Just finished watching the ASU/USC game, which some are saying the Sun Devils must win to clinch a tourney bid. They looked to have the game tied with 15 seconds left when Jeff Pendergraph had a vicious dunk follow of a missed lay-in, but a ref waived the basket off, calling over the back. SC got two free throws instead, hitting both and sealing the game.
This call was even worse than the Darren Collison foul call, even worse than the Josh Shipp over the backboard call. Pendergraph had leaped OVER the USC player, there was hardly any contact until the ball was through the hoop.
Just a clear case of a referee inserting himself where he doesn't belong, destroying the flow of the game and--in this case, potentially costing the Pac-10 a tourney bid and all the money that comes along with it.
As Don McLean said on the FSN postgame: You can't call that if it's questionable. It has to be definitively a foul. And that call was clearly questionable, if not borderline ridiculous.
If the Pac-10 has been skimping on refs because they don't want to pay for them, maybe Arizona State missing the tourney because of utter incompetence might make them change their minds.
I was rooting for SC the whole way, but not after that call. Ugh--I just feel terrible for ASU, who now has to sweat it out through Selection Sunday. Wonder what Bob Rondeau's thinking...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pac-10 Refs Strike Again
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2 comments:
I watched that too. That was atrocious. It seemed from the start the refs were trying to help USC. Every questionable call went their way. The last one on Pendergraph was not questionable in the least. Completely blown call. Pac 10 refs are horrible.
My wife and I were watching the Conference Tournament highlights on ESPN, muted because they are annoying. I had already seen the play and knew the call. My wife, a product of the University of Florida and THE (also annoying) Ohio State University, is a big college basketball fan. She thought the call was offensive interference which wasn't even close. Over the back never occurred to her. That's how bad the call was.
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