The "Worst Thing" an Official Can Do?

[Judtech]

I was giving a Coming Attractions post. I have now corrected the misspell. Although I now have an uncontrollable urge for a nice carnival size elephant ear

[SAJ]

Originally Posted by dahoopref

John Adams has adamantly stated not to give the "get up" hand gesture to players if you no-call something. As much as I respect Hightower's acheivements and career, I don't care for his over dramatic mechanics.

Scout.com: Ed Hightower Photoshop Fun

[tomegun]

Do most of the people who dislike his mechanics think they play a part in his play calling? I don't necessarily like his antics either, but I think he is more mechanically sound than some well-known West coast officials - their antics happen during live ball and impacts their ability to get into the proper position.

[Adam]

The worst thing anyone did in this situation is let Bobby Knight talk about officials.

[SWMOzebra]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

The worst thing anyone did in this situation is let Bobby Knight talk about officials.

Amen, Snaq! I'm sure Knight would be happy to hear Gerry Pollard (and many others who have endured Knights' antics over the years) on national TV talk about the "worst" things coaches do.

[dahoopref]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Do most of the people who dislike his mechanics think they play a part in his play calling? I don't necessarily like his antics either, but I think he is more mechanically sound than some well-known West coast officials - their antics happen during live ball and impacts their ability to get into the proper position.

I've seen Hightower trigger the 3-pt shot multiple times as the lead (not on a fastbreak) when the ball is on the wing. He will call a shot-clock violation as the L and make sure everyone know that he called the violation, not the opposite table official who also had a whistle on the play. I get a chuckle when he crouches as low as he can as the L under the basket when the play is above the rim. Then if the ball goes out of bounds baseline to stay with the offense, he will give an emphatic point and turn his entire back to the court and players not seeing if any after-whistle-contact occurs. The highlight of watching Hightower officiate is his famous bird dogging of players followed by the stare as if to say to the fouling player, "that's right, the foul is on YOU and everyone needs to know I called it."

I don't know if you have access to the NCAA Arbiter website, but there are multiple videos on the site of plays called incorrectly by Hightower. Either someone is trying to be funny or is sending a serious message to Hightower.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Do most of the people who dislike his mechanics think they play a part in his play calling? I don't necessarily like his antics either, but I think he is more mechanically sound than some well-known West coast officials - their antics happen during live ball and impacts their ability to get into the proper position.

Originally Posted by dahoopref

I've seen Hightower trigger the 3-pt shot multiple times as the lead (not on a fastbreak) when the ball is on the wing. He will call a shot-clock violation as the L and make sure everyone know that he called the violation, not the opposite table official who also had a whistle on the play. I get a chuckle when he crouches as low as he can as the L under the basket when the play is above the rim. Then if the ball goes out of bounds baseline to stay with the offense, he will give an emphatic point and turn his entire back to the court and players not seeing if any after-whistle-contact occurs. The highlight of watching Hightower officiate is his famous bird dogging of players followed by the stare as if to say to the fouling player, "that's right, the foul is on YOU and everyone needs to know I called it."

I don't know if you have access to the NCAA Arbiter website, but there are multiple videos on the site of plays called incorrectly by Hightower. Either someone is trying to be funny or is sending a serious message to Hightower.

How ironic. Look at item #4 from Mr. Adams on a bulletin dated today:

• 4. The Lead official must work to get to the strong or ball side of the court and stay as wide as is practical. Starting with page 39 of the CCA Manual, and continuing through page 61, look where the Lead is supposed to be situated. By the way, once the Lead "settles in", crouching over like a home plate baseball umpire is a very poor mechanic. Good angles to see plays are best acquired by standing erect and moving your feet to "position adjust".

[dahoopref]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

How ironic. Look at item #4 from Mr. Adams on a bulletin dated today:

• 4. The Lead official must work to get to the strong or ball side of the court and stay as wide as is practical. Starting with page 39 of the CCA Manual, and continuing through page 61, look where the Lead is supposed to be situated. By the way, once the Lead "settles in", crouching over like a home plate baseball umpire is a very poor mechanic. Good angles to see plays are best acquired by standing erect and moving your feet to "position adjust".

LOL!!! I didn't even know Adams' bulletin came out before what I posted.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Have a beer 8 hours before a game?

Wrong thread.

[Nevadaref]

Hightower just did something far worse tonight.

Near the end of the first half he was the Lead and got confused by the shot clock horn sounding during a try with 1.4 seconds remaining. Despite the try hitting the ring, Hightower blew his whistle and waved both arms in the air during rebounding action!

Can anyone send him a mechanics manual?

[LeeBallanfant]

Did they go to the arrow on that? It looked like a IW with no possession. If I were a coach, I would be really pissed off getting the arrow at the end of the first half with 1.4 seconds left and 90' away just because a ref screwed up.

[APG]

Originally Posted by LeeBallanfant

Did they go to the arrow on that? It looked like a IW with no possession. If I were a coach, I would be really pissed off getting the arrow at the end of the first half with 1.4 seconds left and 90' away just because a ref screwed up.

I'm not watching the game. Did they use the AP with an IW with no team control? Coach may not like it, but tough luck. Be happy it wasn't at the end of the game.

[dahoopref]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Hightower just did something far worse tonight.

Near the end of the first half he was the Lead and got confused by the shot clock horn sounding during a try with 1.4 seconds remaining. Despite the try hitting the ring, Hightower blew his whistle and waved both arms in the air during rebounding action!

Can anyone send him a mechanics manual?

From what you saw do you think it was a lack of game awareness or just a lack of trust in his partners?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by dahoopref

From what you saw do you think it was a lack of game awareness or just a lack of trust in his partners?

Obviously, game awareness had a great deal to do with it as one has to know that a shot clock horn may be coming just prior to the game clock expiring. In this case the horn sounded just as the try bounced off the ring.

I can't speak to his trust in his partners. I don't know him personally, so there is no way that I could justly make any such statement.

From what I saw it looked as if he simply reacted to the horn as there was a tap for goal coming from his PCA on the rebound.

We know that he has been around for many years and that his career even extends back into the days when officiating at the NCAA level was done with only two officials. There have been several changes since those times and it is understandable that a person who has been through all those alterations of rules and mechanics would make a slip in a moment where he was either caughy by surprise or his concentration lapsed.

My issue with the whole situation is that as Lead it is absurd for him to blow the whistle under any circumstance other than a violation or a foul.

Even if his partner who had the last shot responsibility fell asleep, the NCAA D1 level has a courtside monitor review for end of the period situations. Therefore, no whistle from any of the officials, and even no horn at the end of the period would have been easily handled, and with more fairness to the teams than Hightower reacting as he did and causing an IW. In the video replay era, there is simply no reason for him to make a call.

My conjecture is that when he heard the horn he reverted to his original training and killed the play right away, which seems the natural thing to do when confronted with a situation that is surprising.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by LeeBallanfant

Did they go to the arrow on that? It looked like a IW with no possession. If I were a coach, I would be really pissed off getting the arrow at the end of the first half with 1.4 seconds left and 90' away just because a ref screwed up.

Originally Posted by AllPurposeGamer

I'm not watching the game. Did they use the AP with an IW with no team control? Coach may not like it, but tough luck. Be happy it wasn't at the end of the game.

It seems that the crew didn't use the AP arrow as Ohio State was given the ball for the final 1.4 seconds of the 1st half and began the 2nd half with the first possession.

I would be interested to hear what they decided would allow them to award possession to OSU with 1.4 seconds remaining in the first half, since it apparently wasn't the AP arrow.