MikeHamiltonFan
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I watched the whole Duke/Baylor game and I was not surprised but was frustrated by the many calls that Coach K got. Here is an "the earth is not flat" type statement that if you disagree with you should not read further:
Certain coaches and their teams are always more likely to have a huge gambling following and get more calls on a regular basis.
Those teams right now (in no particular order) include Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Duke, Syracuse, UConn and Kentucky.
The group maybe should be expanded by a few teams, but the group above all clearly are part of the "we get more than 50% of the calls" status. Also like Dwayne Wade in the NBA finals a few years back, there are certain players who are given lots of extra calls and lots of extra leeway as they travel and palm and push with their off arm etc. Generally you can expect the teams above to have at least one player like that. Tyler Hansborough seemed to be an exception (I saw lots of no calls where he was hammered) but generally guys with lots of publicity who the refs know are superstars get the calls.
Tennessee in my lifetime has had one player who merited superstar status and maybe got some extra calls, and that was Allan Houston. Chris Lofton was never given that respect by officials.
Often people cry about officiating bias and want neutrality. It is never going to happen. You will not have a game called equally as long as you have human and not robot refs. I think that just as politicians who strip minority rights from the other party find, hoping for neutrality is not something TN fans should be rooting for.
I believe Bruce Pearl will be in Knoxville when he is 60. I believe that he is going to build us into a program that
1. by the name on the jersey gets the second most calls in the SEC and that
2. has more superstar players than most of the teams we play.
If we get top talent in place and we become adept at full court press and halfcourt defense (the latter being something Pearl seems to have taken a step forward with this year as a coach) TN will have lots and lots of fans jump on our bandwagon to see the dunks and the three pointers. We will also attract gamblers who love our ability to create turnovers.
Kentucky fans look like idiots when they complain about 3 bad calls against them when they had 9 go their way. TN is still on the pointy side of the referee screw most of the time, but the program is very close to being one of the programs that gets the breaks. I think Tobias Harris could be a player who gets lots of calls to go his way next year, and I think McRae and Golden could be active perimeter defenders who get steals that might involve some contact as the ball is taken.
Let's recognize that bias is a fact, but let's hope for a time in the next 5 years when Bruce Pearl is a coach who cries to the ref and gets help instead of a technical.
Certain coaches and their teams are always more likely to have a huge gambling following and get more calls on a regular basis.
Those teams right now (in no particular order) include Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Duke, Syracuse, UConn and Kentucky.
The group maybe should be expanded by a few teams, but the group above all clearly are part of the "we get more than 50% of the calls" status. Also like Dwayne Wade in the NBA finals a few years back, there are certain players who are given lots of extra calls and lots of extra leeway as they travel and palm and push with their off arm etc. Generally you can expect the teams above to have at least one player like that. Tyler Hansborough seemed to be an exception (I saw lots of no calls where he was hammered) but generally guys with lots of publicity who the refs know are superstars get the calls.
Tennessee in my lifetime has had one player who merited superstar status and maybe got some extra calls, and that was Allan Houston. Chris Lofton was never given that respect by officials.
Often people cry about officiating bias and want neutrality. It is never going to happen. You will not have a game called equally as long as you have human and not robot refs. I think that just as politicians who strip minority rights from the other party find, hoping for neutrality is not something TN fans should be rooting for.
I believe Bruce Pearl will be in Knoxville when he is 60. I believe that he is going to build us into a program that
1. by the name on the jersey gets the second most calls in the SEC and that
2. has more superstar players than most of the teams we play.
If we get top talent in place and we become adept at full court press and halfcourt defense (the latter being something Pearl seems to have taken a step forward with this year as a coach) TN will have lots and lots of fans jump on our bandwagon to see the dunks and the three pointers. We will also attract gamblers who love our ability to create turnovers.
Kentucky fans look like idiots when they complain about 3 bad calls against them when they had 9 go their way. TN is still on the pointy side of the referee screw most of the time, but the program is very close to being one of the programs that gets the breaks. I think Tobias Harris could be a player who gets lots of calls to go his way next year, and I think McRae and Golden could be active perimeter defenders who get steals that might involve some contact as the ball is taken.
Let's recognize that bias is a fact, but let's hope for a time in the next 5 years when Bruce Pearl is a coach who cries to the ref and gets help instead of a technical.
