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I have not been one to talk about refs alot, but for some reason the officiating in both football and basketball has really stood out to me. I have tried to look at it objectively, but all of the 50/50 calls seem to go the other way and way too many bizarre calls that at impromptu times that really hurt UC.

In football, I didn't realize things were bad until I heard the commentators mention the stats of AAC refs. The AAC had 3 of the most penallized team in Division 1. Yet in the bowl game, I think we had less than 5 total penalties. Did we improve that much, or was it because Metz didn't start. I'm not sure of the answer, but I'd venture a guess that when we played games with non AAC refs, our penalty numbers were more like most of the other teams in FBS.

And it isn't only against UC. Seen an awful lot of bad officiating in general. It would be nice if the league started grading officials and taking action for those that don't make the grade.

If football at least the AAC refs were clearly calling everything that could even be remotely construed as a penalty, not just against us, but every team in the conference. Cant speak to basketball yet as I've only caught two games...but the UCF game was ridiculous.

Where did they dig these dudes up from? Rejects from the the G4?

The NCAA has a major officiating problem in both Football and Basketball, IMO. They need to form a national officiating office and stop leaving it to individual conferences. Specifically in Football it has caused issues and needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, I think they like having vague rules and interpretations at times.

Watching how badly the officials in all of college basketball favor the home teams, I can't believe the problem is bad officiating. I have to believe the NCAA schools want it that way.

I suppose it makes alumni and season tickets holders happier if their teams win a lot at home.

(01-12-2020 10:14 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Watching how badly the officials in all of college basketball favor the home teams, I can't believe the problem is bad officiating. I have to believe the NCAA schools want it that way.

I suppose it makes alumni and season tickets holders happier if their teams win a lot at home.

And yet, UC seemingly NEVER gets homer calls

Always
Against
Cincinnati

(01-12-2020 10:14 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Watching how badly the officials in all of college basketball favor the home teams, I can't believe the problem is bad officiating. I have to believe the NCAA schools want it that way.

I suppose it makes alumni and season tickets holders happier if their teams win a lot at home.

No question, I think it's one of the biggest problems with college basketball today. I don't even know if it's a conscious decision by officials but I can't believe the NCAA doesn't do a simple statistical study that would show the disparity of fouls on home vs. road teams. Are teams playing at home just employing a much cleaner defense than they do on the road? Clearly not in many cases. Are crowd reactions often influencing the calls in the home arena? I have to think so.

There have been studies showing that some part of the home field advantage is because of refereeing. But that's across all sports.

There's no conspiracy against UC. Every school's fanbase thinks the refs are out to get them. It's silly.

I do wish Brannen would work the refs more.

I was googling to find out how refs are actually assigned to games in mens BB. Not sure I found definitive answers, though a lot of opinions.

Several articles I saw talked about league "assigners", but it did not give a lot of detail. Nothing I saw suggested dedicated AAC conference refs such as in football.

When I watch games on TV from other conferences, I often see refs that I recognize from UC games. For example, Ted Valentine seems to do games in a bunch of conferences, and UC typically sees him several times in league games.

If anyone really knows, can you tell us or link to a good article? I like to b**ch about refs too, and it would be nice to b**ch about the right situation.

It puzzled me that we seemed to have the same crew in both of our important Memphis football games. Checking the box scores I was partially right; 4 of the same refs in both games. Doesn't seem right to me; possibly picked on some type of merit system( or league agenda I guess some conspiracy minded Bearcat fans might argue) for championship game. To me it just seems it should have been a completely different crew.

Refs are just trash. No bias but over the course of this season (football and basketball) it has been skewed against UC. I don't think that is a large enough sample set yet, though.

(01-13-2020 12:11 PM)Helicopter Wrote:  Refs are just trash. No bias but over the course of this season (football and basketball) it has been skewed against UC. I don't think that is a large enough sample set yet, though.

I know we're not the only program that feels this way.. in football, Memphis vs. Temple, the Memphis catch that was reviewed and overturned to incomplete costed Memphis a real chance at 13-0. There are very pivotal plays that referees need to get correct or it impacts the result. In UC versus Memphis (round 1).. the running into the kicker call on us when we complete missed Memphis' kicker. That's essentially a turnover the referees grant Memphis.. goes from us getting the ball at midfield to Memphis ball new set of downs. Yes, there's a missed hold here or a missed PI there that probably all even out and everyone gets hit by them here and there, but then there's calls that greatly impact the outcome that don't even out. This is where crews need to get better.

..also doesn't help that new rules get added every year to add to an already complex job referees have. Now they need to decider and decide on when a player flops or not. I believe the referees called a flop warning on Cumberland in our last game against Tulsa when Cumberland got absolutely pummeled by a Tulsa player driving into the lane.

Also I saw a controversial block/charge call in the WSU/UCONN game yesterday in 2OT is making waves on social media. Should have been a block called against WSU instead the referee blows his whistle runs out into the field a play and dramatically calls charge, a disciple of TV Teddy.

As I've mentioned previously, it's similar to a called third strike in baseball where it's a chance for the official to put himself in the spotlight with a dramatic show.

So many charges being called, I'd like to see the historic ratio of block calls versus charge calls. Seems like this year there's more charges and it makes play in the paint dangerous as defenders are trying to slide in at the last second knowing there's a good chance of a charge call. What used to seem like 75% block calls/25% charges has now been flipped. We need to go back to more blocks with less last second slide unders.

(01-11-2020 02:07 PM)jarr Wrote:  I have not been one to talk about refs alot, but for some reason the officiating in both football and basketball has really stood out to me. I have tried to look at it objectively, but all of the 50/50 calls seem to go the other way and way too many bizarre calls that at impromptu times that really hurt UC.

Jarr I'm not going to get into an elaborate story etc about officiating but the bottom line is the ENTIRE NCAA mens and women's football and hoops are "all on the take." To what degree? Don't know. Don't care. That''s why I don't watch ANY sports anymore. Just because someone keeps saying " the Apple's an orange" doesn't mean it's so - you know? I just read about the Cats and catch the highlights on YTube because it's too obvious for even me and it got to old to the point that if I can predict what's going to happen in a game.....doesn't make it fun anymore. But love my Bearcats!

(01-13-2020 12:33 PM)dubcat14 Wrote:  Also I saw a controversial block/charge call in the WSU/UCONN game yesterday in 2OT is making waves on social media. Should have been a block called against WSU instead the referee blows his whistle runs out into the field a play and dramatically calls charge, a disciple of TV Teddy.

As I've mentioned previously, it's similar to a called third strike in baseball where it's a chance for the official to put himself in the spotlight with a dramatic show.

So many charges being called, I'd like to see the historic ratio of block calls versus charge calls. Seems like this year there's more charges and it makes play in the paint dangerous as defenders are trying to slide in at the last second knowing there's a good chance of a charge call. What used to seem like 75% block calls/25% charges has now been flipped. We need to go back to more blocks with less last second slide unders.

I blame Duke, honestly. This charge nonsense is legitimately dangerous for the players. Sliding under an airborne player is not defense, requires no discernible skill and is not basketball.

A secondary player should never be allowed to draw a charge. Best they should hope for is a no-call if they maintain verticality and "beat" the offensive player to the spot.