I posted earlier that I missed seeing the game live but had recorded it. After reading many of the open threads, I was really interested to see some of the officiating calls. I am not one to normally blame a loss on the refs but, hey, if the shoe fits? So, I watched the game then went back and rewatched many of the disputed calls with the benefit of slow motion and step action frames. If you have the game recorded, please check this out and tell me what you think. Therefore, I respectfully offer for your review and comment the following:

First half:

16:53 - TJ called for fouling Mazzulla - there was no contact.

16:41 - Siva's drive and contact with Thoroughman who is clearly moving - no call

16:22 - On Thoroughmans "save" he clearly hooks Preston and throws him out of bounds - no call

15:06 - Reach in foul called on Siva - Mazzulla pushes off with right hand - no foul called for

13:12 - Mazzula travels (slides pivot foot) - no call

12:23 - Kilicli steps on the line out of bounds - no call. Look at ref - he is looking directly at the foot in perfect position and makes no call

12:17 - Foul called on Dieng after he was knocked to the floor by Kilicli. Even announcers said Dieng was fouled.

10:55 - Foul called on Marra who is in position when Flowers clearly goes over his back

10:39 - Charge on Marra nullifies his basket. Announcers say "it should have been a no call or called the other way:

6:26 - Traveling call on Justice (he doesn't have possession)

6:24 - Justice's imaginary foul to Mazzulla's face. This was one of my favorites. If you watch this frame by frame you see that as Justice reaches for the ball, it is Mazzulla who initiates the contact with his left arm. In fact, Mazzulla's left arm actually shields his face and prevents any contact there by Justice. Further note that the ref does not make the call at the time of the supposed contact, only after Mazzulla's over the top acting job. Also note that the ref is positioned behind Mazzulla and not in a good position to see this imaginary contact. Clearly the ref just bought the performance by Mazzulla. Both announcers actually laughed at this call and Doris called Mazzulla, "the best actor on contact that I have ever seen." 

6:07 - Kurik undercut going for a rebound - no call

5:59 - Mazzulla picks up his pivot foot and travels - no call

5:10 - Foul was called on either Preston or Goode, I can't tell because neither touched the WV player. Prestons right hand is near the shooters backside but if you watch shooters bodyline and uniform, there is no push. Further, on the tv replay it appears that Preston is not really very close to the shooter and Goode is no where near fouling him.

3:43 - Flowers knocks Kurik out of bounds going for a rebound - no call

2:17 - Foul called on Siva. Replay from overhead angle shows any contact was initiated by Thoroughman.

1:10 - Charging foul call on Preston. No way Mazzulla is set. Again the ref behind the play makes the call but the one looking straight at the play does not.

Second Half

18:02 - Appears to be a kicked ball by Mazzulla and then possibly a travel - no call.

17:07 - Siva's 4th foul - watch this one in slow motion and show me the foul. I can't find it.

16:15 - Foul call on Smith. At 16:17 Flowers clearly pushed Smith out of the way - no call on WV. Foul on us.

12:12 - Reach in foul called on SVT going for the ball. Flowers pushes SVT's arm away with hie left arm. Watch the ref on this one. Just prior to his call, the only contact was Flowers using his arm on SVT. SVT is a foot away. Unbelievable. Doris later says she " thought Flowers got away with a push on Van Tresse."

11:50 - Foul called on SVT. He was absolutely verticle on defense so if there was any callable contact, it was initiated by Mazzulla (the actor).

9:29 - Foul call on Kurik. I think replay and slow motion show pretty clearly that there was no contact at all. And again, the call was made by a trailing official with no clear view. Kyle swiped at the ball and the ref made the call. He did not and could not have seen any contact.

6:07 - SVT's 4th foul called for reaching in. I didn't know you weren't allowed to reach for the ball? Again, ref behind the play making the call. Official who is both closer and with a better angle sees nothing.

1:31 - This one is great. At 1:31 Flowers enters the lane. WV shoots at 1:24 and Flowers goes for the rebound. He leaves the lane at 1:22. That's not a three second call - that's 3 three simultaneous second calls. No call!

37.9 - The ball out of bounds off Preston's foot call. All I can says id watch it frame by frame. There is no frame where Preston is out of bounds and the ball touches his foot. 

And there was one other occurrence where Mazzulla did not get the ball over the timeline in the required 10 seconds. I had a freeze frame shot of him still in the back court with the shot clock showing 25, but I forgot to note the time and am too tired to go back and watch the game again.

So, there you have it. Like I said, I am not one to harp on officiating and don't usually blame them for a loss, but we really got hosed in Morgantown. We still should have won this game though. Doris made a comment that our guys were too far under the rim to get the rebounds and the replay showed she was right. With just a little nudge the WV players were able to really marginalize our effectiveness. And with their size advantage, we were toast. Hope Rick coaches them up on this. Should help a lot!

Your thoughts?