Higgins and Donato retiring*

[SWC75]

Donato must be a good ref, as I can't remember one thing about him, and a quick scan of this threads post yields nary a mention of him only ,WC Fields Higgins himself.

As I've always said: I don't know who the best referee in the Big East is and that's why he's the best.

 

[SWC75]

I know I'm in the minority and no doubt Higgins made his fair share of bad calls but I think he was a good ref whose age and conditioning has prevented him from doing his best the past few years. With Higgins, you could expect him to either consciously or sub-consciously try to equalize the home court advantage . He seemed to accept the role of the bad cop in games and didn't let people get under his skin.(Burr obviously has had issues there). I think Higgins enjoyed the games, , the players, the atmosphere and even the fans. My biggest problem with him was the last few years, he was frequently out of position because he lacked the athleticism to go full tilt, full court thus he missed some calls. I do think he was a very good ref though - go ahead and hang me.

I have actually had more issues with refs like Karl Hess', Michael Stevens and even Cahill. I'll miss the collective groan though when Higgins is announced as a ref at the dome. I'd love to hear JB's take on the refs after he retires, bet he will be more complimentary of Higgins than the fans. Of course that wouldn't take much...

Higgins was, (or became) incompetent. Burr is arrogant. That's why I've always hated Burr the worst. He wants to be hated.

 

[chriscory101]

I'm not trusting it, why is it that syracuse.com is the only news source in the nation, as of 5:32 PM who is reporting this?

Unless they had us on speed dial?

i was watching the Brent Axe show on TV today and he announced it. Said that Mike Waters was the first to announce it. Obvously dont have a link since it was on TV but it was reported by radio sources. Axe actually did a little victory song and dance for Higgins leaving.

 

[SBU72]

I know I'm in the minority and no doubt Higgins made his fair share of bad calls but I think he was a good ref whose age and conditioning has prevented him from doing his best the past few years. With Higgins, you could expect him to either consciously or sub-consciously try to equalize the home court advantage . He seemed to accept the role of the bad cop in games and didn't let people get under his skin.(Burr obviously has had issues there). I think Higgins enjoyed the games, , the players, the atmosphere and even the fans. My biggest problem with him was the last few years, he was frequently out of position because he lacked the athleticism to go full tilt, full court thus he missed some calls. I do think he was a very good ref though - go ahead and hang me.

I have actually had more issues with refs like Karl Hess', Michael Stevens and even Cahill. I'll miss the collective groan though when Higgins is announced as a ref at the dome. I'd love to hear JB's take on the refs after he retires, bet he will be more complimentary of Higgins than the fans. Of course that wouldn't take much...

Well the radio talk show in Rochester I was listening to that announced this seem to agree with most here that Higgins was bad. If you don't want to say that, then he was way (way, way) past his prime. This may very well be the case. To old to keep up with the game, this may have lead to missed call, bad call, anticipation calls, etc. Add to your expectation that he tried to even out home court advantage DOES make him a bad ref. I don't know how any league could allow this consistentecy to continue for years. You would have thought the suspension of a couple of refs during the BET a couple of years ago would have been a message to the officals to buckle down but last year there seemed to be MORE badly called games not less.

 

[Orangeyes]

Well the radio talk show in Rochester I was listening to that announced this seem to agree with most here that Higgins was bad. If you don't want to say that, then he was way (way, way) past his prime. This may very well be the case. To old to keep up with the game, this may have lead to missed call, bad call, anticipation calls, etc. Add to your expectation that he tried to even out home court advantage DOES make him a bad ref. I don't know how any league could allow this consistentecy to continue for years. You would have thought the suspension of a couple of refs during the BET a couple of years ago would have been a message to the officals to buckle down but last year there seemed to be MORE badly called games not less.

Pitino figured it out a couple of years ago here at the Dome. Higgins was oblivious to 3 second violations committed by teams in red. Louisville players were documented to be in the lane for stretches exceeding 10 seconds. Syracuse lost that game where at least 6 blatant violations occured all resulting in points for the Cardinals.

 

[72Cuse]

I

I know I'm in the minority and no doubt Higgins made his fair share of bad calls but I think he was a good ref whose age and conditioning has prevented him from doing his best the past few years. With Higgins, you could expect him to either consciously or sub-consciously try to equalize the home court advantage . He seemed to accept the role of the bad cop in games and didn't let people get under his skin.(Burr obviously has had issues there). I think Higgins enjoyed the games, , the players, the atmosphere and even the fans. My biggest problem with him was the last few years, he was frequently out of position because he lacked the athleticism to go full tilt, full court thus he missed some calls. I do think he was a very good ref though - go ahead and hang me.

I have actually had more issues with refs like Karl Hess', Michael Stevens and even Cahill. I'll miss the collective groan though when Higgins is announced as a ref at the dome. I'd love to hear JB's take on the refs after he retires, bet he will be more complimentary of Higgins than the fans. Of course that wouldn't take much...

Good observation Cherie. I would also be very interested in JB's opinion once he retires. (BTW, I don't think anyone compares to Dick Paparo.)