Syracuse Basketball: What’s Wrong with Officials These Days

Syracuse basketball is 10-7 on the year and while officiating has been inconsistent, it’s certainly not Syracuse’s only problem.

That being said, I’ve really been shocked by how inconsistent the officials have been so far, especially in the ACC. I’m not even going to say that the calls have all gone against Syracuse, because they haven’t. But they have been so back and forth and at times completely out of context of the game situation.

A perfect example would be the Syracuse-North Carolina game on Saturday night. In the first half, officials were letting both teams play. There were only a total of eight fouls called.

Even then, those eight calls were somewhat perplexing. Some absolutely obvious fouls, like Gbinije getting mauled as he went up for a layup, went completely unnoticed. Others, like Dajuan Coleman putting his hands straight up and getting called for a foul, made no sense.

The second half was when things really got bad though. The refs apparently decided at the half that they weren’t calling enough fouls, as North Carolina ended up in the bonus by the 11 minute mark of the second half. After calling just eight fouls all first half, a whopping 27 were called in the second, including 15 on Syracuse.

All of a sudden, tight defense turned into touch fouls both ways. Both teams, who were playing aggressive but not out of control, had their momentum continually shifted by some very questionable perimeter fouls. Marcus Paige picked up two of them for UNC. Gbinije picked up another two for Syracuse. Unsurprisingly, both players had poor games. Roberson picked up one on a ridiculously clean block and Coleman picked up a phantom foul on an and-one where the ref called it from half court.

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Ref accountability will always be a big issue in sports, mainly because there is very little of it. If refs make a mistake at the college level, it’s very seldom they are called out on it by anyone other than writers and announcers. That just opens the door for a lot of bias and inaccuracy, because in the end it really doesn’t matter if the refs make the correct calls or not.

Look, I realize this probably just sounds like another whiny writer trying to justify an underachieving team, but I promise you it’s not… at least not entirely. I’ve seen bad calls going both ways. It’s the inconsistency and inaccuracy I’m fed up with, not just on one side or the other.

Probably the worst offender is the charge call. There are far, far, far too many charges called in the college game. I know they extended the restricted area this year which helps slightly, but it’s still way too often that the benefit of the doubt is given to the defensive player, even when most times their feet aren’t set or they flop to the ground.

In 17 games, Syracuse has been called for 57 offensive fouls, many of them charges. That’s a huge number. While some of those were simply Syracuse players being out of control, many of them were 50/50 calls that seem to always go against the offense. Sorry, but in a 50/50 call, it should always benefit the offense, not the defense. If you aren’t 100% sure if the defender was moving or not, how can you call it on the offense? That’s basically penalizing an offense for trying to be aggressive and get to the rim, and it has hurt Syracuse a lot this year.

Syracuse Basketball — November 14, 2014; Stanford, CA, USA; Detail view of a Nike basketball held by a NCAA official during the first half between the Stanford Cardinal and the Boston College Eagles at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Another big offender are the moving screens. While I do like that they are not letting players get away with the blatant ones, they’re also calling those fouls in situations where there is nothing happening that’s illegal. Just because the defender hits the screen hard and can’t get through it, doesn’t mean it’s illegal. It means it was a solid screen.

Yes, sometimes the offending player was moving, but just as often they weren’t and the call was just missed. Roberson and Coleman have been called for far too many of these and it has negatively impacted their ability to stay tenacious on offense and defense.

At the end of the day, nobody’s perfect. Mistakes are going to be made. However, the number of mistakes and the inconsistency of the calls has really started to effect the games. Even the refs have admitted to calling things unfairly or wrong at times.

After the Miami game, Michael Gbinije shared a frustrating truth about the officials:

"“I thought it was poor officiating today,” Gbinije said. “I would like to share this. With like a minute and 10 left, I went up to one of the refs and said ‘Why are you calling touch fouls on this end and we’re getting hammered on the other end and you’re not saying a thing.’ He says ‘I know, I know that you’re right. I got you.’ He’s basically admitting that he knows what’s going on. It’s like a minute and 10. I told him it’s too late.”"

Can you imagine how frustrating that must be for a player, to ask a ref what’s going on and basically be told that they aren’t calling the game fairly? For the record, Gbinije had 8 turnovers that game and was very sloppy with the ball, but he was also getting mauled up and down the court. If you think that didn’t have something to do with his lackluster performance, I’d very much disagree.

It’s not like this is new either. Last year, the officials completely blew the Syracuse-Villanova game. Up by five with 17 seconds to play, Trevor Cooney was tossed to the ground with no foul called. Villanova ended up coming back and winning in overtime. Yes, Syracuse still should have won and definitely are at fault for allowing them to even tie it with poor defense and missed free throws, but that play and that horribly missed call ended up being the turning point. A bad call should never be the difference in a game, but it was.

Next: SU Basketball vs. UNC: Game Review

Until there is more accountability for poor officiating, this kind of behavior will continue unabated. At least in college football, refs are occasionally held accountable. After an egregious number of errors in the Miami-Duke football game which handed Miami an undeserved victory, ACC head of officials Denny Hennigan suspended the entire group after the game. Good for you Denny, you did the right thing and actually had the guts to make that decision.

Why don’t they do this in basketball? I think the truth is that they just really don’t care. Officials, such as former Big East refs Tim Higgins and Jim Burr, have gotten away with this indifferent behavior for decades without any kind of accountability. It’s unfortunate, but something that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon.

So while the officiating might not be the cause for Syracuse’s issues, and I truly don’t feel it has cost us a game this year, it has still been far too inconsistent and inaccurate. It’s frustrating as a fan watching the game and seeing it unfold first-hand. It truly lessens the game experience, and I for one feel that something has got to change. Where’s basketball’s version of Denny Hennigan when you need him?