Awful Officiating in the NCAA Tournament

The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament have been completed. Just like every other year, there are no perfect brackets left. Countless hours and shows about bracket selections are broadcast each year and no one has every been able to pick the winning teams correctly. It has gone so far as to have websites offer round by round picks in hopes of drawing additional interest into the later rounds of the tournament.

Now onto the games, the officiating has been horrible in the tournament. The end of the North Carolina and Arkansas game was an atrocious way to start what is generally a great tournament. At this point, it seems like the NCAA actually wants the Tar Heels to win and advance to the later rounds. It makes sense from a matchup perspective. They are lined up to play some other teams with big basketball brands in the later rounds if they keep winning.

Another matchup that had a huge missed call was the Northwestern and Gonzaga game. Northwestern drives the ball to try to close the gap with what looks like an easy basket. Gonzaga has a defender reach his hand up through the hoop and knocks the ball away. If you are unfamiliar with the rules of basketball, this is an illegal move.

This goal tending call is not reviewable by the rules of the NCAA. At this point in time, there is no reason that call should not be able to be reviewed. Every NCAA tournament game has the same camera angles covering the court. The goal of replay and refs should be to make sure the game is as fair as possible. That is not happening in this tournament.

The solution would be to add another ref that sits in the booth and watches the television angles. Technology has improved to the point where multiple cameras capture every angle and that footage can be recalled at the press of a button. This gives the refs a chance to get every call right. The players deserve it. The coaches deserve. The fans deserve it. So make it happen.

Richie Leahey