Officials banned from Big East Tournament because of calls against Louisville
by Mike Rutherford on Feb 26, 2010 12:27 PM EST
in Basketball
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PrintMike Kitts and Jim Haney, two of the three officials who worked Louisville's Jan. 30 loss at west Virginia, have been told by the Big East that they will not be working the league's conference tournament because of bad calls late in that game which went against the Cardinals.
On the game's most controversial play, a loose ball sailed out of bounds, directly at Kitts' face. Kitts, whom three Big East coaches assessed as being a good ref, instinctively turned to avoid contact.
Neither Jones nor Haney had an angle on the play. None of the three signaled which team should have possession. In such a case, the ball is supposed to go to the team that has the possession arrow in its favor. But Haney and Kitts, in a procedural error, checked the replay monitor. The ball was awarded to West Virginia with 6.7 seconds left.
Kitts, Haney and Jones have not worked another game involving Louisville since that game. Dan Gavitt, the Big East associate commissioner for basketball, said disciplinary matters regarding officials are handled internally.
I know it doesn't change anything, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't make me feel good.
All those quotes about vengeance are crap. Churchill and Shakespeare don't even know what Bracketology is.
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Wow
I mean, I can’t tell you how glad I am that refs are at least being held accountable. Don’t fire them for something like this, or do anything drastic, but penalizing them in some way is an appropriate way of dealing with the situation. This couldn’t make me happier.
by Chris Redman is my hero on Feb 26, 2010 12:37 PM EST reply actions
I'm still more pissed about the blown call previous to this one
that went off the head of the WVU player. However, it is nice to see that refs are being held accountable in SOME way.
There were three spectacularly bad calls in a row in that game.
The ball off the W.Va player’s head; the non-call in the corner on Delk’s three; and of course the out-of-bounds play. Good to see some action taken, though I really wouldn’t mind seeing some guys fired. The officiating in the Big East has just been horrendous the entire year, and I wonder if some younger guys wouldn’t improve the quality.
theoldman
it wasn't just strongly worded
it was also eloquent
by doctorofdunk on Feb 26, 2010 4:34 PM EST up reply actions
I sent one too
Can I take some credit?
by Chris Redman is my hero on Feb 26, 2010 5:18 PM EST up reply actions
Given that they cannot retroactively award us the win, this is about as good as it gets.
Are you paying attention, Selection Committee? If we finish 10-8, by all accounts, it should be at least 11-7.
by cardsinindy2010 on Feb 26, 2010 1:29 PM EST reply actions
Awesome.
It’s just nice to get the vindication.
by CARD_G6 on Feb 26, 2010 1:33 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Kitts hasn't done a UL game since
Which means more Higgins, Burr, and Hightower.
www.crosleyfieldterrace.wordpress.com
I want the refs
from the ‘Cuse games on every game. They loved us and didn’t make any huge errors.
by REALISTICCARDSFAN on Feb 26, 2010 2:57 PM EST reply actions
Ugh
well hopefully they never ref another game for us. I’m sure the suspension won’t be in the back of their heads as our opponent goes to the line for the 80th time.
I’m glad something happened, but like others I would have rather seen them fired. You shouldn’t have to be trained to not completely turn away from the action when you’re getting paid to watch it and judge it. I would go so far as to say, is it even possible to train or teach that level of incompetency out of someone?
Turning his head was a reflex
that I don’t blame Kitts for in the least. This situation is covered by the rules. You award the ball using the possession arrow.
Failing to follow the rules was the discipline-worthy error.
I hear ya
My friend said the same thing. I just remember being so pissed off when i saw him turn and duck. It may happen all the times in games i don’t have a rooting interest in, but I can’t recall a single time that I’ve seen a ref dodge a ball in such a way that his vision was blocked from the play. At this point in the year anything about this season makes me insanely irrational.
Are either Kitts or Haney..
the ref who missed the first call off the wvu players head and was staring directly at the play? On a similar note what kind of vision insurance does the NCAA provide? Whoever that guy was must think the deductables are to high to deem worth being insured.
In all seriousness if I’m a serious UL fan I would have lost my mind at the end of this game. Guys who make 6 figs to officiate with so much on the line SHOULD be fired for sucking.
They don't make 6 figures.
They get paid roughly $700-1200 for each game they call.
by CardinalDude on Feb 26, 2010 5:25 PM EST up reply actions
old freakin' age
The three worst officials in the BE are in no particular order Kitts, Burr, and Higgins. Want to guess who are three of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the league? Hmmmmm. Coincidence? I think not.
just shy of them being publicly flogged, this is good.
it fall short of the “louisville, we’re sorry, here’s your ‘w’ back”
There's a conspiracy
It seems like the NCAA as a whole has some kinda beef with u of l. I’ve played witness to some of the worst calls, unfair scheduling, and most unlikely comebacks in the history of sports… the life of a cardinal
by bjack357 on Feb 27, 2010 10:04 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I must concur
I have witnessed many a “WTF moment” in terms of officiating. comebacks, and down right bizarre and inexcusable errors of justice during Louisville games. Seems to happen to us more than other program.
But, at least it’s nice to see the conference doing SOMETHING in response to the horrible calls in the WV game. I doubt it’ll strike fear into the hearts of the officials, giving them any credible deterrent to think twice about screwing a team over when the opportunity presents itself, but at least it shows that sometimes enough outcry can make some kind of difference, albeit minimal.
________________________________________________
~LK
www.myspace.com/lordkayoss
www.youtube.com/lordkayossrippro
www.welcometomynightmare.tk
Saddest Part...
I believe even after looking at the replay they still got the call wrong.
I don't know about the Mazulla off-head call
Rock coulda got called for the trip on that one. It’s the Delk foul and the infamous monitor check that are the real problems for me.
Rock was standing still and the guy stepped on his foot
And in any event, they didn’t cal a foul. They called it out of bounds, and there is no way any Louisville player touched the ball. It went out off of Mazulla’s head, and an out-of-bounds call should have given the ball to us.
Well, it's some justice, anyway.
But not nearly enough. They should have been fired. This was the clearest error, so they got them for that, but it was the successive errors at the very end of the game that made the monitor-checking debacle punishment-worthy: the no-call on the Delk shot, the ball off Mazulla’s head, the continued running of the shot clock on the last Louisville possession that told Louisville players they were running out of time much sooner than they were. The fact is that as the game was winding down they did literally everything they could to make sure West Virginia had possession, and I believe they were biased, for whatever reason – probably that rabid gang of West Virginia fans, headed by Huggins. A ref who can’t keep his head despite the crowd shouldn’t be calling a game.
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