In a foul mood

[BUSongwriter]

No, certainly not about our Braves. Great win last night!

But 46 free throws for Evansville? Really? In most games the fouls ebb and flow, you see calls everyone knows are to even things out. Those never came last night.

And now I see that another MVC home team, Illinois State, shot 34 free throws in last night's win over Missouri State. The Bears, meanwhile, were 5-of-7 from the line.

Question 1: How much do you think a home team regularly benefits from officiating? Do you think officials feel a little pressure (even with the sparse crowds we're seeing) to call close decisions -- charge/block, for example -- in favor of the home team?

Question 2: Watching online last night, I didn't see Coach Wardle going nuts over the foul discrepancy. Do you think he works the officials enough? This time, I'm glad he didn't because we were winning and a "T" might have changed momentum. I was just surprised I didn't see a rant because, geez, it really seemed so one-sided.

[tornado]

a few years ago someone did a pretty thorough, somewhat scientific study on just that ...

here's some of the results... LINK

-there was evidence that the home team does get fewer calls against them

-in general there was a tendency to call "make up calls" to try to keep the calls even
(we never saw a hint of that last night)

-the bigger the foul discrepancy grows, then the more likely the next call will go to the team that has the fewest
(again, we never saw that last night)

-when the home team had 5 or more fouls than the visiting team, the likelihood the next call would be against the visitors is 69%

http://home.kelley.iupui.edu/kyjander/Officiating%20paper%20-%20Final%20draft%20version.pdf

Here are a few other studies:
-a study seemed to prove that the amount of NOISE produced by the home crowd DID influence and bias the refs to favor the home team with their calls

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.523.9908&rep=rep1&type=pdf

-two studies of NBA referees showed both a HOME COURT bias and a RACIAL BIAS
The home court bias is in the range of 2-5% in favor of the home team.
The racial bias showed that white referees call more fouls on black players and black referees call more fouls on white players - go figure..

http://triceratops.brynmawr.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10066/8134/2012HanemanP_thesis.pdf?sequence=9

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/sports/basketball/02refs.html

also - teams facing elimination in the playoffs also get a little bias in their favor

https://newrepublic.com/article/86559/basketball-referees-biased-nba-playoffs-study-espn-donaghy

[wily coyote]

I am at a total loss for words over T's stats. Obviously I'm in the minority here but I wore the stripes for almost 2,000 games in my career and those stats are just plain BS. I've NEVER been intimidated by a coach, or a crowd, tried to keep the fouls even, or made what is referred to by people as a make up call. I will say not all D-1 officials belong at that level but for various reasons I won't get into ,they are there. Paul Jannsen is not one of my favorites, but a lot of people don't like Baywatch and I happen to think he is one of the better officials in the country.

[tornado]

they are not my stats, wily...

I think as objective as people believe they are, and as objective as they endeavor to be...
we are all human and potentially biased by unmeasurable factors...

those "stats" display trends but don't in any way claim ALL referees are inclined towards bias...maybe some, like you, are 100% fair and objective - but some sure do seem biased to me..

[Bradleyfan1]

Bay watch is Higgins right? He's real good.

Interesting stats.

Brian Dorsey gets my vote . Did he retire? He did last yrs final 4 I believe.

[BUfan39]

they are not my stats, wily...

I think as objective as people believe they are, and as objective as they endeavor to be...
we are all human and potentially biased by unmeasurable factors...

those "stats" display trends but don't in any way claim ALL referees are inclined towards bias...maybe some, like you, are 100% fair and objective - but some sure do seem biased to me..

I believe Kip Kissinger was the lead official on the crew last night? If I'm not mistaken, we've had several issues with him before.

[wily coyote]

they are not my stats, wily...

I think as objective as people believe they are, and as objective as they endeavor to be...
we are all human and potentially biased by unmeasurable factors...

those "stats" display trends but don't in any way claim ALL referees are inclined towards bias...maybe some, like you, are 100% fair and objective - but some sure do seem biased to me..

Your statement regarding "potentially biased by unmeasurable factors" hits the nail on the head. In 23 yrs.I only had one coach I DID NOT like. I would do nothing to penalize his kids because I loved going to their school but really didn't care much for him. His actions were on a short leash to say the least. AS much as I loved going to that school the best possible solution was not to take games there. I quit going there until he left ,which was about 4 yrs. Problem solved. Yes, John Higgens is who I call Baywatch. Wish we had more officials like him.He's a good one.

[tornado]

I just want to reiterate this one fan's sentiment...

as unhappy as I have been on individual occasions with poor play, turnovers, losses........
I am still 1,000,000% happier and ecstatic that we made the changes 2-3 years ago that finally ridded Bradley of a corrupt, financially irresponsible and negligent, and athletically incompetent group...and thankful for the fans that wrote letters, spoke up publicly and finally got into the ears of the Board of Trustee members back in late 2014, all of which turned the massive tide against the ruling elite that had stomped all over the fans and nearly destroyed 110 years of Bradley Athletics....
and which led to the true Renaissance we have seen this past 1-2 years -
still a long way to go but thanks to the GOOD fans and donors who got it done when it looked dismally impossible due to the corrupt leaders signing themselves to all those horrible long term contracts despite the historically horrible performance & actions they displayed.

wizard was a part of that movement by fans in late 2014 that shone a bright light of the corruption & incompetence that needed to be flushed out...but it had to be done - or we'd still be sitting here in 2017 wondering how are we ever gonna get rid of those clowns running everything into the ground who have all signed themselves until 2020.

[pfcmsh]

Amen!

I just want to reiterate this one fan's sentiment...

as unhappy as I have been on individual occasions with poor play, turnovers, losses........
I am still 1,000,000% happier and ecstatic that we made the changes 2-3 years ago that finally ridded Bradley of a corrupt, financially irresponsible and negligent, and athletically incompetent group...and thankful for the fans that wrote letters, spoke up publicly and finally got into the ears of the Board of Trustee members back in late 2014, all of which turned the massive tide against the ruling elite that had stomped all over the fans and nearly destroyed 110 years of Bradley Athletics....
and which led to the true Renaissance we have seen this past 1-2 years -
still a long way to go but thanks to the GOOD fans and donors who got it done when it looked dismally impossible due to the corrupt leaders signing themselves to all those horrible long term contracts despite the historically horrible performance & actions they displayed.

wizard was a part of that movement by fans in late 2014 that shone a bright light of the corruption & incompetence that needed to be flushed out...but it had to be done - or we'd still be sitting here in 2017 wondering how are we ever gonna get rid of those clowns running everything into the ground who have all signed themselves until 2020.

Amen!