WWW Referee Instructions
-
It’s about 12 hours, half a day, past the ND vs UK game and I still don’t have my voice back.
I have the reputation for talking to the big screens during games. Yesterday was more like a shouting match.
I’m starting to notice a strategy in the way UK games are being called. Call it a WWW directive, or whatever.
Here it is:
-
No early fouls on UK blocks. If you recall from last night’s game, a ND player drove it to the hole in the opening minutes and was rejected. You could see the foul from distant galaxies. The angle of the slap made it so incredibly obvious that it was not a block but a complete hack. The network replayed the play in slo-mo and showed it, but the announcers were busy not doing their jobs and said nothing. This strategy is there to intimidate opponents from the word go. Create the mindset that taking it to the rim against Kentucky won’t work.
-
Protect Karl-Anthony Towns from foul trouble. Towns is the biggest hacker in college basketball. It isn’t even close. His back-to-the-basket, lower the body and smash backwards is a foul 100% of the time, regardless of what the defender is doing. It is the same type of play when a driver lowers his shoulder. Anytime a player lowers his body and aggressively smashes the defender, it is a foul, regardless of what the defender does. Towns had at least 8 fouls last night. Kentucky isn’t squat without Towns. And by flipping calls that should be on him to the defender, it puts the defender in foul trouble. Even the announcers caught on to this last night.
-
Throw in some tick-tack fouls on the perimeter. This is a strategy that does several things. First, it pushes Kentucky into the bonus sooner. Opponents have to back off the aggressiveness or put UK on the line. Second, it helps players like the twins establish their drive… the only other offense they really have besides Towns in the low box.
I figure the refs were responsible for following this strategy between 5 and 10 times last night. Consider this… Towns should have fouled out midway through the second half, and Zach Auguste only committed 3 fouls in this game, and if Towns would have been called properly, it is doubtful he would have had 3 fouls guarding someone else.
The tables are tilted… towards Lexington.
-
-
I really didn’t see much of the kentucky game, I was emotionally drained.
I’m watching louisville and their equally sleazy coach right now. They set so many moving screens I’ve lost count. It’s disgusting to see officials swallow their whistles like that.
I’m not sure the angle for the NCAA, I wouldn’t think a uk-lou would be a ratings gold mine. I think enough Americans have contempt for both coaches that they wouldn’t tune in. I would probably skip it.
I do know that I turned off louisvilles alleged championship two years ago. When Burke made the spectacular block on lou and they called a foul I’d had enough. Today they’re mugging MSU, although since I started typing the tables have turned on the fouls a little bit.
It’s really a shame that we see this happening.
