An Embarrasment For The Orange as Illinois Loses In First Round to WKU, 72-67

(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

You can say that Chester Frazier was injured. It's true, he was.

That does a lot to Illinois. It takes away possibly the best defensive player on the team, and one of the best in the Big Ten, no less.

It hurts their confidence, since Frazier is a natural born leader, and has a great ability to take control of the pace of the game when things get rough.

What it doesn't do is make the referees call a terrible game.

The Illini played decently. Considering that they were cold and coming off a three game losing streak, playing against a team that was on a seven game winning streak in Western Kentucky, they put up a good effort. They really did.

So why would I call this a black and white embarrassment?

The same reason I would've called it the same thing back in 2005, when Sean May and The Tar Heels got the same wonderful referee treatment in the title game of the NCAA tourney.

At least back then, they had a decent excuse. It was Sean May's birthday, so why not call a terrible game to give the victory to a less deserving team?

More importantly, if the NCAA referees had done it for a terrible reason before, why not do it for no reason at all a few years later?

Makes perfect sense to me.

Not surprisingly, it was kind of difficult to get the exact numbers on free throw shooting for the game. It wasn't difficult to see players falling over before they were even touched when defending the hoop, and offensive fouls being called for it. Whatever happened to letting the kids play?

However, lets be fair and look at those shooting numbers.

Western Kentucky got to take 21 free throw attempts, and only made 13.

The Fighting Illini were somehow only fouled seven times, and made five of their attempts.

Now, I know a lot of you college students out there just got back from break, and probably aren't wanting to do any math, so let me do it for you.

In a theoretically fair game, the free throw totals should be as close to even as possible. Granted, Illinois plays in the defensive heavy Big Ten, and it would seem that they get less leniency for fouls because of it, but...

If you make the seven free throw attempts by Illinois equal to the 21 of Western Kentucky, at the same pace they were making them, they'd have put down 15 free throw points.

Now, Western Kentucky won by four points. They made 13 points off of free throws. At their 13-21 ratio, if the game had been fairly officiated, how could would it have been?

If both teams got seven free throws, Western Kentucky would've made about four free throws, since you can't divide 13 and three evenly. Illinois would've gotten five.

So how does the rest of the scoring break down, then?

Well, without that, Western Kentucky already loses. It cuts off nine of their points, and the Fighting Illini win the game, 72-67.

Though it may not sound like it, I could've lived with Illinois losing this game, if it had just been a bit more fairly called. But it just didn't happen.

And every other article I've glanced so far has neglected to mention a key moment where the Illini got jipped just one more time, the one that may have changed it all.

After Jeff Jordan got his shot goal tended to make the score 71-68, it looked like the Illini had a fighting chance. They'd regained the momentum, they were looking fresh, and the fans were alive. This turn around was really going to happen.

Fast forward just a few moments. The Illini get the ball back, Demitri McCamey takes advantage of the turnover, drives the lane, Steffphon Pettigrew hits his shoulder, jumps into him...doesn't...draw a foul?

What?

In case you missed that...what?

McCamey had a great chance to make that easy lay up, before he was not so gently pushed from behind on the arm and shoulder, forcing the ball into the glass, before it got knocked out of bounds, and Western Kentucky got possession.

Incredible.

Even if he misses the shot, at least give him his due and let him shoot the free throws he deserved.

And take away the ridiculous amount of offensive fouls that were called on Illinois when they were just trying to drive the lane, and a poor Western Kentucky player would move his feet so he could fall over comfortably, but apparently, he would not break any rules by doing so.

I want to say "what?" one more time, but I think we get the point.

I like to end articles on some kind of a positive note, and there is one that I can think of. Illinois has a lot of youthful talent that will be a year older and wiser next season, and while they will lose a few key seniors, there are some sophomores and juniors ready to step up and try to fill those shoes.

Now, I said I like to end articles on a positive note. But I just can't. Not this time.

I'm not going to rant and rave about how there needs to be instant replay in basketball, or how there needs to be a change on the rules of fouls (though I may do an article on that later,) or something ridiculous that goes along those lines...but.

C'mon, NCAA. Most of these kids will never play in the NBA. They won't get a chance to make the big bucks at that level. They won't ever be a player on a major market team.

The least you could do is give guys like Chester Frazier a nice farewell by calling a fair game for them, especially since he couldn't even play. I can't think of a more deserving player. He's a great leader, a defensive specialist, and a team player. He represented all the good things about the Illinois Basketball program.

Hopefully he'll get another chance to help the Illini out in the future as a coach. He'd likely fit the bill, and Bruce Weber has entertained the idea before.

The refereeing tonight represented everything that is wrong with officiating, not just at the college level, but what sometimes happens in professional sports.

Hopefully the NCAA will do something about it, so future generations can play a real, fair, physical game of basketball and win based on their skill; not on their ability to fall down and make it look good (that's not a real skill).

Only time will tell if it happens, and unfortunately for the Illini, they'll have to wait until next year to find out if it does.

Great season, Fighting Illini.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?