From: morgan@engr.uky.edu (Wes Morgan)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Arkansas/Vandy (SEC)
Date: 21 Jan 93 14:11:18 GMT
Organization: University of Kentucky Engineering Computing Center


[ From: Lexington Herald-Leader, 21 Jan 93.  Posted without permission. ]

VANDY'S ARENA SLAYS ANOTHER COACHING GIANT

Chuck Culpepper, Herald-Leader sports columnist

NASHVILLE - They brought Nolan Richardson into Memorial Funny 
Farm last night for his debut appearance and then they threw 
him out.  That is what is known as dramatic perfection.

They flagged the marvelous Arkansas coach for an illegal
"gyration" - seriously - with 15:50 to go in a tight game.
Technical foul.  We always knew Vanderbilt was a bastion
of conservatism, but discrimination against gyrators is
going too far.

Soon, another official walked up.  He claimed to have read
Richardson's lips from three-quarters of the way down the
floor.  He claimed to have read words he had never read in
any respectable newspaper.

Technical foul.

See ya.

The Southeastern Conference's most prohibitive home-court
advantage, by a hare's hair-margin over Kentucky's Rupp
Arena, had struck again.

Somewhere, an apparently random but knowing smile crossed
the face of Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino.  LSU's Dale Brown
broke out into a mad laugh.

Richardson took the long stroll out of the place.  Vanderbilt,
ahead 57-54 when Richardson began his beratement after calling
timeout, shot about 27 free throws in a row, gave itself a nice
margin.  Richardson sat in the locker room, no television, no
radio and eventually no victory, his No. 8-ranked team swallowed
up 102-89 for only its second loss of the season.

Let me know if any of this sounds familiar.  Vanderbilt shot 45
free throws.  The visitors, 10.  Vanderbilt's fans contested every
call, every non-call and every time an official thought about making
a call, even a phone call to his wife.  Vanderbilt benefited from a
key *three-second violation*, belived to be only the second one
called in the post-Vietnam era.

Why, just Tuesday night, when the other was called, on Kentucky,
at Alabama, SEC Associate Commissioner John Guthrie, supervisor
of referees, told a courtside neighbor, "Write that one down.  You
won't see that again."

Except in Memorial, he should have added.  It's Rupp with a shot of
Jack Daniels -- or, rather, several hundred shots.

The three-second call was the straw that pulled Richardson's rage
trigger.  It followed immediately upon a no-call when Vanderbilt's
Chris Lawson charged bruisingly into Arkansas' Corey Beck.  Beck,
also cited for the three seconds, claimed it was his first such
violation "since junior college, no, before that."

"It was our first one of the year," Richardson said.

Yet Richardson claimed to like the place.  He recalled having played
in a similar venue in hight school, with the benches along the base-
lines and all.  He demurred nicely from Pitino's assertion that this
is the "sickest building I've ever been in, but.....in a healthy way."

It is still a game played over 94 feet with a goal 10 feet high, he
said.  That's his opinion, he said.

"Of course," he deadpanned, "I didn't get to see but a half.  Maybe
if I'd have stayed around longer like Rick did, I would agree."

After the departure which Richardson said "cost my team," Billy
McCaffery made four technical free throws, Bruce Elder hit from 
the lane and, after a Razorback miss, Elder hit two free throws.
That made it 65-54 and brought down the curtain.

Peeking out from under it at intervals, though, was the young
Arkansas team.  It fought enought to remain a threat until the
three-minute mark.  It is the SEC's most intriguing young team.
Richardson, outside of the nation's top 10 coaches only on a 
fool's list, has done a vigorous job with it.

One of his freshman wonders, Scotty Thurman, went 2-for-15 for
5 points, 22 beneath his road average.  Another, Corliss William-
son, will return from injury leave probably for Saturday's Auburn
game.  You'd better watch. 

But in Memorial?

Forget about it.

-------------------------------END ARTICLE---------------------------

I only have one personal comment.  Vanderbilt will not impress me until
they have a successful SEC road trip.  The all-too-friendly confines of
Memorial may actually be *hurting* this team.  After last night's 45-10
advantage in free throws,  I have to make my usual comment of "NO team
plays that cleanly."  After enjoying a *huge* advantage at home, Vandy 
will find the road an inhospitable place.

Culpepper's "see if this sounds familiar" is a reference to the Vandy-UK
game <a few seasons ago> in which Vandy benefited from a massive advantage
in free throws (I seem to recall a 51-9 ration, but I could be wrong).  As 
I recall, Pitino was ejected from that game.  With Richardson falling in the 
same situation, Pitino's in good company.  The techinical foul(s) against 
Richardson were borderline at best.  I'd like to think that John Guthrie will 
be having some words with last night's officials.  A 3-second violation
after a no-call on a *painful* charge/block situation?  Let's get real.

By the way, I recently read Jerry Markbreit's "Born to Referee", a memoir
of his career as an NFL referee (I recommend it highly, along with Ron
Luciano's "The Umpire Strikes Back" and "Strike Two", memoirs of his 
umpiring career in major league baseball).  He explained that NFL officials
are graded on each call.  Every time they throw a flag, the "propriety" of
the call is rated on a 1-7 scale; points are subtracted from their total
for "missed" violations.  Officials are selected for postseason play by a 
numerical rating, which is based on these scores.  Does the NCAA do anything
like this for basketball officials?  How are they evaluated?

--Wes
-- 
MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan 
morgan@ms.uky.edu   | University of Kentucky |   morgan@wuarchive.wustl.edu
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