Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolves Coach
I have been coaching basketball for more years that I wish to mention. I thought I have seen everything until last week. We were involved in a semi-final playoff game at the higher-seed's gym. They were responsible for acquiring officials. Both teams played an aggressive man-to-man defense the entire game. I point this out because what I am about to explain has occurred before when one team plays a simple zone and another team plays an aggressive man. In the 4th quarter, of what was a continual1-3 point difference, I had 3 of my starters foul out of the game. And let me point out that they weren't in foul trouble the first half! The home team, during the second half, committed a total of 3 team fouls. One official had control of the entire game, where the other one just ran up and down the floor. I am not the type of coach that takes credit for wins and blames officials for losses. Please, someone let me see this 'travesty' from a different perspective. Right now all I can think is we were hosed...
|
It is hard to decipher what your complaint was. Do you think the officials were calling fouls on your team that should have been no-calls? Do you think the officials were not calling fouls on the other team that should have been called?
Since it was a playoff game, the game probably contained two good teams playing hard and two good officials.
I'm sure the officials wanted to get every call correct, but nobody has ever called a perfect game.
Both officials wanted to be fair.
A few possible explanations for the foul disparity:
The H team attacked the basket more and drew more fouls
The H team played defense aggressively, but without fouling (e.g., defenders jumped straight up with hands up; defenders trapped without hitting the offensive player's arms) while the V team did commit fouls (e.g., defenders jumping into offensive players and swatting at shots)
The V team was losing and wanted to foul towards the end of the game to get the ball back
Players for the V team did not adjust to how the officials were calling the game - they thought the officials were making bad calls and they were going to continue to play defense the way they do in practice. I believe that after losing the NCAA Championship Game last year, Bo Ryan complained about a call because that is not how he calls it (incorrectly) during their practices.
Players for H had a better understanding of how tightly the officials were going to call the game.