Referees Not Seeing Correct Angle In Title Game Replay Is Inexcusable

The NCAA head of officials on the controversial play in the title game: “We never saw what everybody saw at home” -> http://t.co/qVyaJb3M0p

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) April 7, 2015

Can you blame a referee for something he or she didn’t see? Millions of us did so last night and did so unknowingly.

The officiating in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has been atrocious, beginning with the goaltending call against the SMU Mustangs and poetically closing with the near-blatant Justise Winslow tip-out during the title game between the Duke Blue Devils and Wisconsin Badgers.

But this last of a litany of torrid calls may not be the fault of the officials. According to Yahoo! Sports by way of Deadspin, the officiating crew was (brace yourself) not afforded the angle which millions of viewers saw on national television. Take a deep breath. Blink your eyes a few times. I hope you aren’t balling your fist and seizing in anger, because this is unbelievable; because just how in the hell could this happen? Why would we (the national TV audience), whose opinion doesn’t affect the outcome of the game, be offered this view while the highly trained officiating crew is snubbed of this vantage point?

One more time: The referees did not see this angle. My mind isn’t just boggled, it feels scrambled by a steak knife.

I understand the gravity of the situation and the need to be timely, but we saw those crucial replays while the refs were looking at the monitors. What were the officials being shown instead? Cat videos?

This is inexcusable, this is atrocious and I’m turning into Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld as I quickly cite my visceral reactions. How this can happen to an allegedly all-star crew is beyond me. How this happened during a national title game is beyond the competence of the NCAA.

Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.