How does he continue to get big games? He never stays in his primary, has no personality, his mechanics are horrible and he sucks up to every coach in the country.

Maybe that is why he gets them.

Watch him ... he'll spend the entire game looking across the floor to watch the ball instead of watching matchups in his area.

Sorry ... had to vent. Enjoy the games this week.

What were your other 8 posts?

Huh?

When you posted the OP, you had 8 prior posts. Usually at this time of the year, lurkers come out of the woodwork and complain about this or complain about that.

Were your other 8 posts complaining about something else?

JR,

You want to respond to the ideas in his post, or do you want to make personal attacks?

There is plenty of substance there.

Are you kidding?

The original poster made a personal attack on Hightower, and you're attacking someone else for defending a fellow official? :rolleyes:

Must be 2-for-1 troll day...

He did start a nice thread about the SEC refs, so maybe he's not a troll.

But to say that Ed H always looks off-ball, has wrong mechanics, etc.... is a bit of a stretch.

Sorry, intended post is below.

Okay, fair point. "Always" is obviously false. Might you respond as if he'd not used so strong a word?

I will give an answer; he flat out gets it done. I have watched Hightower work games for years in person at the Big Ten Tournament every year since 2000. I can tell you he knows how to handle players, coaches and works with his partners well. I agree that his mechanics are not to the letter (but who is that is at that level if you want to be honest), but he flat out can referee and has the respect of all the coaches. Now you might not agree but no one asked you. :D

Peace

A couple years ago, he was doing a national semi-final, late in the 2nd half, very close game. A fast break happens...ball carrier driving to hoop against two players, big crash, an obvious block, but the Lead and Trail have a double whistle, though a bit of a staggered one.

Lead is all over it, and he's got block all the way, comes out selling big-time. Hightower is Trail, and gallops in faster than Carl Lewis. He comes right into the middle of the key, six feet from his partner, stops, and gives the most emphatic travel signal in officiating history. The place explodes. Players and coaches are on him like white on rice. Hightower jogs back to his spot calmly, closeup shows him as cool as as a cuke. Doesn't even look like he's sweating. TV replay confirms it was a travel. Even Packer agrees.

Any guy with focus, ability, and stones like that gets to work any game he wants. Period.

EDIT: Thinking deeper, it may have been a regional final, not a nat'l semi

[Edited by canuckrefguy on Mar 13th, 2006 at 02:32 AM]

His facial expressions hardly ever change. I have watched the man like a hawk during every timeout, TV timeout and confrontation and he hardly ever looks like he gets upset, angry or shows that he is working hard. The man on Sunday during the Big Ten Title game got nailed (in the sack) by a player that fell into him hard. After he stayed down for about a minute and was attended by trainers, he got back up and you would have never been able to tell that some big athletic player ran him over. He did not miss a beat. I was in shock and I was about 10 rows from the court. The man has his detractors but he can flat out referee.

Peace

If he was looking in his primary, he might have seen the possible contact, and moved to avoid it. ;)

I'll never forget the Ted Valentine/Bobby Knight incident, though (which I saw on TV as it happened). Neither O'Neill nor Hightower did anything to get between the two of them, even after Valentine ejected Knight. I thought it was a perfect example of a guy getting thrown under the bus by his partners and I lost a lot of respect for the two of them that day.