I think this has to be my last post in this thread. No one is blaming anyone other than the coach for the coach's behavior. No one is claiming there are mitigating factors to be considered in deciding the coach's punishment. We are all in agreement on that.

Having agreed to that, I think it's also safe to say that the situation might have been avoided if the assignor hadn't used that same official for that team 3 times in 9 days. Maybe not. But common sense tells me that the official shouldn't have had all 3 of those assignments, unless there was some unavoidable factor involved.

Here's an example of what I mean, from my own parenting experience. If you know that a 3-year old child has done something wrong, you don't ask them if they did it. Because the kid is going to lie 99% of the time. If you don't want the kid to lie, then don't ask the question. If you do ask the question and the kid lies, it's still the kid's fault for lying. It's his responsibility. But you could easily have avoided his misbehavior by not asking the question.

The coach's blow-up is 100% the coach's responsibility. But the situation might have been avoided by not putting that particular ref on that game.

If you still think I'm blaming the ref or the assignor for the coach's behavior, then more power to you. This thread's close to lock-down, anyway. :)

A little update on the Nevada coach......

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...28/1053/SPORTS

I wonder if the cop was part of the problem too. :D

Just like the adage "Nothing good happens at 3 a.m.", nothing good happens when an irate coach follows officials out of a gym. Wonder what would happen if some guy who was NOT earning 6 figures acted in that manner...

Given that the mess is Fox's own doing, why work to shield him from the consequences? What are the players learning in all this?

"We need him to focus completely on the kids," Groth said. "It's really bothered him. This has become a little bit of distraction for him and we've tried to take it off the table."

WTF's fault is that? :mad:

BTW, ACC official Les Jones worked the UNC-Duke regular season finale, the UNC-FSU ACC qtrfinal, and the UNC-BC ACC semi. There were no incidents in those 3 consecutive UNC games played over a 7 day period. :)

Unfortunately, it's often not a whole lot more.

And of course, there shouldn't be any incidents. That is interesting, though, that the same guy worked the same team 3 times in the tournament. That just seems like tempting fate to me. Thanks for pointing that out. It makes me say "hmmmmm".

Liar, liar, liar. :D

On a personal note, I really don't care to see a team more than twice a season, and I would prefer that twice be spread out. But it's not uncommon for me to see a team more often. I saw one team three times this year and another four times. And yes, I had those two teams when they met! :(

I believe the specific assignments for which games a ref works are made on a day-to-day basis. If the first game with a team was really smooth and without incident, that should only mean that the next game will start off with a better position than it would be tempting fate.

One major difference is that UNC won all three of those games. Nevada lost two out of the three, and we both know that most people are better winners than losers.

I'm also willing to bet that Les Jones didn't have any big issues with UNC earlier during the regular season as Gracey did with Nevada. See the Hawaii @ Nevada game. Do a google search or search for our discussion of the ending on this forum.

NOT THAT THIS EXCUSES ANY OF THE POOR BEHAVIOR. (Noted for JR. :D )
But it does document that the WAC knew of prior situations and could have done a better job with the postseason assignments.

Quote from the WAC Commisssioner Karl Benson:
" Benson told reporters at the tournament that Fox's actions were a violation of the league's sportsmanship policy.

"We will review and we will process it through our sportsmanship policy," Benson told The Associated Press."


Question:
It is a violation of the leagues sportsmanship policy to say something to an official after the game in the hallway that requires a police officer to interceed - but you can basically do anything you want on the court including having to beescorted off by security and that does not violate the leagues sportsmanship policy also?

Sensing a problem here - maybe the NCAA needs to set specific policy for coaches / players conduct rather in addition to the conferences?

And I'd be willing to bet you that Roy Williams has fewer issues with officials than this clown.

Further, the WAC assignor obviously disagrees with you.

We once had an assignor in our association who, if a coach called to complain about an official, would send that official back the very next week. He would also be sitting in the stands come game night. :)