Penn State / Maryland

[crosscountry55]

The play is now in the article.

Not sure how, even if you didn't see the hold on Maryland, you can call a foul on the offensive player when he's clearly not in control of his balance nor even facing his opponent. At the very least, if you don't see the hold, make it a no call. That said, he should have seen it; he was paying way too much attention to the dribbler (who had no one in front of him) and not enough to the obvious matchup right in front of him. Trust your partners to take care of the drive to the basket.

That's an unfortunately awful call for that official. Could be career impacting, at least in the short term.

Goes to show how important game awareness is. And it was the dude's fifth foul. Yikes.

[Rich]

For the record, I think this is an outstanding and correct call.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Rich

For the record, I think this is an outstanding and correct call.

After further review, so do I.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

The play is now in the article.

you can call a foul on the offensive player when he's clearly not in control of his balance nor even facing his opponent.

Easy, he tripped the defender which sent the defender to the floor. The pull down came after the trip.

Good call IMO.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Easy, he tripped the defender which sent the defender to the floor. The pull down came after the trip.

Tough call. Close call. The screener may have stepped on the foot of the defender, causing him to fall.

[crosscountry55]

I saw the PSU player step on the MD player's foot after that was mentioned (valid point), but it's still tough to wrap my head around calling a foul on PSU in this situation. Feet got tangled. Not unusual. I think the MD player could have kept his balance if he hadn't been hell bent on getting everything out of that hold that he could.

The lead signaled a foul, too. I wonder what he had? I suppose we'll never know since C sold it so quickly.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Feet got tangled.

Feet do get tangled in a basketball game, often with no fouls charged, but the fact the screener's foot ended up on top to the defender's foot means that the screener was too late getting to his spot, and thus, a blocking foul.

If it had been the other way around, the defender's foot on top of the screener's foot, then we could have a different call.

[mutantducky]

def not the worst call or anything like that. It was a tough one to officiate though. It looks like an illegal screen, but quite minor so a no call probably was in order. Then it appears the defender hooks his arm causing the players to fall.
Honestly, I don't know. I'd have gone with a no-call but if I was in that situation and see the players fall like that I think many refs would call a foul there. That would be very tough to hold the whistle.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by mutantducky

It looks like an illegal screen, but quite minor so a no call probably was in order.

This, "quite minor", "illegal screen", ended up with two players on the floor. If nothing illegal had happened, i.e. all incidental contact, then one could pass on this play, but once one decides that something illegal happened, even if it's a "quite minor", "illegal", action, then the resulting pile of players on the floor requires a whistle, and a call.