Robert Morris/Villanova reffing controversy

[Bravesfan]

A lot of pundits on ESPN this morning were citing the poor refereeing during the last four minutes of the Robert Morris/Villanova game, as in ALL in favor of Villanova!

Now I know that the refs will always favor the higher seeds, especially the national championship contenders when they are trailing late in the game to "level the playing field". But since I did not see most of the end of regulation yesterday, the reports are saying that the reffing was so blantantly biased against Robert Morris that it got to the point of turning into a big joke!

Now I can understand one or two "phantom" calls going the way of the "big boys", but if the reffing is going to be so blantantly biased, and at the same time being so open about it without any fear of being caught so to speak, then that's going to wreck this tournament and sports in general if they make it a precedent to basically step all over the smaller school's chances of winning games.

Maybe anyone who caught the whole game can comment. Was the reffing really as bad as what everyone is saying?

[Dubl R 1]

A lot of pundits on ESPN this morning were citing the poor refereeing during the last four minutes of the Robert Morris/Villanova game, as in ALL in favor of Villanova!

Now I know that the refs will always favor the higher seeds, especially the national championship contenders when they are trailing late in the game to "level the playing field". But since I did not see most of the end of regulation yesterday, the reports are saying that the reffing was so blantantly biased against Robert Morris that it got to the point of turning into a big joke!

Now I can understand one or two "phantom" calls going the way of the "big boys", but if the reffing is going to be so blantantly biased, and at the same time being so open about it without any fear of being caught so to speak, then that's going to wreck this tournament and sports in general if they make it a precedent to basically step all over the smaller school's chances of winning games.

Maybe anyone who caught the whole game can comment. Was the reffing really as bad as what everyone is saying?

I didn't see the 2nd half of that game...........wish I would have now.

[MacabreMob]

I think the games are archived and able to be viewed at mmod.ncaa,com

[Beninator]

Toward the end of the game, there was a foul called on what imho should have been a jump ball. The call went Villanova's way and to a degree I think that the foul call changed the way that Robert Morris had to try to finish the game.

[Bravesfan]

Toward the end of the game, there was a foul called on what imho should have been a jump ball. The call went Villanova's way and to a degree I think that the foul call changed the way that Robert Morris had to try to finish the game.

If it was one questionable foul, I could live with it. But it seems like these "questionable" fouls crop up quite a bit, even in the NIT during games involving national powers, like during the UNC/William & Mary game the other night.

[AE Braves Fan]

Maybe anyone who caught the whole game can comment. Was the reffing really as bad as what everyone is saying?

Yes. The last 5-7 minutes were obviously called in Villanova's favor.

[Braves4Life]

I did not notice anything obvious............

[houstontxbrave]

Toward the end of the game, there was a foul called on what imho should have been a jump ball. The call went Villanova's way and to a degree I think that the foul call changed the way that Robert Morris had to try to finish the game.

My problem with this particular call was the official directly infront of the play with a clear view whistled a jump ball. The official from the far side line, ran in and over ruled and called it a hold.

Problem is the foul calling official had to look through the Villanova player a Robert Morris player with their backs to the offical and another Robert Morris player to the right of the Villanova player and the Villanova player was obstructing the view of any hands and most of the body of the Robert Morris player.

That was long for the official made a call he assumed and had no view because he was looking through 3 people.

The foul was huge. BTW the free throws attempted were Villanova 40 Robert Morris 26 and the fouls were Villanova 19 Robert Morris 31.

Scottie Reynolds himself shot 16 free throws.

I think if a player is aggressive when going to the basket and contact happens that driving player will get the benefit of the doubt but Reynolds got alot of benefits of the doubts... ie he likes to hold off defenders with his off hand and he will lean in to initate contact.

Bottom line is that game was very suspect at best when it came to the officating.

[Bravesfan]

My problem with this particular call was the official directly infront of the play with a clear view whistled a jump ball. The official from the far side line, ran in and over ruled and called it a hold.

Problem is the foul calling official had to look through the Villanova player a Robert Morris player with their backs to the offical and another Robert Morris player to the right of the Villanova player and the Villanova player was obstructing the view of any hands and most of the body of the Robert Morris player.

That was long for the official made a call he assumed and had no view because he was looking through 3 people.

The foul was huge. BTW the free throws attempted were Villanova 40 Robert Morris 26 and the fouls were Villanova 19 Robert Morris 31.

Scottie Reynolds himself shot 16 free throws.

I think if a player is aggressive when going to the basket and contact happens that driving player will get the benefit of the doubt but Reynolds got alot of benefits of the doubts... ie he likes to hold off defenders with his off hand and he will lean in to initate contact.

Bottom line is that game was very suspect at best when it came to the officating.

I thought that's why they have replays, to take a second look at calls like that! I guess the replay only applies against "certain" teams!

And now they're making calls they can't see? Ummm....interesting!

[BradleyBrave]

I thought the officiating at the end was poor, but I could say that for 100 games I have watched this year. I don't discount that the refs know the seed, name on the uniform, or score, but I think they were just bad at that point. I don't think they cared who won.

[Dubl R 1]

My problem with this particular call was the official directly infront of the play with a clear view whistled a jump ball. The official from the far side line, ran in and over ruled and called it a hold.

Problem is the foul calling official had to look through the Villanova player a Robert Morris player with their backs to the offical and another Robert Morris player to the right of the Villanova player and the Villanova player was obstructing the view of any hands and most of the body of the Robert Morris player.

That was long for the official made a call he assumed and had no view because he was looking through 3 people.

The foul was huge. BTW the free throws attempted were Villanova 40 Robert Morris 26 and the fouls were Villanova 19 Robert Morris 31.

Scottie Reynolds himself shot 16 free throws.

I think if a player is aggressive when going to the basket and contact happens that driving player will get the benefit of the doubt but Reynolds got alot of benefits of the doubts... ie he likes to hold off defenders with his off hand and he will lean in to initate contact.

Bottom line is that game was very suspect at best when it came to the officating.

Similar to the Manual/Robinson foul totals.....and in that game 1 Robinson player shot 20 ft's to Manual's 23 as a team, with Robinson shooting 43ft's total...a lot for a high school game.