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83

I’m not obviously defending the refs in total - bad calls were made, and they hurt us. An early call when Garza was stuck under the basket and drew a foul on Teske standing still with his arms in the air is a vivid memory I have.

But when we double up our opponents in three point attempts over the two games, we are going to shoot fewer foul shots. It’s an inevitable truth. Fouls are caused by contact, and contact increases as you get closer to the basket. Furthermore - getting to the line is absolutely a skill, and it’s one we obviously don’t have.

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I agree and I remember that call vividly. Pretty sure he had two rough ones called on him real quick In which he was straight up. It’s just hard to swallow when it’s a bad call as a fan. Agreed our style will get less ft though.

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My question to ChathaM is, are their occasions referee officials feel they need to initiate make up calls when they themselves see a questionable call by their colleagues during games to even things up. There are times that that seems to be the case.

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Any referee will probably respond no to this, but this is absolutely the case. For example during the Iowa game, fouls are 8-1 and all the sudden Iowa gets called for 2 cheapies on rebounds. Things that could have been called at ANY time.

Or during the MSU game, Juwan gets T’d up and not even 3 minutes later Izzo gets one for “being out of the coaches box” C’mon! This dude spends more time on the court than Cassius Winston, and they just decide to reign him in THEN?!?!?!

Whether consciously or subconsciously, refs are aware of which team may be getting the short end .

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I personally feel like I’d have to try and even things up if I saw my partner slipping. For better or worse, try and keep it as even as possible.

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Some good topics in there…

Re: questionable calls leading to make-up calls… If I know I kicked a call, I will not consciously make a soft call at the other end to try to compensate. In 21 years, I have not consciously ever done that. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has subconsciously happened, because human nature can take over. I don’t recall that happening, but I guess if it were subconsciously driven, I wouldn’t have even been aware of it. The best thing to do when you know you kicked a call is to, when it’s convenient, let the coach and/or player know that you kicked it. The honesty is generally appreciated, and leads to a better relationship.

If you believe that one of your partners has butchered a play, that brings other things into question. Each official has an area of the court that they are responsible for working. There are specific mechanics in place for plays that begin in one area and move into another, as well as specific mechanics for plays at the rim. In general, if I am confident that one of my partners kicked a call, then I wasn’t paying enough attention to my own yard. You’ll notice things that look unusual that occur out of your area, but to be positive that a mistake was made requires complete focus on something that you shouldn’t have been watching that closely in the first place. If that’s what you were doing, then you don’t have full trust in your partners, which is inexcusable at high levels. We could go through a million examples, but the bottom line is that if you trust your partners the way you should, and stay focused on your yard, then you should never feel so certain that they kicked a call that you’d even consider some sort of make-up call.

A big discrepancy in team foul counts is fairly common. You should never create a foul out of thin air just to get a team foul or two on the board. If the foul count is 5-0, for example, don’t invent a foul just to make it 5-1. But, definitely do not miss the foul that would make it 5-1. This can obviously lead to the subconscious taking over, and calling something that you wouldn’t ordinarily call. I’m sure that happens, and I’m sure it’s happened to me. Personally, I don’t like it when the team foul counts are significantly different, but it usually makes sense based on the playing styles of the teams. For me, if a game is being played with equal aggression on both sides, it’s competitive, and I look up partway through the first half and see that the team fouls are even, then I’m thrilled. I wish it played out that way all the time, but it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, because every play is different. If we go in at halftime and the team counts are a lot different, we’ll ask ourselves whether we are missing things at one end.

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Really, really appreciate the insight, ChathaM!

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Thanks for your very informative reply. Your explanations seem very sound. I try not to be a referee hater as I feel it is a very tough job especially in the college game with all the emotions from both sides and home crowds.

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This is absolute GOLD! Thanks for your perspective and for writing this. I am absolutely certain that you are an outstanding official. Before you wrote this I was thinking that there is no way that you would “make up” for a bad or missed call by your partner. I was also quite certain that you would say you didn’t engage in “make up” calls if you realized you thought you had made a “bad” call or missed a call. That would be such a tenuous position for an official to get himself into, and would only lead to inconsistency which isn’t fair to anyone.

As a coach I can honestly say, I wouldn’t have wanted you to do that, “make up” a call, even if the initial call went against my team. In fact, the rare official who said to me, “Sorry coach, I blew that call,” had my respect, and I wouldn’t say another word about that call. I respected his honesty and I knew he would continue to give great effort. If he made an excuse, well, then he’d hear about it for a bit! :grin: I LOVE your thoughts on and your knowledge of officiating. Thanks for doing what you do, so that kids can play, coaches can coach, and the game is a better game! A well officiated game is much better for the fans, too, though, sadly they’re gonna complain anyway! :wink: :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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What makes the college game difficult isn’t so much the emotions and crowds; it’s simply that the players tend to be so quick, fast, and strong, and that there is so much play above the rim. Everything happens so much more quickly than it does in even a top level HS game. Anything less than 100% focus and confidence will crush you at the college level.

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“players tend to be so quick, fast, and strong, and that there is so much play above the rim.”

These kids are so athletic. Imagine being an official on the floor with amazingly athletic players, all of whom are also younger, in some cases much younger, than you are. And THEN, no matter what you call half the crowd is going to think you are wrong, and occasionally you will be because you’re on the floor, running up and down, with young people who are “so quick, fast, and strong” many of whom are playing “ABOVE the rim.” Honestly, we’re talking about a profession that is so difficult to do, and these guys do it in ADDITION to their regular jobs. They really DO make the game playable, better for everyone, SAFER, for Heaven sakes, and they do it for the love of the game, because even as a supplemental income, they’re not getting rich officiating!