College basketball officiating today is a JOKE. There is so much talent at the collegiate level these days, the athletes that is, until the whistle blows and the ball is tossed, then it rapidly goes in the toilet. If you watched the NCAA Tournament opening week and then watched the Sweet Sixteen, so far, someone ordered the officials to slack off on calling fouls. I saw charging where nothing was called, come on guys it has to be charging or blocking, one or the other! You’ve got a 50 50 chance of getting it right. I thought for a moment I was watching the NBA, because of all the traveling that wasn’t called. The one play that irritates me the most in college basketball is when they allow a player to back himself into the key while the defender has position when the offensive player just keeps backing in until he secures a shooting position in the key, BTW, for well over 3 seconds, and there is a no call, IT’S CHARGING BOYS! Oh yea, I had to look online to see if 3 seconds in the key was still a rule violation. Twice in a Sweet Sixteen game, I took a stopwatch and played back a couple of plays where an offensive player was in the key, with the ball, for 7 seconds on one play and 8 seconds for another. I watched the official under the basket and never once did I see him look at the offensive player in the key for any length of time or start a 3 second count. Embarrassing is the only word that can accurately describe the officiating. This just wasn’t in one particular game, it was consistent in all four games played. Which leads me to the obvious conclusion, someone gave the officials orders to cut back on calling fouls or rule violations. These young athletes are extremely talented, but the talent can’t fully be put on displayed when the officiating is so unprofessional and inconsistent. Now for my last example of the butchery in college basketball officiating. Would someone please define carrying or palming the ball, because from what I have seen, no one, most of all the officials, have a clue. I saw two calls in games played this weekend of palming the ball, then looked at ten different plays in the same games of exactly the same dribble with no calls. How is anyone, particularly the players, suppose to have any idea of what palming the ball is!
I have learned the new slogan for College Basketball Officials, “I am going to do what I am ordered to do not not what is written in the official rules of basketball!”
The Outdoor Quarterback!