1) The only D1 official that I am sure is currently posting on this forum has already gone on record as saying that he did not see a foul on this play. And another poster in this thread, who was a good enough D2/D3 official to be selected to work a national Final Four, has also said that his view also is that no foul occurred. Having said that, there are many other posters who may not work at the D1 level responding to this thread who are obviously very knowledgable officials. Some agree; some disagree. The bottom line seems to be that whether a foul actually occurred or not is highly debatable.

2) What isn't debatable is that very few posters to date seem to agree with your past response to the point of this thread. The point was whether the lead should go so far out of his primary to make what is obviously from this debate a very iffy, borderline call. And seeing that hardly anybody has agreed so far with your viewpoint that the lead has to make this call, it seems that YOU are the one that is having trouble listening to another viewpoint, another viewpoint that almost unanimously rejects your hypothesis.

Do YOU officiate at the D1 level? Have you ever officiated at the D1 level? If not, what criteria are you using to tell us what D1 officials are thinking or should be calling?

What level are YOU currently working at? And how long have you been working at that level?

I await your answers.

For the record we have had a few individuals that are D1 officials that have posted here. Not just the person that everyone talks about or was here the longest. And even one I know worked the NCAA Men’s Tournament.

Peace

I was waiting for somebody to suggest this. I don't think this is possible because the contact took place on the back foot of the player, considerably behind his field of vision. IOW, he was not trying to avoid the defender's foot, because he never saw it.

Whether or not Sirmons saw the foul or guessed, we'll probably never know. But he got it right. But I highly doubt he would have guessed at that stage of the game. But you never know-he didn't have a stellar last minute of the SEC Championship.
My pregame always includes, if you see a foul or violation in my primary, call it. Our first priority is to the players - not my possible hurt feelings.

Jeff-

Are you speaking about the NCAA March Madness on Demand? I am curious to see the other angle(s). Thanks

-Josh

Well since you are the only authority on this issue, you must be right. ;)

As I have said before, this is not about the actual person. This is about the situation. I do not know the official in question and I do not recall that I even recognize him. That being said, he is a human being and I am sure he probably had other plays in this game our throughout the post season he would like to take back. We all have had those situations and no one ever realized we even feel that way.

This is really at the core of this discussion. I say the same thing, but I also say "it better be right" or "Trust your partners....there is a reason they passed on a particular play." At the college level, I have very few reasons to ever call something in front of my partners because those individuals are there for a reason. Once again, it looks pretty obvious that the Trail was trying to figure out why his partner had a whistle. I have a feeling that at leas on of the Lead's partners did not agree with the call if you only look at body language. Again, if this was a great get, we would not be debating what happen and having several people break the play down with several different versions of the play. That alone tells me this should have been passed on. If I am going to call this kind of foul, I would not be happy with the debate we are having here on this topic.

Peace

Yes I am.

All this feed shows are the same angles TV showed. The YouTube version (at least the one I saw) was not as clear of a picture and did not show the many slow motion replays of this play. Also the version I saw was in a better definition image of the play. I only see the play in the high definition version and I cannot see any such contact.

Peace

Walter made a post and you guys ignored him.

Great call. Bet a bozo award we hear down the road it was.

Thanks. :):rolleyes::D:p

I'm still waiting for you to tell us why you feel that you are so much better qualified to judge the actions of D1 officials than people who have views opposing yours.

In your own words about everybody that disagrees with you, you said "I have trouble believing that they know how to apply the basic rules of officiating". It seems that statement must apply to the majority of posters in this thread, including myself.

Again, are you a current D1 official? Have you ever officiated in a D1 regular season game? Are you an experienced D2/D3 official? Mens or Womans side?

If not, what is the highest level that you have worked and how long have you worked at that level.

I'm just trying to understand why you are so sure that you are right when the majority of posters in this thread seem to disagree completely with your assertation that the lead should always make a call like this, even if that call is far from his primary and is not obvious in any way.

And again, I await your answers.

I didn't say the Lead should always make a call like this. I simply said that I feel that any official who sees a foul and does not call it simply because they can say later if asked - "Not my primary" is not fulfilling their duty to the players on the court. Why do we officiate? To see how far we can advance our career by staying safe? Or to make sure the players receive the best possible play calling?
I am by no means advocating calling fouls all over the court and ball watching when we have off-ball activity to officiate. I am a strong believer in the mechanics and floor coverage being a guide to achieve the best team product possible. Believe me, I get tired of doing games and watching games on TV where the L is calling across the paint in front of the C all game. That is another area that Mr. Adams has been cracking down on this season. He's been trying to correct a lot of veterans' bad habits - stemming from their not being critiqued for so many years- this season. But players and situations dictate coverage not a diagram in a book. This play happened equidistant between the T and L who both were closer than the C. On plays like this, it's all about who has the best angle to see through players and make the best decision.
Do we not pregame that the Center needs to officiate sideline to sideline in transition? Why? Because they will usually have the best angle on those plays even one on the opposite sideline.

As far as my own level, I prefer to keep that to myself. I strive to continue to work to help officials get better and provide opportunities to advance and move up. I believe that is my best reward. Some of these officials have moved from high school all the way to D1 and even into the D League, WNBA and NBA.

Why does this have to be about being safe? If we disagree about this particular call that is fine with me. But it has nothing to do with trying to be safe. I feel that this was a suspect call and is magnified that it was out of the area of the calling official. I do not care about how someone advances or does not advance in relationship to this one call. It is one call. It was not a career maker or breaker. Granted the situation was critical, but I do not think the end of the world is based on this one call. And if it happened in the first 4 minutes of the half, I would have felt the same way.


I have been to John's camps three times and I can tell you that this call would not have been one very well received if it is considered wrong. For the sake of this discussion, I will say that at best that is up for debate.

I completely agree with you if you want to keep your personal accomplishments to yourself. That is certainly your right to feel that way. But I think the reason that question was asked was because you took the position as if no one could disagree with you because they did not see things your way. I am very comfortable with my position on this play and came to that conclusion based on my experience and training. I am sure you came to the conclusion based on your own experiences, but do not make it sound as if no one could disagree.

Peace

Oh, I thought you mentioned that it had an overhead shot. Nevermind, I'm too lazy tonight to read back through all the posts. Thanks

-Josh

It's easy to get confused about things.:o

Lead, Trail, Center, Overhead ???
 

That's what we need, a fourth official on the foor, the overhead. This call would certainly be in his primary.

No!!!!
 

Are you suggesting the "eye in the sky"/"Madden type" referee on a wire/camera used in football? ARGH!