Big Ten Refs

Ok, so everyone seems to accept that the Big Ten Refs mantra is to give the calls to the home team. Wisconsin, Iowa and Northwestern got them against us and Iowa got them against Wisconsin the other night.

But why does it seem that we are the only team in the Big Ten that doesn't get that kind of reffing at home?

Every game this year at home, the refs seem to rape us more than the visitors. I thought I was being irrational after last nights game, but a good friend (who is a Iowa fan/Gopher hater) agreed with me.

Has anyone else noticed this sort of phenomenon (if you will)?

I just want to add, I am not blaming last night's loss on the refs.

I'm pretty sure it happens in just about every Minnesota Sport, we always get screwed somehow every season by the Zebras.

hinjon said:

Ok, so everyone seems to accept that the Big Ten Refs mantra is to give the calls to the home team. Wisconsin, Iowa and Northwestern got them against us and Iowa got them against Wisconsin the other night.

But why does it seem that we are the only team in the Big Ten that doesn't get that kind of reffing at home?

Every game this year at home, the refs seem to rape us more than the visitors. I thought I was being irrational after last nights game, but a good friend (who is a Iowa fan/Gopher hater) agreed with me.

Has anyone else noticed this sort of phenomenon (if you will)?

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There are numerous threads on the Purdue boards about the Boilers getting "raped" by the officials last night and that they still managed to win the game or should I say "rolled easily".

It seems win or lose, people want to b!tch about the refs.

I think the refs were flat out terrible last night. Unbiased, but terrible. There were many calls for Gopher fans to whine about and many calls for Purdue fans to whine about. I also felt that for a stretch of time, physical play was allowed, and then suddenly every touch was being called. And it would switch back and forth. Maddeningly inconsistent.

The refs were terrible both ways last night. And if anything they kept us in the game by calling every possible foul and letting us shoot free throws. If there was an advantage last night, I would say we actually had it.

How many free throws did we attempt?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It is a nearly impossible task to officiate a good game in today's environment...even for the best refs in the world. First, you have fans who want the official to have control of the game, so it isn't a wrestling match. Make it a finesse game they say. Then, you have fans who want to let them play so as to not interrupt the flow of an otherwise good game. Let 'em play they say. Tough to find the right balance, even for highly-trained, very good officials.

Then, you have a team like Purdue, which literally fouls on nearly every pass attempt, screen attempt, shot attempt. Purdue was called for 28 fouls - a lot for a winning team. But, they likely committed 65-70 fouls in the game. You cannot call them all. Purdue is counting on it.

I think you talk to most officials and they will tell you they do not like to work a Purdue game. They play that physical defense on the perimeter and it is tough get a handle on it.

Now, all that said, that certainly doesn't excuse the atrocious job that Hightower did last night. And, I'm usually a Hightower apologist, but he was BRUTAL last night. Likely one of the worst games he's ever officiated. He missed the clear rollover travel on Hummel, the terrible foul on Nolen's steal when Kramer knocked Al down and Al got the foul, the travel on Damian on the rebound when he was undercut and landed on the floor (terrible call). You had Eddie wanting to let Purdue shoot a one-and-one when we had only committed five fouls. You had Eddie wanting to give us the ball on a tied possession call when the arrow was pointing to Purdue's basket. He was especially awful.

I don't get the constant about the officials by fans of all Minnesota sports teams. There is no agenda to screw with Minnesota teams. In addition, I believe there some selective memory going on out there as well.

Here are some facts:
In Minnesota's seven Big Ten games:
-- The Gophers have shot more FTs than opponents on four occasions.
-- In four home games, the Gophers have shot more FTs than opponents three times.
-- In conference play, the Gophers are tied for sixth in FTs per game at 16.6 per game.
-- The Gophers have actually shot more FTs per game in conference play than Wisconsin
-- The Gophers have shot more FTs than their opponents in two of the their three losses.
-- The Gophers shot one more FT than Purdue last night despite being behind from start-to-finish.

I guess I don't see the outrage. I just looked at the play-by-play of the Wisconsin game. In that game, the Badgers attempted 10 of their 28 FTs in the final 3:30 of regulation as the Gophers made their comeback. That means Wisconsin shot 18 free throws in the other 41:30 of the game. That doesn't seem to be excessive.

Officiating college basketball games is a difficult job. The players are bigger and stronger than ever and the sport has grown more and more physical. Trying to find an official that is in good enough physical shape and experienced enough to manage a game is difficult. Those guys, largely, are in the NBA. I think they make more good calls than bad. When they do miss calls, it's both ways. As long as they make a good effort and try to get in the right positions, that's all I ask.

anonymous said:

I guess I don't see the outrage. I just looked at the play-by-play of the Wisconsin game. In that game, the Badgers attempted 10 of their 28 FTs in the final 3:30 of regulation as the Gophers made their comeback. That means Wisconsin shot 18 free throws in the other 41:30 of the game. That doesn't seem to be excessive.

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I also remember the Gophers taking their 3rd and 4th free throw of that game with 3:27 left in regulation.

"I also felt that for a stretch of time, physical play was allowed, and then suddenly every touch was being called. And it would switch back and forth. Maddeningly inconsistent"

This is the point from last night's game. During the opening part of the game, you tend to get a sense of what kind of a game you're going to get from the refs. It appeared as if last night's crew couldn't figure out if they were going to let them play (the style I prefer, this is the f_cking Big 10 and that's our history) or make it a finesse game.

FWIW, I thought both teams got hosed on numerous calls. Hard to say who got the better of it though. It's not just the amount of calls, but when the calls happen in the flow of the game, who is on a run when certain calls are made, does it kill someone's momentum, does it lead to an and-one situation, etc. that determines who gets the shaft.

"FWIW, I thought both teams got hosed on numerous calls. Hard to say who got the better of it though. It's not just the amount of calls, but when the calls happen in the flow of the game, who is on a run when certain calls are made, does it kill someone's momentum, does it lead to an and-one situation, etc. that determines who gets the shaft."

I would say the call on Al when Kramer pushed him from behind was a huge Momentum killer. The Gophers were just gaining it at that time, so thanks for that Ed.

hinjon said:

"FWIW, I thought both teams got hosed on numerous calls. Hard to say who got the better of it though. It's not just the amount of calls, but when the calls happen in the flow of the game, who is on a run when certain calls are made, does it kill someone's momentum, does it lead to an and-one situation, etc. that determines who gets the shaft."

I would say the call on Al when Kramer pushed him from behind was a huge Momentum killer. The Gophers were just gaining it at that time, so thanks for that Ed.

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They also missed an easy one where someone reached in on Grant then he fell to the floor and Green caught called with and X, which was the right call, but point is they missed an easy one before that.

The officiating was definitely not consistent last night. It seemed like Hightower made 75% of the calls, which is a problem straight off.

That being said, I really thought that by games end, the Gophers had benefited more from the officiating than the Boilers. I thought the first half was slightly biased towards the Boilers, but the that last 10 minutes or so were so heavily tilted towards the Gophs that I can understand why Boiler fans would be upset. They seriously bailed out Nolen & Westbrook every time they went to the hoop, often times without any body contact being made.