Rewatching the end. My god, that ref.

[Cowtown]

Like Carmelo said..."they don't want us to win!"

There's no other explanation that makes sense for why that guy made that call.

"Never assume malice where incompetence will adequately explain it."

 

[patcuse]

I'm taking that as a "none." Mad? Don't flatter yourself. I put the thought out there as a possibility, you know. That's what that "part of me wonders if ..." means. Sorry you missed that. Good thing you're not a ref, huh?

If that was going through the refs head then that would be blatantly cheating. I think maybe he just thought he stepped out of bounds nothing more.

 

[Cowtown]

If that was going through the refs head then that would be blatantly cheating. I think maybe he just thought he stepped out of bounds nothing more.

Great. Thanks.

 

[JarHeadJim]

Jarhead, you're gonna do your lucky post, right?

http://syracusefan.com/threads/we-better-not-take-virgina-lightly.102758/

 

[Orangeman]

Meh, every ref comes from somewhere. If you don't learn to block out partisan bias, you don't make as far as this guy has.

This sentiment might have made sense before so much money came flowing into sports, both Pro and Collegiate.

At this point it's naive to think there aren't greater forces at play. Too much mon

 

[CaptainJ]

Although I agree that the call was heinous, I don't believe it was made by that ref to cover a bet or some other illegal activity of that nature. We were up 1 at that point and the spread was -4 for Gonzaga. Gonzaga would have needed to score 5 points in those 11 seconds without us scoring just to equal the spread. Any smart point-shaving ref would have avoided any speculation by not making that call. That ref was just a stupid moron thinking he saw something thousands of other people didn't.

I agree with that to an extent, but... some of us put $50 on SU straight up(no points) to win $80! I imagine some people put a lot more up, and we know Vegas has interfered in college hoops for ages. We remember the Scoop Jardine free throw allegations and such. I'm not saying it was the case here, but it sure as heck could have been. (I haven't read the next 3 pages yet, so others may have mentioned this I imagine, but who knows?).

In defense of the ref, it may have been a whistle out of reaction, and then when forced to make the call he made the wrong one. Also, he was extremely close to being correct. Just Devil's advocate to show a little empathy, I was raging like many(most?) SU fans. Maybe the baseline ref was a little slow to blow the whistle and put undue pressure on the other refs? I don't know, but I'm just trying to show a little compassion for the guy who is likely very embarrassed. Heaven knows I've longed for empathy more often in my own life, and try to help underdogs when I can. Sometimes it feels like some sort of penance I'm paying or karma work of some sort. Maybe try to imagine yourself in the dude's shoes, how very likely he was to be correct if not for ballerina/epicly heroic/unconscious precision from Cooney. He went with some great odds and what some might consider an extreme outlier happened. Maybe the foot on the line is seen as less of a call than a foul, which they had been letting go most of the game anyhow, right?

Feel free to disagree with anything I've said, I'm just writing it for folks to see something they likely won't from anyone else on here. Who knows, I may have articulated it better than Zag fans in my hungover/somber state.

Edit: If anyone reads all of this, I want to clarify that Ive Teed(liked) about every post on the first page. I'm not taking the above stance necessarily, just throwing out something else to consider.

Edit 2: I see Cowtown covered some of this, and with more detail in some points about the ref team. Good post. I also wanted to clarify the 2nd portion of the post wasnt really a reply to you, CuseCaboose. I was just tring to limit my # of posts some.

 

[Cowtown]

This sentiment might have made sense before so much money came flowing into sports, both Pro and Collegiate.

At this point it's naive to think there aren't greater forces at play. Too much mon

The overwhelming majority of people who ref don't do it with ulterior motives. I don't care about the money. I would still do it even if we didn't get paid - just not as much . Most of us do it because we like the game and want to stay connected to it, or so kids can play. I do it for those reasons, but also because of the challenge. It's by far the most difficult thing I've done in sports. And I'll confess there's some minor vanity involved, as in I like being able to do something reasonably well that very few people can do even to begin with. There's a certain sense of reward in that. I can't tell you how good it feels to walk into a gym, and the head coach looks up and smiles and offers his hand saying, "Hi <Cow>, good to see you."

 

[Orangeman]

The overwhelming majority of people who ref don't do it with ulterior motives. I don't care about the money. I would still do it even if we didn't get paid - just not as much . Most of us do it because we like the game and want to stay connected to it, or so kids can play. I do it for those reasons, but also because of the challenge. It's by far the most difficult thing I've done in sports. And I'll confess there's some minor vanity involved, as in I like being able to do something reasonably well that very few people can do even to begin with. There's a certain sense of reward in that. I can't tell you how good it feels to walk into a gym, and the head coach looks up and smiles and offers his hand saying, "Hi <Cow>, good to see you."

I get all that.

I'm talking about all the other.

 

[Jake]

Cowtown...got a question regarding the step out call vs calling the foul. I've seen officials not call a foul on a player in cases and just call the ball out of bounds on the player they "could" have called the foul on.

In last nights case, the discretionary call benefited the player that could have been whistled for the foul. THAT is what I think people are struggling to understand. The "no blood rule" shouldn't benefit the potentially offending player.

 

[Caboose]

Who is the ref who made the call and who is the baseline ref? Where did they grow up and attend college? Where are they from and which leagues do they ref for?

Is it possible that a pro-Big Ten ref would do something intentionally just to spite the ACC? Yes. Is it possible a ref with bleeding heart/egalitarian sympathies would assume the ACC was already far too successful in this tournament and so anybody else should win for the sake of diversity? Yes.

It is also possible that the ref is simply an ego maniac semi-competent who just had to blow the big whistle at the most important time of the game.

Yes you have a point. Doesn't have to be about gambling only. Good point.

 

[IthacaMatt]

can we get some clarity on the 10 sec call.. the ball was passed beyond mid court and tipped by cooney back into the back court.. is the rule that since no change of possession takes place and offense never possessed it all thats its a 10 second violation. so someone touching it is not enough to reset that clock.

Nobody for Virginia had possession in the front court. It's not enough to throw the ball over the line; somebody has to have possession in the front court or else your team hasn't advanced it across the timeline.