Cal-UCLA and Pac-10 refs

additionally, everyone's obsession with kevin love's chest passes is just absurd. know who else can do a 3/4-court chest pass on a line? me. and most people who can play basketball.

 

That is absolutely correct. They screw up so many games it's ridiculous.

 

Yes. And I believe it was against the Hawks.

And there were two or three Hawks bench players going nuts when Bird was approaching 60 (by going nuts, I mean sort of cheering for him - there's video evidence of it).

Anyway, the Hawks owner fined the players after he heard about it or saw it.

 

Absolutely maddening to see UCLA get the breaks twice in three nights, given that UCLA will probably hold on to the No. 1 spot KU hoped to slide into with a Bruin loss.

 

The game where he makes it over the backboard is against the Houston Rockets. The game where he goes for 60 is against the Hawks.

 

Nice to see the Pac10's football refs doing double duty.

 

And they've been doing it for a long time.

 

I go back to the early 80s covering the Pac-10 and the officiating has always been awful. I tried to think of a way to write something about "why is officiating so bad in the Pac-10?" but I couldn't get anybody to talk about it. Nobody.
One of my theories is that these guys, specifically basketball, ref so much and make so much money doing it that they just don't care.
It first dawned on me one weekend quite awhile back. I covered a Pepperdine game in Malibu on a Friday night. Bob Garibaldi was one of the referees. Game ended about 9:30 or so. Next day, I turn on the tube to catch a UCLA game at Oregon State. There's Bob Garibaldi with the whistle. So I'm wondering, regardless of what kind of shape he's in, how rested and alert is he going to be after traveling from Malibu to Corvallis overnight?

 

Why? Because they don't average 80 points per game?
They'll get to at least the Elite 8 because the Bruins are a damn fine defensive team that has an inside presence and solid perimeter game.
Are non-UCLA fans frustrated at the last two games? Certainly. The calls/non-calls are questionable. But, we're talking about a team where the majority of the players have been to the Final Four two consecutive years, including one title game appearance.
Ben Howland's teams have always performed well in the tournament, even going back to Pitt because they're so well-prepared and they've already been drilled with the defensive mindset needed in postseason basketball.

Two years ago, Memphis was supposed to run them off the court with their athleticism and scoring ability. Didn't happen.
LSU's Glenn Davis and Tyrus Thomas were too skilled and athletic for the Bruins in the Final Four. Didn't happen.
The Bruins were trounced by what will likely go down as a legendary Florida team that won the first of its back-to-back titles.

Last year, the Bruins were a No. 2 seed and, like the previous year's game against Memphis, the Kansas Jayhawks were more athletic and better offensively than the Bruins. In the end, the Bruins played at a pace that frustrated the Jayhawks. UCLA would eventually lose to Florida again, nothing to be ashamed of there.

This year's UCLA team (which plays in tough, deep conference, so they don't always get the 30-point wins some other teams do) replaces Afflalo with Shipp (a wash, in my opinion) and Ryan Hollins with Kevin Love (a big upgrade).

Maybe if you had said you don't think they're getting to the Final Four, you could've made a case with me because I think there's a lot of great teams. But to say the Bruins aren't one of the eight best teams in the country, well, that's just ridiculous.

 

Six NCAA Tournament appearances by Howland-coached teams.

One, at NAU, they failed to get out of the first round. I doubt they were seeded to.

Two appearances at Pitt, two Sweet 16 trips. Yes, the first ended in upset against Kent State, but that KSU team beat a few people en route to the Elite Eight in a South region that probably killed a lot of brackets that year.

Three appearances at UCLA, one first-round exit (in Bob Knight's last gasp as a relevant NCAA coach), two Final Fours.

Not sure how anyone can act like it's stupid to assert that Howland's teams have enjoyed some good tourney success. But I guess it's better to play the "dumb" card when someone disagrees with your loudmouth assertion about sports, right?

 

Piotr, don't bother. KCM isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.