SEC referee dilemma

[JonathanW_rivals]

Do they screw over UK or Cal, when UK plays Ark?

 

[ORCAT]

I say they still go after Cal. They hate him.

 

[JonathanW_rivals]

I say they still go after Cal. They hate him.

You may be right, I hope you are. But I bet some of them won't sleep well, because they don't like either of us.

 

[NoahColeLiam2024!]

I don’t think there is any doubt that there was a subset of referees nation wide that had a dislike of Cal. And referees are human and are not immune to human feelings about getting yelled at constantly. It will be a breathe of fresh air to have a coach that is not on some refs crap list.

 

[TX Wildcat]

They will welcome a "What the frick?" argument from Pope! Might even chuckle at it.

 

[kyfaninindy]

The real dilemma I see in SEC Referring is their lack of competency and understanding of the rules of basketball. I honestly believe that Artificial Intelligence robots can do a better job than the zebras. This would be beneficial to coaches, players and fun for quality and consistency in calls.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

I think UK is free from the mostly BS calls (all schools still get them). Pope doesn't seem like a guy that will attack refs for the stupidest things on most nights.

 

[UKPopeVIII]

Definitely Calipari. They hate him way more than they hate Uk. He’s the most despised coach in SEC history by far. What they got sick of the most was his constant bitching about foul calls while he spends the entire game trying to intentionally draw them. While he doesn’t teach flopping, he does teach to draw them. They can’t give you a foul every single play like he wants and I got so sick of him depending on foul calls and foul shots to end games when HIS TEAMS RARELY SHOOT THEM WELL ANYWAY.

The NCAA single handedly stopped at least 1 of his titles for this reason. So I definitely don’t think they care about little Arkansas and what he’s doing there. Usually they love to screw UK but I’m thinking they hate him more.

 

[JonathanW_rivals]

I think some though, still are angry w/ BBN because of Higgins

 

[TNCatfanforever]

I say they still go after Cal. They hate him.

Everyone in America hated Cal the entire time he was at UK except UK fans, agents and the players brought here to train and show case for the draft

 

[ORCAT]

Everyone in America hated Cal the entire time he was at UK except UK fans, agents and the players brought here to train and show case for the draft

Very true but thread was asking just about SEC refs next season.

 

[WeWant9]

I think some though, still are angry w/ BBN because of Higgins

It’ll probably still be a factor, but it might cool with a new coach. I’ve always felt that UK was universally disliked, but the combo of UK/Cal caused people to go red with hate.

 

[cathouse_rivals216755]

I say they still go after Cal. They hate him.

One thing we know for sure. Cal will go after them. Even when he shouldn't be.

Glad that problem is at Arkansas now.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I'd say cal. Game is at Rupp so that helps.

That said., sec may rig it so we play them twice.

I assume if staying at 18 games they will drop the 3 permanent rivals down to 1 for each team (almost certainly UT for UK) and then rotate 2 teams each year as other opponents we play twice. Arkansas will 100% be one of those thus season if that's the way they do the schedule.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

They hate cal but on the other hand, our administration does jack sh*t to get us officiating . you dont get good calls without lubing up the pockets of the SEC office and Office of officiating.

 

[chroix]

Pope’s wife will bake them cookies and smooth things over. Ellen’s brownies were nasty.

 

[FilsonCat]

With the proliferation of online gambling bucks and easy money everywhere, the referee issue is up in the air. Now, do I think we get another Higgins/Cal scenario? Probably nothing that overt.

 

[TheDude73]

Speaking in general and not specific to our matchup with Cal/Arkansas, they will never forget fans threatening one of their own in Higgins. I fully expect some of the "WTF" calls / no calls to happen.

And frankly, as positive as Mark Pope is, his overwhelming, fan-like passion for all things Kentucky might bring out a beast on the sidelines if we start getting the shaft from refs. In fact, I would not at all be surprised if he gets a couple of technical fouls in his first year, just due to his fire and Kentucky passion.

For this game, I think they'll favor us over Cal. In that game, their disdain for Cal's total lack of respect of the refs will overrule their fraternity brother defense of Higgins and the UK fan threats.

 

[TheDude73]

They hate cal but on the other hand, our administration does jack sh*t to get us officiating . you dont get good calls without lubing up the pockets of the SEC office and Office of officiating.

It will be VERY interesting to see the ref assignments in Pope's first year vs. those of the past with Cal. If we see less and less of the Lindsays and Phat Adams of the world, that would be telling as to their past agendas.

 

[TankedCat]

UK is golden with those cookie platters

 

[Saven]

We should be better off unless Mark Pope is also notorious among referee circles like Cal is.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

I'm not entirely convinced this was just a Cal thing. I don't think the NCAA particularly likes us, simply based on how they've treated us in the past, and how well they treat our fellow blue bloods.

And I still think the fans going after Higgins, as much as I loved it, was probably not a good look for us.

I just don't think the world of COLLEGE athletics particularly likes it when a blue-collar, conservative-leaning type of school has success.

But, it's another thing we will find out. If the NCAA doesn't have an axe to grind with UK, then I expect MUCH better calls to be had, than what we've seen the last 10 years. No more weird oddities, seemingly every year, that cost us. No tournaments where the refs forget something like a shot clock, or were already calling a foul on Shabazz, even though it turns out we never touched him.