Blame The Refs, But Blame The NCAA More
Last night's national championship game between North Carolina and Gonzaga was a good one. It definitely wasn't great. In fact, you can make the argument North Carolina didn't win the game, but Gonzaga lost. Honestly, I am not one that will say that. The second half was ugly and if you looked at the Twitter feed last night and then seeing my own friends who watched the game, it wasn't that UNC won or Gonzaga lost, but the referees that officiated the game was the one that ruined the game.
Even today as I was driving and listening 92.9 the Game in Atlanta, the commentators were talking about the porous officiating and a comment stuck out that kept on being said.
"The refs put themselves in the center of the game, not the kids. Let them play!"
To the last part of that quote, I wholeheartedly agree 100%. But honestly, if referees are trying to become the center of games now, then we have a massive problem. I am not saying they aren't doing this, but I think referees overall are NOT trying to be the key to games decided. Even last night.
But yeah, the officiating was AWFUL, I won't dispute that. However, if you want to blame somebody, blame the NCAA.
Why? Just check rule changes since the 2013-2014 season. Most of them? They are going against defensive players. Why? Because college basketball is "boring" to most so more offense means more fans watching meaning more ratings meaning more money.
Or at least that is in the NCAA's mind. So what do we get? Teams constantly in foul trouble, the games being slowed down with all the whistles blwon, and boring. And offensive outputs are about the same since they made all these changes. And what we got was a poopstorm of epic proportions last night. While it sounds like I am defending the referees, you have to know that the NCAA is keeping an eye on how these refs work. If they are not calling the new rules, the referees get reprimanded or probably have some sort of consequence come to them as opposed to fans barking at the refs and that is it. And for the first half of the game, the refs were fine. Teams were in a flow.
But it seemed like the second half came and the referees used that whistle like it was candy. It disrupted the rhythms of both North Carolina and Gonzaga, and both sides looked very frustrated throughout most of the night. The thing is, you cannot play games like that an expect to have any rhythm. And what you got last night was a car wreck.
It doesn't matter if the refs are in the West Coast Conference, the ACC, the Big Ten, the SEC, Big East, Big 12, etc. They have unfortunately got to call these plays as what the NCAA tells them. And the NCAA is once again on the wrong side of what is right and wrong. College basketball needs to let the players play and not try so darn much to emulate the NBA, where only a very small percentage will even get to that next step.
If anything, the NCAA needs to get rid of a lot of these rules that goes against defensive players because it really stalls the game more than what it did before. Let the players play and let them get into a rhythm. And maybe we can watch games that are entertaining and not just a whistle every time a team has a possession for a "hand check," a "blocking foul (where it is supposed to be a no-call or a charge)," and others. This is something the NCAA needs to address, but given how high and mighty they are, the referees will continuously get 100% of the blame for horrid officiating like we saw last night, the week before with UNC and Kentucky, Gonzaga and Northwestern, etc.
But knowing them, a quick fix will probably mean that no more zone defenses, the havoc defense, and a blocked shot will now be goaltending.
Sorry if I sound frustrated, but while I am taking nothing away from North Carolina last night, that to me was not what basketball should have been.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
