The Stars of the Show?

I suppose that the best way to start off my first weekly post dedicated to the greatest of all sports, college basketball, is to remind everyone that there are precisely 42 days, 2 hours and 40 minutes until the NCAA Selection Show (as I write this sentence). Let the countdown to the Madness begin!!!

Now there are a number of different topics that I would like to talk about and my "short list" numbered about 135 as I drove home from work yesterday thinking about the first issue that I should discuss (for the record, when driving home, there were precisely 42 days, 23 hours and 52 minutes until we learn that Notre Dame will once again have a disappointing March). My thoughts on the RPI and the "perceptions" (more commonly known as the AP and ESPN rankings), my expectations for the final 42 days of the season, a discussion of the tournament selection process (as I understand it) were all considered and will likely eventually be covered as we move toward the greatest three weeks of the year. But after watching the Indiana-Iowa game last night, my mission became clear...it is time for SOMEONE to stand up and need to expouse the truth...the officiating in college basketball is atrocious.

BIAS ALERT: Now before I jump on my soapbox, let me remind you that I come to this discussion with a recognized and admitted bias...I am an Indiana graduate and a huge Hoosier fan. That said, I truly believe that I can be honest and impartial in my assessment. Why did IU drop a 73-60 decision to the Hawkeyes last night? Simply stated, Indiana lost because they were playing an excellent team on the road, played without senior leader and third-scoring option Marshall Strickland, shot a woeful 38%, and the majority of the team played as if they would rather be in a dentist's chair. That said, let me focus on one of the aforementioned factors..."playing a good team on the road." (Those of you who could care less about IU, please do not fret, this is not going to be exclusively about the IU game...I have a much broader point to make)

Let's see...how do I put this mildly...the officiating in last night's game SUCKED. And that is being generous. The foul totals and free-throw discrepancy do not tell the whole story, although the number are quite telling (total fouls: IU 26, Iowa 10 -- that's right 10!; free throws: IU shot 8, Iowa shot 30). The bigger problem concerned inconsistent enforcement of traveling, three-seconds, stepping on the baseline -- and you can bet on which end of the floor the calls were more often than not made. The biggest problem? Officials who made calls despite being woefully out of position. It is amazing that Mike Davis did not lose his mind ala Kentucky circa 2003. I can only imagine what would have happened if the big fat guy in the red sweater was still patrolling the sidelines instead of running a Red Raider team into the ground in Lubbock. Of course, given that it is no longer 1978, if the big fat guy in the red sweater was still coaching at IU, nobody would really care how bad the officiating is...I mean what really is the difference between ending the season with a whopping three conference wins or only two? I'll have to check with Kevin andTom on that.

And now on to the bigger point. I understand that home teams get the majority of the calls. Heck, IU is the beneficiary of favorable officials as much, if not more, than most teams (see, I can be impartial and honest!). This begs the question...why? And it truly is an NCAA-wide pandemic or epidemic or whatever -emic is the correct choice of words (does anyone truly know?). It has gotten so bad that often times the games become predictable. Truly astute college basketball watchers know when an offensive foul is going to be called before the opponent even brings the ball up the floor. The situation is always the same...home team goes on little run, crowd gets crazy, home team makes big basket, crowd goes even more crazy...next opponent's possession...offensive foul!!! Guaranteed. Note: the above does NOT apply to DePaul, any SWAC team or Purdue against anyone except Indiana. You actually have to have people in the seats for the situation to play out.

Simply seeing the offensive foul called angers me, but my blood really begins to boil whent he referee makes the call by acting as if he is the featured table-top dancer at Studio 54. Arms flailing wildly, the ref runs halfway across the court and signals the foul. "Hey look at me. I called a foul on {opponent}! Love me! Worship me! Give me an Iowa sweatshirt!!!!" I think that most of you have seen this situation and know exactly what I am talkikng about.

The bottom line. It is the ref's job to call the game stright down the middle. It is not his job to placate the home fans, ensure parity, or fatten his wallet (oh jeez, that would open a can of worms). It is also not the ref's job to be the star of the show. Too many referees need to be reminded of this fact. Right now, they are failing. And it is too bad because college basketball is a great game and the performance of the refs is often a black eye.

Some random notes from around the country:

* How can any mention of college basketball referees not mention the travesty that occured in Birmingham, Alabama over the weekend. For those of you who may have missed it...Houston coach Tom Penders was assessed a technical foul after passing out on the sidelines. The referee thought that Penders was mocking a call (yes, boys and girls, Houston was on the road). Penders was administered oxygen and carried off the floor. Is it understandable that the referee thought that Penders had overreated to what he perceived to be a bad call? Yes. Is it worthy of a technical foul? Sure. Was the referee a complete and utter moron for upholding the technical foul after he learned that Penders had, in fact, collapsed? I'll let you be the judge.

* Teams that I am impressed with (besides the obvious...): North Carolina State, LSU, Ohio State, Northern Iowa,

* Teams that the jury is still out on: Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa State, George Washington

* Teams that, truth be told, are not very good (right now): Oklahoma, anyone in the Pac 10 not named Washington or UCLA, Maryland (and soon to get worse with the loss of Chris McCray)

* Teams that suck: Wake Forest, UIC, Louisville

* Finally, Georgetown needed last night's victory over the Domers for their NCAA resume more than most would care to admit. I was as impressed as anybody with Georgetown's defeat of Duke last Saturday, but had to shake my head at the overreaction by most of the college basketball world. In most tournament projections, Georgetown has ridden one victory (albeit extremely impressive) from the NIT to a projected NCAA team often in the 7-9 seed range. Truth be told, even with the victory, Georgetown did NOT have an NCAA profile. Now I am not dumb enough to think that they would not get an invitation under such a scenario, but Georgetown's situation highlights the importance of paying attention to more than the raw numbers when projecting NCAA participants. On Friday (yes, a special college basketball column coming on Friday!), I will expound on this issue.