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The 2022 men’s NCAA tournament has been a lot of fun so far. We’ve had thrilling finishes, incredible upsets, and plenty of big-name teams advancing to the Sweet 16.
But you know what wasn’t great at all during the first two rounds? The refs. They were largely terrible and mostly embarrassing and there inability to do their jobs at a high level can’t continue the rest of the way or the NCAA will have a mess on its hands.
Three bad moments from last weekend stick out immediately when it comes to looking at how bad the refs have been.
There was the horrendous Flagrant 2 call against UNC’s Brady Manek that had him ejected from the game, which helped Baylor storm back and force overtime before being knocked out of the tournament. The call on Manek was a joke and should never have happened.
Speaking of jokes, on Sunday we saw Illinois’ R.J. Melende get T’d up for hanging on the rim, which was just a mind-boggling call. Melende barely hung on the rim at all and only did so for a split second to get his balance and to make sure he didn’t land on anyone. I watched the replay a number of times and never in a million years would I have thought that it deserved such a call. It was just so bad.
Then in Sunday’s final game we saw TCU get you-know-whatted when Mike Miles Jr. got tossed to the ground in the final seconds of a tie game and no call was made. Arizona scooped up the ball and almost won it at the buzzer but Miles should have been on the foul line trying to win the game. How did they not call this one? Arizona, by the way, went on to win in overtime. Shameful.
Let’s be real. This is a foul and TCU should have been shooting two free throws for the win. What a travesty and another awful mark for college basketball officiating. pic.twitter.com/4Y9p4jirbN
— Colt Barber (@Colt_Barber) March 21, 2022
Again, those are just three REALLY bad examples that stick out on this Tuesday morning. But if you watched a lot of the games last weekend then you know there were a ton of other moments in which the refs were so, so bad.
It’s never good when fans are on Twitter saying certain referee crews should be banned from working any more games in the tournament but that happened a few different times over the first two rounds last weekend.
There’s a ton on the line in this tournament for the players, coaches, and fans and it will be a travesty if refs continue to play such a large factor in games simply because they can’t do their jobs.
The NCAA needs to send a message to its refs and do it now because this can’t go on.
Quick hits: More proof that Urban Meyer is a joke… NFL fans rip Falcons over Matt Ryan trade… Sign up for our new NBA newsletter… And more.
– The Athletic yesterday published an incredible behind-the-scenes story on Urban Meyer’s disastrous stint with the Jaguars and his cowardly threats were only topped by the fact that he didn’t know who Aaron Donald was. Seriously.
– The Falcons traded Matt Ryan to the Colts for a third-round pick and NFL fans ripped them for it.
– Our new daily NBA newsletter Layup Lines kicks off this week and it will get you ready every afternoon for the big games coming up that night. Signing up for it is quick and easy to do right here. You’re going to want this in your basketball lives.
– Mary Clarke breaks down the winners and losers of yesterday’s NHL trade deadline.
