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Originally Posted by SMEngmann
I think that the above posts are very relevant to what we've seen so far this year at the tournament. Here we have directive, reportedly from on high encouraging officials, strongly, to make safe calls. Of course, many of the calls that have been criticized so far in the tournament have been calls that can be deemed as "safe." The two main examples are the Oden intentional foul and the hanging on the rim in the Tennessee-Virginia game. In my opinion, both of those calls were incorrect, of course I am not nearly at the NCAA tournament level.
I've heard Dave Libbey speak, and one of the core things that he says is that you can call the exact same play different ways and be right both times. Libbey is referring to a play that we might want early in the game as a tempo setter, but not to call with the game on the line because it didn't have a direct impact on the play. I think this concept has been taken too far in these two cases. If we're not talking the last 30 seconds of a tight elimination game, but in the first half, in my opinion these are no brainer calls. The problem is that the penalty for the official for being wrong calling the play correctly would be much more severe than the penalty for being wrong with a "no call" or going with the lesser foul.
I think as officials we need to strive for calling the obvious at all times during the game, and I think these calls in specific have hurt our profession all the way through. As these plays become more prevalent in high profile games, the mentality matriculates down to the lower levels. In my high school playoff game, a player or coach may come in with the attitude that because the game's close, he will be granted leeway to blatantly and obviously violate the rules of the game and have the expectation that it won't be called because of the score. Where does it end? I don't think anyone can deny that the "superstar mentality" has made its way down to the top high school programs, one only needs to look at the OJ Mayo mess to see that.
I think we as officials need to understand the concept of impact of fouls and fouls on specific players and the impact of different types of fouls on our games, but we can't lose sight of the need to always call obvious plays no matter what point in the game. We need to make sure fouls are there and obvious when we call them, but we can't lose sight of calling obvious plays simply because of the way that call might impact the game. I'm not saying go out and look for ticky tack stuff to call at the end of games, but just to have plays that the guy in the nosebleeds can call. Not having these obvious plays, be it in the NBA Finals, the NCAA Tourney, the high school playoffs, a regular varsity game or even a JV game not only hurts all officials, at all levels, but it also undermines the integrity of the game.
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Thanks for much more eloquently stating what I have been observing.
Here is a post directly from the conference coordinator's national conference call:
NCAA MEMORANDUM
February 9, 2007
Page No. 8
[B][I][COLOR="Blue"]4. End-of-game situations.
a. There have been many close games in the past several weeks, with many more likely to occur. There is more parity across every conference.
b. We must discuss in our pregame, situations that could occur at the end of the game and how we will handle them.
c. Near the end of a close game, when the opportunity presents itself during one of the many called timeouts, we must get together as a crew to again discuss the situation being presented to us.
d. Officials can call a perfect game for 39 minutes, but if something goes wrong in the last minute, that is what will be remembered.
e. Fouls and violations must be obvious. That does not mean, “do not blow your whistle.” We cannot pass on obvious calls, anytime, especially in the waning moments of a tight game. We are not deciding the outcome, the player that fouled or violated a rule, or the coach’s extreme behavior, is deciding the outcome. Do not penalize the offended team by not making the obvious call. That is when we are accused of game manipulation.
f. By the same token, we do not want to make a marginal call – something that we have not called all game and/or that is not obvious to the masses – determine the outcome of a close game.
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g. Making the distinction between obvious and marginal is not always easy, but this is our charge and comes with this important responsibility. This is what separates great officials from everyone else.
h. Remember, obvious trumps everything. It does not matter the foul count, the score or the time left in the game.