The Official Forum - Tim Higgins

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Snaqwells (Post 738818)

It's almost as if something told them the game was over. I'd stick with that, but I heard the live radio call of that play this morning, and I couldn't hear any horn that would indicate that was the case.

Except that 2 guys would have at least had the LED in their periphery, which is harder to miss than a travel.

Does anybody have a foul on the St John's player during the rebounding action after the free throws? It looks like one to me.

The other "missed" foul was a good no call in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbyron (Post 738810)

That's cuz you're Canajun, and all Americans look alike to you people, eh?. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap (Post 738901)

Fixed it for ya.:D

Ditto. :P

Interesting story came out in the NY Post this afternoon. According to their sources, the Big East told the crew to either step way from the tournament or they'd do it for them.

Jim Burr, Tim Higgins, Earl Watson asked to step aside as referees by Big East Conference - NYPOST.com

And we may never know whether this is true or not.

I can see Gene Steratore making it far in the dance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee (Post 738916)

Well, considering Earl Watson is/was an NBA player out of UCLA and not an official, who knows? :rolleyes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbduke (Post 738879)

Okay, I think I finally understand the source of our disagreement. You think that the "travel" was close. And I think that the "travel" was beyond obvious.

I'm just glad that I think I understand your argument now.

Actually if you need to understand something, then you have not been listening to what I have been saying at all. Travels are always judgment calls and can be debated. You cannot easily debate a foot on the line so clearly out of bounds like this one.

If you think the travel was obvious, what tape were you looking at?

Peace

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee (Post 738492)

This really can't be argued imo also. They screwed up and that fact won't change. They also deserve the flak they're getting for their officiating mistake. What they don't deserve is the personal crap some people are throwing at them. Saying their careers should be over for something like this is just plain ridiculous imo, especially when it comes from so-called fellow officials who have never worked on a stage like that.

Officials are human, not machines.

Agree with all of the above.

My somewhat educated guess as to what happened is the crew was tired after working a close, competitive, Big East post season game. When they saw St. Johns come up with the loose ball after the long inbound pass they likely exhaled, lost mental focus for a second, and before they knew it the kid did something goofy.

Oh shhhh..... there's time on the clock, he's clearly out of bounds, and .......nobody has a whistle.

I'm not gonna personally attack anyone and that crew has done more in officiating than I can even hope to right now BUT they had a mental lapse at a critical time on a significant stage. And IMHO it's likely was due to fatigue and their age doesnt help with that. Burr and Higgins both should have had an OOB there. PERIOD. All of us have missed calls and had mental lapses and all of us know this increases when you are fatigued.

I actually got on talk radio today about this today and my three points were:

1) Mike Rice is a good coach (IMSBO) and went above and beyond to NOT blame the officials.

2) As a basketball official the only thing I'm going to question is the OOB. It's the most difficult sport to officiate, there's a lot of judgement, etc. but to miss the OOB there is an inexcusable moment for that crew and not a good moment for the craft.

3) Younger officials need to be brought up into the big time mix a little/lot more. Because I do think that there are SOME older officials who are still getting a full schedule of the highest level of ball when they should probably be getting a few more nights off.

JMO

+1 ^ We've all made mistakes. We've all had bad games. It doesn't mean we are bad officials. Fortunately, most of us will not have those mistakes analyzed, re-analyzed, second-guessed & criticized nearly to the extent that these guys have experienced in the past few days. The down side of course, is that "Don Denkinger Syndrome" could kick in. And that would be a shame. And this, from a Royals fan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbduke (Post 738879)

You can't have both, when he travelled, he was OB, I agree with Jeff. travels can be open to scrutiny, OB is OB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camron Rust (Post 738816)

Walton had good reason to not call the OOB but there was no good reason to not call the traveling...that was his call and his PCA. Unless he's heard a horn or a whistle, he has to assume that the player is still inbounds and that there is time on the clock and make that call.

It would be convenient to try to lay blame on any one or two of the crew but in reality, all three made errors on that play.

Can agree on travel call from Walton.......

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef (Post 738777)

After St. John's stole the ball it became Burr's line. But Burr was not in position to see the line b/c of how he set up on the initial throw-in. Higgins should have had secondary help on the line.

Why is it Burr's line? Not familar with NCAA PCA, isn't it new trail's (Higgin's)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fullor30 (Post 739010)

Why is it Burr's line? Not familar with NCAA PCA, isn't it new trail's (Higgin's)?

Go back and look at the pictures and ask Rut for help in telling those two apart. Burr, apparently, IS the new trail, although he is not visible in the video.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fullor30 (Post 739010)

Why is it Burr's line? Not familar with NCAA PCA, isn't it new trail's (Higgin's)?

When the play started (b/c throw-in by Rutgers) Burr was the new lead 94' away in the frontcourt under the basket. In the video shown from St. John's frontcourt you will see him running to get over to the sideline from the paint after the pass is stolen. Higgins is in front of St. John's bench along the sideline.

If this has already been discussed I missed it so...

The player with the ball who appeared to travel and step OOB was in the process of chucking the ball while stepping OOB.

Let's say the whistle blew on the step OOB while he was in the process of chucking the ball into the air. Anything for the chuck? DOG?