Pac-10 refs do it again
"With USC leading, 69-66, Nikola Vucevic was called for fouling Arizona's Kyle Fogg on a desperation three-point shot with 0.2 seconds left in the second half. Fogg made all three free throws, sending the game to overtime.
USC Coach Kevin O'Neill was livid when the call was made. "Everyone saw what went on out there," he said. "Everybody knows. They can go home and celebrate all they want. Everybody saw what went on."
Said Vucevic: "I didn't touch anything. I just went up with my hand in the air so he couldn't see the basket."
The Trojans went on to lose in - you guessed it - two overtimes. It's hard for any team to come back from an emotional letdown like that.
The time has come for the Pac-10 to take a serious look in the mirror about how they officiate the final seconds of a basketball game. As much as we'd like to pretend the game is the exact same in the final 30 seconds as it is in the first 30, the fact is that it's not. A foul needs to be blatant to be called and common sense needs to come into play.
Fans attend games because they like to see the players decide the outcome, not the officials. This should be common sense. There should be accountability. But there is none.
Athletics is big business, and just like we want success from coaches and administrators, we should want it from officials. They have a difficult job, but it would be easier if their leadership put in place guidelines to help them avoid situations like this.
That's why I think the Pac-10 officiating leadership needs to address this. That, or there needs to be a change in leadership.
6 months ago
Grady Clapp
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just watched the link (thanks SP)...
… I’m not sure how you arrived at “absolutely” not a foul. It may have been a close call, but there were three defenders in the air around the ball and Vucevic did not jump straight up in the air. Certainly, there was enough there to justify a call, especially if they’d been calling the game tight all night.
If you are a ’zona fan, you would argue that you have to make that call because the team fought hard enough to have a shot at the tie but were not given a fair chance to convert it.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
Absolutely was probably the wrong word there
I didn’t see a foul. Looking at the game log, it was called on Vucevic, who was in front of and to the side of Fogg. The way the shot was off (short and way left) would indicate he was hit on the arm. Fogg went down to try to sell contact and get a foul there. Usually, from what I’ve seen, a foul on the arm is going to make the shot come up short, but still mostly on target. It looked like whomever got a piece of it did it from behind him in a swatting motion, causing what you saw on tape. Without seeing it up closer or in HD, my best guess from watching over a few times was that it was a clean play and clean block.
The fact Vucevic jumped across the shooter and Fogg also jumped into Vucevic isn’t enough for a foul there, in my opinion.
There was no foul
The kid on USC glided near to far [right to left in front of the Arizona shooter] w/ no contact and the kid came down cleanly on the floor and flopped back to the ground.
He sold the foul that didn’t exist.
Maybe / maybe not ...
… but you might agree that there might have been the appearance of a foul especially when you consider that the ref is not looking at it from the television angle.
The bigger question is as Grady posted … do you call the game differently at the end than at the beginning?
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
You're undermining your own argument with this "end of the game is different!" nonsense
Because, frankly, it isn’t. Officials should call fouls when they are fouls and not call fouls when they are not fouls.
If this wasn’t a foul, then the call was incompetent and a problem for the league officiating. If it was a foul, then it was the correct call. A refusal to call fouls down the stretch of ballgames is a standing invitation for teams to abuse shooters in late-game situations. Have you forgotten the infamous UCLA vs. Texas A&M game already? That was all of two years ago.
Shawn Spencer: "I’m receiving a transmission from your husband. Really more of a voicemail, if I'm being honest. A status update. Perhaps a twitter."
Burton Guster: "I believe it’s called a tweet."
Shawn Spencer: "There’s no way I’m saying that."
by PaulThomas on Mar 7, 2010 5:45 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
We've seen our share of bad calls
that have gone against us.
As you will see, there were lots of missed calls in that A&M game. If you are not going to call a game tight, why start at the last shot?
EGO TROIORUM MALLEUS SUM
by Bruins102NCAA on Mar 8, 2010 12:27 PM PST up reply actions
Awful call.
Here is the video. There appeared to be no contact at all, although one could argue Vucevic’s foot lightly touched Fogg’s after the shot. Still, nothing remotely worth calling at that point in the game.
agreed
Its just even more mind boggling at that point.
by spencer peaty on Mar 7, 2010 6:37 PM PST up reply actions
You can’t forget that refs are human. It’s not their fault that there isn’t reply. Yes, it was an awful call, but mistakes happen, fail-proof robots don’t call the games.
I have a mancrush on the Maehlman.
by TennesseeQuackAttack8 on Mar 7, 2010 7:41 PM PST reply actions
Yeah you know it wasn't a great call, but..
There was an awful lot of traffic around the shooter there. that combined with flying bodies and the shooter hitting the deck, its hard to say its absolute travesty of a call. This stuff happens and from the angle in the fox sports video it just looked like a lot of traffic around the shooter and he fell and they assumed he was hit. It might be a bad call, but it’s not the worst call I’ve seen from pac-10 refs.
Taj Gibson and USC getting robbed of a tournament bid
by Brian Floyd on Mar 7, 2010 8:18 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
... and, of course, USC is banned from post-season. cougfan is being fecitious
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
Not exactly
I mixed up my big men. It was Jeff Pendergraph and, considering the timing and what was on the line, it was bad.
So, to modify the statement above
USC and Taj Gibson gaining a tournament bid in part due to a ridiculous call.
Yeah, this is another controvercial ending.
Thanks for the video. We could probably start a large collection of videos concerning game ending controversial calls in PAC10 basketball.
bad call yes...
But this type of bad call is not uncommon in NCAA hoops. The hideous rip off that was the technical foul on WSU was a call I have never seen before and I am a loooooong time watcher of college hoops- and the Cougs especially. Bad call for sure, but doesn’t hold a candle to the idiotic call made on the Cougs vs. the Ducks.
If you can't Go Cougs... don't go.
If you guys can find video of the uncalled shot clock violation
You can put the two together and you’ll see how the result of the game was the clear result of home cooking.
I think it was in the last 5 minutes of the game… UA player makes a layup as the shot clock goes off. Announcers take a look at the tape and it reveals that the ball left the UA player’s hands about a full half second after the clock hit zero. O’Neill is screaming, players are confused, but the refs don’t review it.
Well it really doesn't matter for USC one way or another since nothing could be gained.
All college and NBA refs suck to a point, that point is when they have to make an important call. Usually they have there hands in their pockets playing pool, but once in awhile they bring them out and make a predictable call. You have your Charge guys, then your blocking guys, your travel guys etc. They are all specialist just hope they are not operating on you in the hospital, because they will get that wrong to.
LA Sports is what keep me off the streets and out of trouble, thanks to all the teams Rams, Dodgers, Lakers, USC sports and the Love of Tennis.
by so.cal.native1952 on Mar 8, 2010 1:23 PM PST reply actions
If Mike Littlewood was performing surgery on me
I’d go in for a routine ankle surgery and leave missing two toes, my appendix, and my left arm. He’d also overcharge me and forget to close the incisions when he was finished, only to deny any wrong doing by saying he was only following procedure.
wow is mike the ref and the last name littlewood did his boyfriends name him that
LA Sports is what keep me off the streets and out of trouble, thanks to all the teams Rams, Dodgers, Lakers, USC sports and the Love of Tennis.
by so.cal.native1952 on Mar 9, 2010 7:22 AM PST up reply actions
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