The most incompetent refereeing in the history of college basketball at MSG.
Ten Years Ago Today
- Thread starter Salvi's Headband
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Well now I’m gonna have nightmares. Thx!
All 3 got suspended. Earl Walton came back to ref the epic Ivy playoff. It raises an interesting question which I gave contemplated.Not sure of the correct answer. Should a game be categorically over once the officials leave the floor? On another note,Rice was a gentleman in the press conference.
Exhibit 1A about why I complain about basketball refs. Epic sham.
For those who don't know what we're talking about.
Plus the last couple minutes of one sham call for SJU after the other. Burr and Higgy will always be in a league of their own for me.
Burr broke one of the cardinal end of game rules for officials. You stay with your partners. He just took off for the locker room. Always hated that.
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You're right. Don't know why I put Higgins in there. I've seen Jim Burr screw up enough games to know who he is.
the bigger problem were the fouls not called on SJU earlier when Carter was driving and the no over the back called when Mitchell was pushed to the ground giving SJU the ball and a winning basket
It wasn't bad reffing. It literally was on purpose. They weren't going to let Rutgers win.
So many non-calls that went against RU, including what should have been a technical for throwing the ball into the stands after stepping out of bounds with almost 2 seconds left on the clock.
I always wondered whether the refs walking off was a big FU to Rice, who rode the refs pretty hard all year.
Really bad memories here. I literally punched the seat in front of me at MSG a dozen times or so. Made my knuckles bleed.
Thankfully it all evened out. 
Man that was a sickening rewatch (and there was even more in the last 2 minutes).
Man that was a sickening rewatch (and there was even more in the last 2 minutes).
Fran Fraschilla was doing color for the game and even before the infamous last play where 1) Biruta was mugged, 2) St. John's ran out of bounds with the ball and 3) threw the ball in the stands, he was roundly criticizing the officials for literally failing to keep officiating starting with about 5 minutes to go. There were multiple incidents where Rutgers players were blatantly fouled down the stretch and I think he said something to the effect that they had "stopped" officiating and it was a shame. What was a good game to that point was marred by the AWOL officials and you could hear the disappointment in his voice. The last play was egregious but the plethora of non-calls was in many ways much worse.
Tim Pernetti had a talk with Rice before he went to the press conference and discussed that how he reacted was going to be watched very closely and for his own reputation he needed to be even tempered about it. Not sure if it had any effect or whether Rice would've handled himself like he did anyway. While the game was going on I don't think Rice even realized that the guy had travelled, thrown the ball in the stands and that the officials bailed before :00 because he was incensed that Biruta was tackled around the neck on the inbounds and was protesting that.
Tim Pernetti had a talk with Rice before he went to the press conference and discussed that how he reacted was going to be watched very closely and for his own reputation he needed to be even tempered about it. Not sure if it had any effect or whether Rice would've handled himself like he did anyway. While the game was going on I don't think Rice even realized that the guy had travelled, thrown the ball in the stands and that the officials bailed before :00 because he was incensed that Biruta was tackled around the neck on the inbounds and was protesting that.
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I remember even noted SJU homer and RU gadfly Mike Francessa had an epic rant about the game right afterward.
Oh man this page has the Francesa audio. Classic!
"The game can't be ovah! There's 1.4 on the clock! The game can't ovah! How can the game be ovah?? He STEPPED OUT OF BOUNDS! YA GOTTA PUT THAT BACK ON THE CLOCK! Ya can't do that to Rutgiz it's not faih!"
"The game can't be ovah! There's 1.4 on the clock! The game can't ovah! How can the game be ovah?? He STEPPED OUT OF BOUNDS! YA GOTTA PUT THAT BACK ON THE CLOCK! Ya can't do that to Rutgiz it's not faih!"
The important point here, is with time still on the clock, he throws the ball up in the stands, i'm pretty sure that's a technical foul as well, or it certainly can be called. The last two minutes of that game was a real screw job against us.
Did those referees ever formally apologize to RU?
The Pernetti info makes sense. Rice got a lot of credit for sportsmanship on that post-game presser but I thought it appeared forced at best. The guy was basically a raving lunatic pretty much every game (and practice as we learned) including screaming like crazy with the Biruta 'foul' and then he turns into this quiet gracious type on the podium.
Biruta was absolutely mugged on the inbounds pass--Rice was screaming at the refs for that blown call. As bac noted above Carter was hammered on a layup drive and Mitchell shoved to the floor all leading up to refs rubbing salt in the wounds with the end game debacle. Worst 5 minutes of officiating in any sport in history.
Forgot about Coburn getting mugged going up for a shot too, next the over the back/shove down against Mitch not called...then after the sju guy missed the first FT, the horn goes off before the 2nd FT..I bet that was intentional to allow him a 3rd chance IF he had missed the 2nd one too. Damn I'm getting too nauseous to even watch the end game replay again.
Yes, Francesca was the only one in the media at the time to stick up for us . Espn quickly cut away with a brief mention.
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Up till that game, I always believed that a college basketball game lasted 40 minutes. Now we know better, unless, of course, you're playing in Knoxville, where a game can last for more than 40 minutes without going into OT.
I actually played golf with Higgins after that and oh man did I want to give him so much you know what for that but I kept it respectable!!
The only thing annoying about Francesca's rant, is that is kept saying that those fouls would never be called and Rice ran three terrible plays....don't buy that. The last 3 no-call fouls were bad no-calls, even before we get to the end of the game clock situation. Francesca was always a pain in the ***.