Do Referees Ruin Some Games in College Basketball?

Being a referee in any sport is one of the most difficult jobs to do.  No matter if the call was right or wrong, there will always be controversy.

Basketball is the most opinionated game to officiate.  The rules aren’t written up on what’s a foul and what isn’t a foul.  As a referee you need to be able to judge if it was a foul or if the guy took 3 steps instead of 2.  You also need to be able to make a call block/charge call, the most highly opinionated foul in any sport.

This being said, you need to give basketball referees a lot of credit, but whether or not they ruin some college basketball games is a question to take into consideration.

As a referee, no matter how good or bad your calls are, you need to be consistent with them.  This is one thing college basketball refs do extremely well.

You may say then, well how do college basketball refs ruin games?

The answer is simple, some referees just call way to many cheap fouls.  Over the early course of the season, I have seen a couple of teams in the bonus before the first media timeout of the half.

This is just unacceptable.  How can you call 7 fouls in 4 minutes of basketball action?  When this happens the refs are calling every little hand check that occurs and hand checking happens on almost every possession in a game.

With so many fouls being called it just makes the game hard to watch and hard to play.  The players have to play a lot less aggressive on defense which allows the other team to score easier and more players are in foul trouble.

Also it takes away the momentum of the game.  With fouls constantly being called and free throws being shot, the game is slowed down and players are standing around a lot.

As a fan, watching free throws is the most boring part of the game and when fouls are consistently being called every possession, you are consistently watching free throws being shot.

These are college basketball players and some of the most talented athletes in the country.  They don’t need to be officiated like a freshman basketball game at the high school level.  They are grown men and can deal with a little bit of contact while dribbling.

They don’t need the refs to protect them from turning the ball over every possession.  Let the players play and then the best team will win.

With cheap fouls called it allows the weaker teams to compete and that is just not right.  These kids want to play the game and some of the refs are not allowing them to.

Hopefully, as some of the prime time games come up, the officiating starts to let a lot more contact go so we can see these talented athletes do what they do best.