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Last night (1/05) Brian O’Connell did the Rodent at Rutgers game. Game ended about 9pm eastern time. Today he’s calling the Xavier at Providence game which tipped off at noon eastern time. I think O’Connell is decent, but he called a game which ends in New Jersey and 15 hours later he’s calling a game in Rhode Island.
Yes, refs are independent contractors and the games were for two different conferences. But this strikes me as ridiculous.
Referees are doing what they need to do to make a living. The NCAA (and conferences) realize the problem but don't want to fix it.
Honestly the Big East likely had no idea that he was doing a game in New Jersey 15 hours earlier.
I see a similar thing in high school. Obviously not the same as college as the court is smaller, the game is shorter and the players are slower, but here is what we have in Milwaukee as I see it every Tuesday & Thursday. The better refs will do two games per night, but not in the same gym.
They will do a freshmen game at one school, then hurry off to another school during the JV games to do a varsity game.
IWB,
That's kind of the way it has to be as there is, or at least was, a shortage of refs certified to ref high school games. If each ref handled only one game per night, there would not be enough refs to go around. Notice I did not say "good refs" to go around, which is another matter.
You see the same thing in youth hoops. In the parochial leagues like North Shore and NDL, refs will often ref four games a day. By the time they get to the third game, not only are they physically dragging, but they also just want to get the day over with. But again, there is a shortage of refs.
I tried reffing in the North Shore Catholic League a little over 20 years ago when I was in my late 40s. I reffed mostly at St. Eugene's in Fox Point. By the third game, I was tired, and if I did have a fourth game, it was really a chore.
Plus, the speed of the games changed. I might have had a fifth grade game, then sixth, then seventh, then eighth. Even worse was going from one or two girls' games to an eighth grade boys' game.
I stopped reffing after two seasons, which was not only the right thing to do for me but for the players and coaches as well.
With respect to college refs (or pro refs) what a horrible lifestyle to put up with - rushing from city to city, airport to airport, hotel to hotel. I don't know how they do it.
But the bottom line once again is there are not enough refs, let alone qualified refs. It's a mess, which is why so many awful refs are still reffing rather than having been canned.
I hear you and agree Phantom
Just saw a couple videos from the Iowa - Ohio State game and couldn't believe the calls and no calls.
Anthony Cowan elbows Tyler Cook out at the top of the key and doesn't draw even a common foul and Cowan loses the ball on the way up for a jump shot and the Iowa defender gets called for a foul by Bo Borowski when he isn't within 2-3 feet of Cowan. No wonder McCaffrey went off and got kicked out of the game.