Zack Novak's Night

Fuck Ed Hightower.

Seriously, fuck that dude

We won though. Can't hold a good team down , even if they do have six players on the court including ed

Best recap ever.  Dude

When really good character coaches get T'd up it is usually about protecting their players. Coach K got one the other night too. His guy basically got a cheap shot elbow to the head area and had a fould called against him.

At that point these coaches go into what I call "Dad-mode." You can toss them and T them up, but you are going to get an ear full about how it is your job as a ref to make sure this game is played without anyone getting hurt. I think that is why Coach B blew up because at a certain point it becomes less about the outcome and more about these coaches truly caring for the well being of their kids. Novak was taking a beating and it was getting to the point that the refs control of the game was being comprimised.
 

This is just another reason why I think we have a really great coach for our basketball team.

I hate Hightower.  When he first started out he used to ref at small NAIA schools, of which one I was a ballboy for as a child.  He was a prick, even then, when he was doing games 100 people were at.

Those Novak calls almost caused me to break my TV.  They weren't even close. 

My best friend holds our highschool's record for most charges taken in a game, season and career. I don't think they track it at the conference level or I'm sure he'd have that too.

Got a text from him halfway through the game that Novak was being absolutely hosed by the refs on the blocking calls. He said at least 2 should have been called charges, if not more, but at the very least they should have been no-calls.

College basketball refs are ruining college basketball. Let the players play, and only call a foul IF YOU SEE IT. I'm getting pretty miffed at clean blocks being called fouls because the ref wasn't in position. 

If they're going to keep calling fouls at this rate, the NCAA needs to bump the limit up to 6....

end rant

Good lord, those were all bad calls.  It's like Hightower came in trying to find calls to make on Novak.

That man give me a case of the RAGE.

Did the refs just think that he was in the restricted area?  Or do they think those were regular blocking fouls (even though they weren't)?  Is it a different foul if you're in the restricted area?  These are nuances of basketball that I don't completely understand.

three and five he's too far under the basket, and although ncaa doesnt have the actual court marking, they do sorta have the rule

I could understand if Novak was called for a block on maybe 1 or 2 of those, given the fast pace of the game. However, they were called consistently against Novak. Use some 50/50 logic on the bang-bang plays. Call half of them blocks, and half charges if they are close. Or, god forbid, swallow the whistle and let the kids play some Big Ten basketball.

That last one was BS!

I watch a lot of college basketball, which does not make me any kind of expert, but I have no idea what is a charge and what is a block. These calls have to be the most ticky tack you will see. It really is frustrating and can take away from the game at times.

#s 3,4,5 were extremely bad calls.

#s 1 and 2 were close, as Novak was still establishing his feet, it seemed.  1 and 2 are a toss up though, 3,4,5 were just really bad calls.

lol

When I was in Bloomington in the early 1990s, we used to joke that Bobby Knight had Hightower in his back pocket. I dont know who owns him now. Or if he just makes crappy calls on purpose to fuck with the fans.

college basketball is barely above impossible to watch.  between the awful officiating and the senseless timeouts every four minutes, these games have no rhythm and no flow to them.  also, the last minute of a game is the most disgusting period of any sport

a Leader or a Legend?

Also, shouldn't his last name be spelled H1Ghtower?  Then we could call him H1G.  H1G in the B1G.

There are few things less interesting than people whining about their team getting hosed by the officials.

There is an imaginary arc around the basket in which you cannot be called for charging.  At least two of those fouls (2and 3) almost surely were because Zack was inside of it.  He's almost directly under the basket on them.   I'd guess that at least one more that was borderline was called because of that, too.

if he was going to take the charge.

Basketball Officiating 101

Not to be all-knowing, but as a hoops ref I thought I'd share some knowledge/experience on these calls since I don't think many people understand why it takes to draw a charge.

In order for it to be a charge, the defender must establist and maintain legal guarding positoin (LGP).  To establish LGP you must:

1. Be completely in bounds
2. Have two feet on the floor
3. Have your torso facing the offensive player*

Once this is established, you may moves backwards and side-to-side to maintain position (thus the whole "he wasn't set" usually means nothing.  you don't have to be set to take a charge, given you've established LGP prior).  You may also jump vertically.

To draw a charge on a shooter, you must establish LGP prior to the shooter leaving the floor.

So, with this I'll run through my opinion on these.

1. Clearly a block.  Novak is there late and causes the contact.

2. Block.  Note the asterisk.  Novak never establishes legal guarding position because he never has his torso facing the defender prior to the defender leaving the ground.  I had to look at this about 20 times.  It's not an easy judgement to make. 

3. Block.  You need to slow this one down.  When the player begins to leave the floor, Novak has not established LGP.  Between the split second the offensive player begins to elevate and the contact is made, Novak moves toward the offensive player.  You can move backward and side to side.  Not toward the ball handler.  Great call.

4. Block/Charge?.  This is tough because we can't see the angle the official has.  I'm not 100% sure it's a charge, though that's prob what I would have called..  The real problem here is the official is in poor position - he's rotated late and is calling this play from a straight-lined position.  Not good.  He'll get a note on his evaluation for that.

5. Charge.  This is the only call I really don't understand how the official called a block on.  He was in position, Novak had his LGP and did not "move into" the block like he did in 3.

Long story short: The officials actually made some pretty good calls on these bang-bang plays with the fifth foul being the exception.  This is the toughest call to make in basketball and it certainly isn't easy to do it in real time.