Last night the nation witnessed one of the poorest officiated ballgames of the season, and it was a shame too. The game featured two division leaders in the SEC as well as two premier big men in Jarvis Varnado and DeMarcus Cousins. The crowd was electric and the stage was set for a classic MSU – UK matchup…until the SEC office got involved.
I suggest SEC Commissioner, Mike Slive, and SEC head of Officials, Gerald Boudreaux co-author a letter of apology to Rick Stansbury, John Calipari, the University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University, the players who took the floor, the fans who paid for tickets and the millions of television viewers who watch the ESPN broadcast.
Why you ask? They didn’t make the calls!
It is simply really. The crew of Mike Stuart, Mike Kitts, and Michael Stephens were in over their heads last night and anyone who follows the game closely knew they were before the opening tip.
The game was unbalanced and they dictated the flow of the game, that’s not their job. They should manage the game and keep things under control without getting overly involved in the action. They should also remain consistent. A call that is made on one end of the floor should be made on the opposite end. If there is a charge on one end… if the event occurs on the opposite end… it should be a charge. It is pretty simple actually. If officials are going to ‘let them play’ during one stretch, then they should remain that way…not go back and forth on what will be allowed / not allowed.
And while this crew was beyond terrible… it is not their fault.
In sports coaches are always asked to simply put players in a position to make plays. If a coach puts me in the game and I get torched then the coach should get reamed for putting me in the game in the first place. He knows I can’t cover a junior high girl muchless a SEC receiver. I may be great at holding a clipboard and I may be the right option if we were playing pop-warner football, but certainly not in the SEC spotlight.
This is virtually what the SEC did. They sent a crew who has years of experience and in theory should be able to call a basketball game but not just any basketball game. If they were sent to call the LSU – MSU matchup this weekend I feel they would do a decent job.
However, they should never and I mean never be assigned a Kentucky game. Never!
As I heard a UK fan once say, “we’re everybody’s sellout.” They’re right, and the atmosphere that comes with a UK game should mean the refs are up to the task. Last night Stuart, Kitts, and Stephens simply could not handle the spotlight. They buckled under the pressure of a big game and made atrocious calls, both ways.
I’m not giving into the thought that Mississippi State lost because the refs were out to get them. That’s not the case. They were just plain bad and on that night they happened to give calls to the team that was perceived to be better.
Again it is not their fault.
The SEC office keeps files on all officials and they should have known this crew shouldn’t be assigned this game…never. I’m sure there’s a reason they were sent to Starkville, but I don’t want to hear it. No matter what it is it will not explain why a sub-par group of officials were given the most high-profile game in college basketball on Tuesday night.
So boys, when you read this my address is 740 White Oak Lane and I’ll be looking for my letter next week.
On second thought this is the same office that hires football officials…never mind, what’s the use.
