Imbalance

[JeffM]

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.

[just another ref]

I will say this. Sometimes the calling just seems one-sided. No reason for it, that's just the way it is. One team gets every iffy call. At the end of a game, (more often the end of a half) I have thought to myself, that the calling seemed crooked to me, and I was one of the ones doing it. All this being said, I had no dog in the fight, and coach, you obviously do, so.....