OT: Crazy ending to EMU / Ball St basketball game

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

Unless you were one of the dozens people at the EMU v Ball State basketball game in Ypsilanti last weekend, you probably missed the crazy finish. At the end of the second overtime, EMU got a rebound with just under 17 seconds left and a two point lead. Two BSU defenders foul the rebounder repeatedly to put EMU at the line, but the refs completely swallow their whistles until a BSU player finally rips the ball away. The BSU player then takes about five steps without dribbling, and passes to a teammate, who hits a 3 to win the game.

Both refs have been suspended by the MAC for the multple/egregious no-calls. Linky:

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2016/1/23/10819806/ball-state-eastern-mi…

On an extremely tangentially related note, does anyone else have the slightest doubt that the NCAA crackdown on fouling will completely disappear during late season conference tourneys and/or the NCAA tourney? Can you imagine any ref in their right mind calling, say, Denzel Valentine for two hand-check or clutch-n-grab fouls in the first three minutes of an NCAA tourney game? I think that crackdown is an advantage for Michigan since it frees up offensive movement, but I doubt it's enforced when it matters.

Everyone Murders

January 25th, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^

FWIW, the OP mentioned the suspension too.  But it really was egregious.  And it's refreshing to see action taken against refs who so obviously blow a series of calls.  That was some church-league quality reffing, or worse.

Hopefully the involved refs use their newly-found downtime to bond with their service animals.

ijohnb

January 25th, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^

would have liked to hear them publicly address what happenned.  It really could have been that one thought the other was going to call it and vice versa.  The weird thing about it is that it was not just the fouls but they travel after the takeaway.  Crazy.

DM2009

January 25th, 2016 at 10:02 AM ^

I feel like there should still be questions. It's a lot easier to fix games where there's less money and scruntiny involved. This would be one of them.

Most likely, it's just incompetence, because you wouldn't see fixing that late into a game.

jmblue

January 25th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^

Well, if it was fixed, it was pretty badly done, because the game went to two overtimes and a buzzer-beating three was required for the plan to succeed.

It looks more like simple incompetence.  Keep in mind, BSU wants the foul to be called at the beginning of the sequence - they don't want the clock to keep ticking.  Also, the EMU guy eventually drags his pivot foot and they didn't call that either.  That had to be either a foul or a travel - the ball was not legally advanced into the corner - but they didn't call anything.  

Then after the BSU player gains possession, he takes a few steps and also gets pushed by an EMU guy - it has to be either a travel or a foul, but again, somehow neither is called.  The officials seem to have taken "Let 'em play" to extremes here.

ijohnb

January 25th, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^

is kind of weird, because the fouling "crack down" has not changed anything for Michigan because we don't foul or defend.  So while the rest of the nation is outraged and/or confused, the game is exactly the same to Michigan.

In reply to by ijohnb

ypsituckyboy

January 25th, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^

I don't think it's changed our approach on defense, but it has freed us up on offense.

Back a few years ago when we had a sneaky good team on the defensive end (2011 IIRC), we did a lot of Wisky-type stuff (clutch-n-grab, hip bumps, jersey tugging, etc). Not gonna lie, I enjoyed it. Frustrated a lot of teams.

ijohnb

January 25th, 2016 at 9:45 AM ^

and Novak irritated the hell out of other teams.  They were kind of Duke-ish.  Like, I loved them because they were on my team but I would have hated them with a passion if they weren't.

UM Fan from Sydney

January 25th, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^

Eh, I think the ball was still moving enough to not call a held ball.

By the way, held balls and possession arrows are so stupid. Just do a jump ball.

ST3

January 25th, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^

If a 6' 10" guy reaches in on defense and ties up a 6' 0" guard, he's going to win the tap. If the reverse happens, the taller guy is still going to win the tap. Why would you reward a taller player for making the same defensive play? He didn't steal the ball, he only tied up possession. Neither team has possession of the ball. In effect, each team has half the possession of the ball. The alternating possession rule gives each team possession half of the time. I get it that Dick Vitale doesn't like the alternating possession rule, but he's an idiot.

jmblue

January 25th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^

Allow teams to choose whomever they want to take the tap.  This gives both teams a reasonable shot at the ball.  

My problem with the possession arrow is in late-game situations, where a team can lose the ball due to the random chance of the arrow not being in their favor.

 

ST3

January 25th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^

You are still giving the advantage to the team with the taller player/quicker jumper (who may have had nothing to do with the tie-up in the first place.) Why should they benefit? Yes, it sucks to make a good defensive play and not get the ball back. So next time, make a great play and steal the ball, or make another good defensive play and tie them up again. By getting that held ball situation, you've stolen half a possession from the offense. You shouldn't get a full possession, you didn't steal the ball.

jmblue

January 25th, 2016 at 11:56 AM ^

But there is another aspect to jump balls - grabbing the ball after it's tipped.   This is an area that remains somewhat unexplored in terms of game strategy.  Teams could spend more time working on "stealing" the tip.  This is a clever one:

 

 

I just think it's better to give both teams an actual chance at the ball instead of having it predetermined based on something that happened much earlier in the game.

J.

January 25th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^

Sure, but if the possession arrow happens to be pointing to the defense, they still only stole half a possession, but now they get the ball.

Furthermore, the vast majority of games have no held ball situations.  Most of the rest have a single held-ball situation.  Consider:

  1. The possession arrow is given to the team that loses the opening half tip,
  2. The arrow is guaranteed to be used (and reset) once per game, at the start of the second half, and
  3. The first held ball call either switches the arrow -- such that the team the won the opening tip will now open the second half with the ball -- or simply awards the ball to the team that won the opening tip (if the first held ball is in the second half).

Thus, any game with an odd number of held ball calls is going to give an extra possession to.. the team that won the opening tip, which presumably is the team with the "taller player / quicker jumper".  The alternating possession rule already builds in the bias that you're trying to eliminate.

There should either always be a jump ball or possession at the start of the game should be determined by rule (e.g., home team takes it out).  The alternating possession rule is the worst of both worlds.

ST3

January 25th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^

I prefer the opening tip to start the game instead of flipping a coin. It's a reminder of the history of the game, and does involve an athletic ability that will be used in the game. What I don't like is the time it takes to set up a jump ball. There are enough stoppages in play in basketball already without further delaying the game by getting everybody lined up around the circle - and everybody is jockeying for position taking more time - and then tossing the ball up, but the referee makes a bad toss and we have to do the whole thing over. Just give the ball to whomever the arrow points to and let's play basketball.

I may be biased against the jump ball because I coached youth basketball. Before kids learn how to protect the basketball with their dribble, there are numerous held balls per game.

Mmmm Hmmm

January 25th, 2016 at 9:46 AM ^

Maybe the BSU player taking five steps has been watching too much LeBron James. LeBron seems to cradle the ball to his body like a running back and take several steps every drive. Sometimes he even gives out a bonus stiff arm to the nearest defender.




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Danwillhor

January 25th, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^

However, this is modern basketball if we're being honest. I see a travel every other possession and foul calls are increasingly random. Both levels, btw. This case is just laughable though....

LSAClassOf2000

January 25th, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^

Perhaps they thought that the NBA rules on traveling were more applicable here, where you have to cross ZIP codes before they blow the whistle. As it is, he stayed entirely within the confines of 48197 without crossing Huron River Drive and wandering into the eastern stretches of 48105, so by the standards set forth by LeBron James and others, this is an acceptable distance to not dribble the ball. 

VAWolverine

January 25th, 2016 at 10:07 AM ^

The end of this game was more poorly officiated than the USA-USSR Olympic basketball game in 1972.

Most intramural refs would have done a better job in this instance.

JayMo4

January 25th, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^

I agree, the officials are likely to revert not only to the way they used to call fouls, but the way they've always called fouls in March/April (ie they don't.)

In important games, they swallow the whistle to keep star players on the floor. It's always irritated me, to be honest. I'd prefer a game called consistently regardless of the point in the season it is played.

Number 7

January 25th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^

The initial part of hte play was a good clean trap -- they weren't trying to foul, and at least until the third BSU play came over, did not.

At that point, there is either:

A) a foul on BSU

B) a travel on EMU

or C) a jump ball that should have been called if nothing else was.

Since none of those was called, there is then -- when BSU has possession -- a small case for calling a foul on EMU, but a much bigger one for calling a travel on BSU.

Not calling anything is simply not an option.

I'm down with those refs getting suspended, so long as the suspension lasts all season.

MGoBender

January 25th, 2016 at 11:56 AM ^

I might be the only one, but for all the reasons you listed, I can at least understand how these no calls happened.  There was so much going on - what do you call?  In the end, they "NBA'd" it and didn't call any rules violations.  I actually don't think there was a travel in there because you can't travel when there's a held ball and it looks like there were at least two held balls that should have been called.  Several contacts should/could have been called a foul, but that's also tough when many coaches will instruct teams to first go for a steal/double team before fouling.  The refs hae to call that as they call it throughout the game: Don't make up a foul for weak contact b/c you expect a foul, but also don't ignore a foul because there's a trap/double team/steal opportunity.

Full-year suspension?  Seems extreme if the officials coordinator determines there was nothing nefarious happening outside the general incompetence.  Seems like general incompetence to me, which means these guys will be given games of less importance, less D1 games, lower conferences, etc.

Blue since day 1

January 25th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^

I was watching this game in espn buzzer beater saturday and it stopped when the game had 20 seconds because something else was supposed to be on at the top of the hour and i was really into the game... god dammit espn this is what you made me miss.