It may be difficult to find referees for the next Baylor-Texas A&M men's basketball game, whenever it is that they meet. It would be surprising if any referee in the NCAA wanted to take on that daunting task. Why, you ask?
Perhaps a trip down memory lane will remind us why.
On January 23, 2008 the Baylor Bears traveled to College Station for the first meeting of the year between the Bears and Aggies. The game wasn't televised, but the Texas A&M was generous enough to stream it live over the Internet and it was later replayed on ESPN Classic.
Why?
Because it lasted a Big 12 record five overtimes. The Bears held on to win 116-110, despite having five players foul out. The three and a half hour game would undoubtedly be tiring for a normal referee crew, but this game had a twist, however. Halfway through the first half, one of the referees pulled his hamstring and left the game. That left only two refs to run the court for the remaining three hours.
A little over one month later, on March 5th, the Aggies made the return trip to Waco, Texas for the rematch. The game was close again until the second half when the Aggies pulled away to win 71-57.
But why was this game as bad of one for the refs?
Because the crowd at the Ferrell Center nearly drove them out of Waco.
In the first half, Baylor guard Henry Dugat drove to the hoop and was pushed from behind. A foul was indeed called...on Dugat. An angry fan threw something on the court and the refs generously gave Baylor a warning instead of a technical foul. The Aggies proceeded to the locker room with a slight lead.
Then in the second half, a screen was set by Texas A&M and when guard Tweety Carter tried get around it, he was knocked to the ground and did not get up. The refs did not stop the game and allowed A&M to score during the 5-on-4 situation. When the Bears started bringing the ball back up, senior guard Aaron Bruce saw Carter lying in the middle of the court, face down, gripping his head. Bruce held the ball and, even then, it took refs some time to stop the game.
The Baylor bench ran on the court to help their teammate, but a scuffle broke out between Baylor center Mamadou Diene and a player and coach from A&M. Technicals were called on Baylor's Diene (which was his 5th foul) and on TAMU. Then a fan threw a mini-basketball on the court and another technical was called on Baylor. There was a twist, however, an Aggie threw the ball on the court and the police immediately escorted the disruptive fans from the game.
The technical? It remained on Baylor.
Late in the game, Aaron Bruce hit an important three-pointer for the Bears and on the ensuing possession, the Bears' LaceDarius Dunn fouled an Aggie. Soon after the Aggie with the ball threw the ball down the court, hoping that he could turn the foul into a shooting foul. Instead, the refs called a technical on Dunn.
By this point in the game, the Baylor fans were vociferously booing the refs. The Bear Pit (the Baylor student organization in support of the basketball team) began chanting "this ref sucks!" while pointing at the one ref who made the series of bad calls.
After the Aggies took their two shots for the technical on Dunn, Aaron Bruce again brought the ball up the court, but as he moved in for another three-point shot, he was clipped out by two Aggies. As Bruce fell back Donald Sloan (Texas A&M) secured the ball and looked back, almost as if he was looking for the foul to be called.
When nothing was called, he dribbled the ball down the court, threw the ball against the backboard, and alley-oop dunked the ball.
At this point, the fans lost it and began throwing bottles, towels...everything they could find onto the court. Baylor head coach Scott Drew walked over and shook hands with A&M coach Mark Turgeon, even though about two seconds remained on the clock. The police immediately came on the court and escorted the refs off as the fans continued to boo in their direction.
Of course, no one is condoning the actions of the Baylor fans that day. Throwing items on the court is never acceptable. The actions of the referees, however, were just as bad, if not worse. Bad calls happen, refs are, after all, human. What the Baylor fans were upset about was the neglect of an injured Tweety Carter more than anything. When a player gets injured and is lying in the middle of the court, it is the responsibility of the ref to stop the game.
To not do so isn't just a bad call, it is endangering the health and well-being of a player.
So what happened?
Baylor Coach Scott Drew made a comment about the situation and was reprimanded by the Big 12 Conference. Of course, the conference has rules and they must enforce them, but perhaps the Big 12 Conference's reprimand ought to be against the refs (or the one ref in particular). And now, perhaps the NCAA ought to reprimand the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 Conference should have reviewed the tapes before making their reprimand and their actions show they condone completely unacceptable events.
The Big 12 Conference needs to get it together, hopefully by the time the tournament begins today.
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5 months ago
Wow, you must be drinking that green cool-ade they're serving up down there in Waco! Guess you didn't read the reports (from Baylor and Aggie fans alike) that confirmed that the 2nd ball thrown on the court was in fact thrown by a Baylor fan, yet when the police came looking for who threw it, all of the Baylor fans pointed at 2 A&M fans in their midst.
I agree that the foul on Sloan should not have been a tech, but the momentum did knock him to the floor, sliding into the bench. It wasn't your typically touch foul like you try to paint it. He also wasn't acting like he was shooting. He was throwing the ball down court to his teammates who were behind the press.
Lastly, Sloan wasn't looking back for a foul. He was looking to see if anyone was coming so he could showboat. I could have done without the showboat, but don't throw out your opinions as though they are facts.
5 months ago
Thank you for sharing your opinions. They make a good balance to the ones I've expressed. Of course, you don't address the one situation that I said was at the core of Baylor's disapproval--the health and well-being of Tweety Carter--a situation where the refs failed to stop the game. I can't blame a team for being angry when one of their players is lying in the middle of the court, not getting up, and the refs don't stop the game. Of course, that didn't justify anything being thrown on the court.
5 months ago
Thank you for sharing your opinions. They make a good balance to the ones I've expressed. Of course, you don't address the one situation that I said was at the core of Baylor's disapproval--the health and well-being of Tweety Carter--a situation where the refs failed to stop the game. I can't blame a team for being angry when one of their players is lying in the middle of the court, not getting up, and the refs don't stop the game. Of course, that didn't justify anything being thrown on the court.
5 months ago
The rules only allow the refs to stop the game in that situation when (1) a dead ball occurs; (2) the injured player's team takes possession of the ball; or (3) if the opposing team ceases its attempt to score. Otherwise, players could fake injuries to stop play. In this case, Sloan took the ball all the way to the basket for a layup, and the refs then stopped play. The refs weren't obligated to stop play when Tweety fell.
5 months ago
The debris thrown onto the court was NEVER from an Aggie fan. It was the classless Baylor Fans that threw everything. Aggies were MISTAKENLY escorted out after it was unclear (to officials) who threw the "debris." Luckily the Bleacherreport isn't known for its accurate and unbiased reporting. Way to go Sam Chen! I bet your parents are really proud of what a great journalist you've become at such a prestigous online paper. Keep up the good work.
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