From: jwag9429@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (John Wilbur Althauser)
Subject: Re: IU/DUKE Officials
Keywords: IU, Bad Officiating
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 14:54:09 GMT


Jack Bevens writes:
>   I have noticed a few complaints under this thread that IU got a raw deal
>on officiating in the Duke game. Maybe the people mentioning this are the
>same as the ones who slam CBS's coverage of the tournament, so they weren't
>listening when Billy Packer commented that are a lot of Big Ten coaches who
>think its high time for IU to be in foul trouble.

It must have been quite a shock for Knight to be hit by the T, after all he
gets away at other times without drawing one.  That is somewhat unfair,
yet it's been hightime coming.  Knight claims it didn't make any difference
in the game.  He'll have all summer to convince himself of that too.
Prior to the game it was reported that CBS
would downplay the coaching matchup and keep the emphasis on the players.
I believe CBS tried to avoid officiating controversy by limiting
the number of replays.  They had 8 cameras there, yet didn't bother to
show what earned Knight the technical.  I think CBS handled it differently
than they ordinarily would have.

Packer mentioned that Cheaney's (?) first offensive foul came as a result of
a hook.  IU also got nailed for illegal screens.  B10 coaches no doubt
hope that these items get called all year long, since these are frequent
complaints about the IU offense.  Bailey has a pretty good hook too.
Duke was able to adjust to the officiating, and compensate for their early
rash of fouls.  IU wasn't able to compensate for the Duke Defense.
Although they played the best ball I saw in the tournament (at times), IU
wasn't consistent enough.

Knight no doubt will work on a way to remedy this perceived 'inequity'-
For example, when referee Jim Bain worked the B10, Knight would call
him at his job as bank officer in Monticello, IL- sometimes when Bain was
with a customer.  Knight whined about calls going against him and
warned Bain what other teams were doing wrong and what to watch for
the next time.  How thoughtful! Diligence above and beyond the call
of duty does not go overlooked.  With the help of these special training
sessions with Knight, Bain was easily voted by netreaders (earlier this year)
as the worst ref anywhere.   Congrats Bobby.  And Get A Life!

>   It is also possible that if IU's games in this years tournament had been
>better officiated, IU might have gotten tripped up by either LSU or FSU. I
>say might here, because neither game was decided purely by officiating, and
>all the teams involved got away with a lot of rough stuff. (Yes, IU fans, I
>do realize that a well-officiated game means that the Shaq probably fouls
>out, which means IU then eats LSU for dinner.) However, FSU did seem to suffer
>from some dubious foul calls on steal attempts that resulted in their guards
>getting into foul trouble.

>   In conclusion, I found it quite delightful that IU finally had to play a
>game without getting the benefit of the officiating. As a avid college basket-
>ball watcher, it was long overdue!

The calls in the LSU game couldn't have made any difference.  LSU's failure
of perimeter people to stick on IU's outside shooters when the ball came inside
doomed them.  Their defense was just as sloppy against BYU, which they
should have beaten by 20.

john althauser
jwag9429@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu