It's Hard to Win a 6 on 5 Game
by Dave Tucker on Mar 13, 2010 9:34 AM EST
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Normally when I watch a game, especially one in which we lose, initially I can normally think of one play that I think the officials made an incorrect call that could have been the difference in the game. But then the next day, I normally come to realize that it was Maryland's poor play that resulted in their loss and I shouldn't dwell on one call or no call by an official. People make mistakes after all, and no one is perfect. But after being there in person for last night's game, this case is different. While Ben has highlighted the non-shotclock violation call (which when it happened I texted him and told him that it was a clear violation), we're not talking about just one bad call here. There were multiple calls/no calls made by one ref in particular and the culmination of what appeared to almost be a bias against Maryland did cost the Terps the game. That ref's name is Mike Eades.
Here are just some of the plays I can remember off the top of my head where Eades, in a word, screwed us.
1. After a quick Maryland score, with about 5 or 6 minutes left, Georgia Tech inbounded the ball, we again stole it and put up a quick layup. Or so we thought. Eades decided that Tech inbounding the ball didn't really happen, so they took the points away and gave it back to Tech under the baseline. 2 points.
2. Early in the first half, (sexual) Favors threw an elbow after getting caught in a trap. Play was stopped. A foul was charged to Favors. But wait. What was that? "Illegal elbow charged to Favors, but no foul." WHAT? Since when is throwing an elbow not a foul? Eades ran over to the scorers table and they took the Favors foul away. Karl Hess, Eades' co-official didn't seem to understand the foul/no foul call. Maryland got the ball, but Favors, rather than having 3 fouls and rather than MD being one foul closer to shooting free throws (where Maryland clearly was superior to Tech on the night, making 10/13 to Tech's 13/27), was left scratching their heads.
3. Long inbound pass to Hayes. I talked to Ben about this one. You might remember it - Vasquez threw a long inbound pass to Hayes in the backcourt and a Tech player kind of hit Eric and Heyes went down hard and the ball slowly dribbled out of bounds and was then awarded to Tech by, guess who, Mike Eades. Ben said the replay didn't appear to show that there was much contact, but the play happened right in front of me and looked like a pass interfearance call in football. Seemed clear that the Tech player pushed Hayes from behind, which knocked him off balance as he tried to come down with the ball. Was a foul called? Of course not.
4. The shot clock non-call. This was sent me over the edge. I lost my voice screaming so much in Greensboro. If this happened in College Park, there might have been a riot on the court. I couldn't believe that no one saw the violation. While this one is on all three officials, Eades was looking right at the basket when it happened. And the buzzer clearly sounded before Tech slammed the ball through, so even if they couldn't see the shot, they should have heard it. And why didn't/couldn't they look at the replay on this one? Maryland plays great defense for 36.5 seconds and gets screwed. Rather than being down 2, the game should have been tied and Maryland should have had the ball for the last shot. Would they have made it and won? I can't say that. But I can say the game probably would have at least gone to OT. And the result of that play led to this next one.
5. Flagrant foul called on Vasquez at the end. While pretty much everyone outside of College Park doesn't like Vasquez, one thing you can say is that he'd never doing something that stupid on the court. But Eades called him for a flagrant at the end and I still don't understand why. Gives Tech 2 shots and then gives them the ball back. Maryland was probably done by that point, but it was still indicative of Eades' clear bias towards Maryland.
Some might disagree with me, but it's clear that these 5 events, which I just thought of off the top of my head, prevented Maryland from getting over that hump and maybe taking the lead. As I said, a mistake here or there in a close game and you point to Maryland's poor first half and take it with a grain of salt. But this many mistakes? Sorry folks, that's 6 on 5 basketball. And it's not acceptable. If a coach screws up, he gets fired. If a player screws up, he can get benched. But when an official screws up? No one's allowed to talk about it. Officials need to be held accountable for their mistakes. Eades should be fired/suspended/docked pay for his horrible officiating. His horrible officiating contributed to us not only losing a game, but a higher seed and the chance for an ACC title.
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Sorry boys, I disagree with 3
Replay showed VERY little contact on the initial play of the ball. And for his part, Hayes put a good elbow into Favors face on the play.
It reminded me more of a European soccer flop than American football pass interference.
BC Interruption, a Boston College sports blog
3 is the only one I disagree with, as well
DT was at the game, so he didn’t see a replay. In real time, it looked clearly like a foul, but the replay was pretty clean, IMO.
Still, it was a 50-50 play, and most of the rest are pretty clear.
No
It was a foul. Hayes had established his position and the tech player hip checked him.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 11:59 AM EST up reply actions
#3 Wasn't a foul
@MurlandTerps and Dave Tucker
As Hayes established position, he threw his arms up to receive the catch. In the process he hit the GT player in the face. The GT player recoiled backwards (away from Hayes), making it appear as if there was a lot of contact.
In the slow motion replay, the only contact made was when Hayes accidentally hit the GT player in the face.
This was just about the only good no call in the game. Don’t spin everything your way just to make your point.
@Dave Tucker,
You made a great case for a very poorly officiated game, but by misleading readers and going off on a conspiracy theory tangent and attacking the ref in question, you’ve destroyed your own credibility.
I wish you had just left it at, “The refs blew it” rather than stretched the truth on more calls than you needed. You were fine with #’s 1, 2, 4
- is a flagrant because he made no play for the ball. Your rhetoric in defense fo Greivis is weak.
“…one thing you can say is that he’d never doing something that stupid on the court”
Not very convincing and kind of arbritrary.
by testudo4lunch on Mar 15, 2010 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions
correction
- is a flagrant
I incorrectly wrote “1.”
by testudo4lunch on Mar 15, 2010 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions
ignore
sbnation won’t let me write the number five. it keeps coming up as “1.”
by testudo4lunch on Mar 15, 2010 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Yeah
I thought the refs did a good job on that play. It was just awkward because the pass put Eric in an awkward situation.
Ok I used to be a highschool ref and from the little knowledge i know, that was clearly a foul on georgia tech.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 4:00 PM EST up reply actions
LOL
Just my opinion that no foul occurred on that play. Eric hit the ground, yes, but there was minimal contact. I’m not gonna argue with you cuz you have that referee “experience” to back your point up, but I feel each person is entitled to their own opinion. High school ref or not.
In that situation it could go either way but its the fact the shumpert had to go through hayes to get the ball. Which he did to an extent. But its a close call.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 4:59 PM EST up reply actions
Wow, didn't even know 1 happened
That’s ridiculous. How does that even work? This was a terribly called game.
I was scratching my head there too
And I had no idea they didn’t call a foul on favors on the elbow… that doesn’t make any sense. What was the call then?
A tough loss
- I didn’t know it was the ref’s discresion on whether he was attempting to inboud. Right when he did it was screaming to Mosely to pick it up as both teams were not reacting.
- Eades is much bigger & Hayes was off balance jumping, so it wouldn’t take too much contact throwing him more off balance. Tend to agree that not as much contact occurred as angle watching game indicated.
- Shot clock violation hurt as any points late in the game that close aren’t meaningless
- GV grabbed the jersey while running him down from behind. Automatic flagrant foul.
Picture
That creepy picture of Eades is going to haunt me. Looking at that makes me want to rock him in the face!
Overall, just a terrible job calling the game.
I was at the game
And was really angered by the terrible refs the whole night. The fact that you found 5 legit plays is incredible, but the reffing crew was atrocious the entire evening, for both teams. They decided not to call anything on loose balls except a jump at the end of it, if a player drove to the basket it was at “his own will” because he wasn’t going to get a call, and the 5 SECOND VIOLATIONS THAT WERE NEVER CALLED. I was livid about this point, but Tech literally had 5 violations and were called for one the entire game, it was maddening. I really have been disappointed with ACC officials this year, and not just those in Maryland games. It seems to me that we have very biased, controversial, blind, and incompetent refs and if I were the ACC i would start training new guys right away or get a referee sharing deal with the Big East or Big Ten where we combine crews like they do in soccer to make it balanced.
Last night we should have won regardless, but if you combine horrific shooting with horrific refs, I don’t know many teams that could have done better,
You forgot to mention
the play with about 1-2 minutes left when Peacock was dbl teamed near the sideline and Peacock did the moon-walk and then threw the ball off Hayes’ leg – no traveling was called and GT was given back the ball. Even the stoic Eric Hayes was baffled about the non-traveling call as he mimicked to to ref that Peacock did the moon-walk to escape the trap!
Just saw a freeze frame of GV’s 3 to tie at the end of the game. Absolutely clear foul by Shumpert sho hit him right on the shooting forearm as he was going up. Crazy!
Yes
I have to admit that in real time I thought GV just choked on it, but every replay showed a clear slap on the elbow causing him to lose the ball. Greivis should have been at the line shooting 3.
Game Over T-shirts: http://www.cafepress.com/beltwaysports
Don’t know if anyone saw Mosely getting pulled down by Oliver trying to get a rebound under the basket on the 2nd to last 3 that Vasquez tried. Right in front of the ref. Need to move on but . . . .
yea i saw that and I was freaking out that they didnt call a foul on that.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 4:02 PM EST up reply actions
There is no justice
Reading this is just angering me even more!
We tie with Duke and everyone says “hey, it’s fine, we still get the banner and title of ACC champions.” Nobody respects us or this lone stellar year and losing like this, with Duke continuing to win, only increases that perception.
Well, it turns out it really did matter. They play the 9 and 12 seeds!! GT beat Duke, but we end up playing them? Duke didn’t have to play Vatech or Wake on the road and we did.
In my ideal world the OOC schedule cupcake games would be reduced, the ACC would return to a balanced schedule, and then the ACC tournament seeding would be much more accurate and FAIR!!
Oh and the tournament shouldn’t stay in NC either. They showed a stat on tv today. The top all-time ACC tourney records belong to duke carolina and NC state—all local North Carolina teams.
“Co-champions” is total b.s. and the Big 10 has tri-champions?? wth Leagues need balanced schedules
I completely agree, every team needs a home and home game. And we need to cut out some ooc games.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 4:11 PM EST up reply actions
No offense to BC or Miami...
But I just don’t like either of them in the ACC.
On that topic
I’m currently researching for an expansion post, based on the disbandment of the Big East. Where’d they go, etc.
ACC could go as big as 16 teams for a gigantic super-conference…makes scheduling hell. At least we’ll have a bunch of northern partners to commiserate with.
Or we could do 14 and stick with the terrible Atlantic/Coastal divisions. If the Big East were to implode, we’d probably pick up more than 2 scraps.
Why not go 17
and play every team once? Who cares about home-and-home…Playing every team once would be better than the unfair crap we have now.
Football divisions
I know it was semi-tongue-in-cheek, but seriously, 17 was my plan until I realized the divisions would be uneven. And probably the only way to do the football scheduling would be each team within a division play once, plus a rotation of one team from the other division.
I don’t like expansion.
I dont mind miami as much because of the FSU rivalry. Also I love watching that Scott kid play.
BC is just too far away. I loved being the most northern team in the acc. VTech is the only school i think that just fits in with the acc more than the other two.
by MurlandTerps on Mar 13, 2010 4:49 PM EST up reply actions
Is there a "governing body"
that you could send your observations on the atrocious “officiating” to? I’d be curious to see if anyone would give it any credence. Additionally I wonder what Eades’ “record” on calling games is like.
Do you have video for "1"
I would like to see that, as I missed it the first time.
Also, I want no part of any conference larger than twelve teams. The Big East as currently constructed is a mess, with no less than five teams never getting a shot at the tournament. The 14-team A-10 is just as messy.
Is Jerry Angelo fired yet?
Is Vinny Del Negro fired yet?
usually dont like to complain but....
some of these calls were just terrible. I mean the travel on peacock, the shot clock debacle, the elbow but no foul on favors, and the vasquez three at the end were just ridiculous blatant bad calls. It is so hard to see a team fight back from 20 points down and play an amazing half of basketball and come so close just to get screwed by same bad calls. I’m not saying that the refs cost us the game, our poor first half cost us the game, but the refs sure helped
go look at each teams fg% 3 pt fg% and number of rebounds, ga tech won the game. md had more turnovers than assists. we lost. we came flat. we can’t expect to win games playing 20 min out of a 40 min game.
Eades looked incompetent but I don't think he was out to get us
The refs have been good for most of our games this year. Eades called some of those games. We’ve also had four or five that I thought were not officiated very well Eades was a referee for two of them. One was the WF game. That was about calls that were not made. The refs allowed contact that stopped our transistion game cold and I think it cost us the game. However, I don’t recall Eades alone as being the problem. It seemed to be the crew This GT game is different. The time clock call was outrageous and should have been reviewed on the spot. The shot coming off the backboard wasn’t close to touching the rim. It was a bad call by Eades, and either he or one of the other refs should have stopped the game and reviewed the play. I agree with BenB that UMD tying the game after they took away Favors’ basket would have very likely done in GT. It may also have cost Hewitt his job. The elbowing call with no foul but a change of possession was also inexplicable. I think there is a good chance the time clock call will be reviewed by the ACC but I doubt that it will be enough to dismiss Eades.
#2 - foul / no foul
Happened at 14:20 left in the second half and was ruled a floor violation. Debatable. Favors was swinging violently, but actual contact is hard to determine from the video.
all the fouls
I have to disagree about every call you made. The only missed call or bad call you have numbered is 4. 5 the flagrant was good call gv grabbed shumperts jersey on a break away you gotta call that. call 3 looked bad live but closer look made play look fine. Call 2 was a good call all around. he swung his arms and got the violation, but he didn’t make contact so he didn’t recieve foul so that was a good call. The 1st call is really just a nitpicky call. teams rarely get that call to go there way. And to say that the terps got screwed by the refs did you not notice the bad calls made toward gtech? One example was a gtech player was inbounding and landon milbourne stripped the ball from him and there was no call. I laughed my ass off because I am a terp fan so it didn’t bother me, but still the game was poorly officiated, but it was poorly on both sides.
Dave
I agree that the game was poorly officiated, and despite this, we could have easily won if we’d just made a few shots. And we definitely got some calls that went our way.
However, except the shot clock violation, forget those specific plays and focus on the bigger picture: free throws and Jordan Williams. We, too, took it inside aggressively and were hammered on multiple plays. I refuse to believe their defense is that good. Some of the calls that GTech got at the other end were the result of slight touches. Like, at least a couple of the fouls on Jordan Williams. He only plays 21 minutes. GTech shoots 27 FTs to our 13. Certainly many other factors contributed to us losing this game (shooting) or it being in reach at all (GTech turnovers), but if you want to talk about officiating consider these other factors too.
I have to say, I thought we had grown up from when our only last second play was Vasquez dribbling down and bombing a 3, regardless of fouls.
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