The storybook run by Mark Gottfried and the N.C. State Wolfpack came to a nightmarish ending last night at the hands of the three man officiating crew of Michael Stephens, Brian O'Connell and Greg Nixon...These fine officials took the "Let 'Em Play" theory to new levels of roughness. Apparently in the Big East, MAAC, PAC 12, Big Sky and West Coast conferences the type of basketball played is more along the line of basket-BRAWL.
The game featured the action of a hockey game, rugby match or wrestling match. At times it certainly bore no resemblance to a basketball game. Much less a basketball game at level we would expect to see in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. This officiating crew would allow the physicality of criminal assault to proceed for long stretches of action only to be punctuated by a foul call that would leave you scratching your head and wondering," how could they call that foul after letting someone get murdered on the other end of the floor." More times than not the Kansas JayHawks were the beneficiaries of the officiating inconsistency. That's not to say that the calls weren't horrible both ways but the Kansas big men were allowed to do things to the Wolfpack big men that is illegal in the majority of the 50 states and 8-10 times it wasn't called. This was especially true for Kansas 7 footer Jeff Withey who was credited with 11 blocks in the game. Over half of his blocks would have resulted in foul calls had even the worst ACC crew been calling the game. Hell I could block 11 shots in a game if I was given Carte Blanche that Mr. Withey was last night...
I know all you non-Wolfpackers out there are saying "State had their chances in the closing minutes to pull it out but turned it over and the referees had nothing to do with those". Well that may be true, but if you saddle the main cog in a team's game plan with 4 fouls early and he has to sit for 70 percent of the second half you have effectively changed the game...State's C.J. Leslie was relegated to the bench for much of the second half due to picking up his 4th foul less than 2 minutes into the half and he still led the Wolfpack with 18 points. Had he been given the same free reign privileges as KU's Mr. Withey he could have played the whole second half and scored 30 points and N.C. State probably wins the game as the Wolfpack managed to keep it close without Leslie in the game.
This brings me to the closing minutes of the game and one of my major pet peeves...That is the referees radically changing the way they call a game in the closing minutes of a game. Somehow this practice continues to plague college basketball. I do not know why the powers-that-be in college basketball allow referees to change the rulebook for the last minutes of a game but they do...
The only thing that I can figure is the clowns in the striped shirts have been given the directive to let the players decide the game. I have to call BULLSHIT on this one...It needs to stop for the integrity of the game. The N.C. State Wolfpack was victimized more than once this year by this practice. For no apparent reason a foul that has been called for 39 minutes in a basketball game ceases to be a foul in the final minute. You need look no farther than the final 15 seconds of the ACC tournament game when the UNC Tar Heels' Kendall Marshall runs over N.C. State's Alex Johnson to make the game winning shot. Marshall's charge that wasn't called had been called nearly a dozen times in the games first 39 minutes...
Friday night in their Sweet Sixteen game vs Kansas, N.C. State was victimized again. C.J. Leslie drove to the basket in the final 30 seconds and was fouled no less than three times by several different players including Mr. Withey, but there was no foul called and Kansas got the ball and went the other way.
The last time I checked there is not a separate section in the rulebook for the final minute of the game...This business of changing the way the game is called in the final minute of a game MUST BE STOPPED.
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