The Point Spread Column

By: Bob Johnson   Date: March 25, 2006

The # 1 Seeds in the tournament already have an advantage, but I am wondering if the referees helped them even more last night. The two top seeds playing were Villanova and UConn and both were in overtime games. In the Villanova game, the Wildcats practically tackled a Boston College player in the back court and the refs called traveling on B.C. !!!! That was one of the more surprising calls of the tournament. That play was a huge turnaround for Villanova because the Wildcats scored on the turnover. However, it should have been called a foul and BC should have been shooting foul shots. This was an obvious error for everyone to see.

Well, the best (or worst) came last as top seed UConn battled a superb Washington squad. The game was a classic and Washington basically kicked UConn's butt most of the way. I hate to say these things, but as great a game as this was, the refs were horrible. I don't know anyway to say it, but they didn't want Washington to win. Credit UConn for making the comeback and winning, but they had plenty of help. Yes, Washington made one of the dumbest plays of all time by fouling on a lay-up with 11 seconds remaining in regulation when they had a 4 point lead. But consider this, UConn shot a whopping 47 free throws! There were a few questionable touch fouls and a few phantom fouls called in this one that went against Washington. Also, when UConn point guard Marcus Williams went down late in the game, it did not appear that he was ever touched by the defender. He fell and maybe had cramps, but it looked like another phantom foul and it cost Washington 2 more points at the line. He could have been called for travelling. Now here is where it gets bad for the refs.. Brandon Roy has a sure pivotal basket goaltended by UConn and the play was called a block. I can see how that could be human error. But how can anyone explain the fact that the refs nearly fouled-out the entire Washington team?? Five Washington players fouled out and two had 4 fouls at the end. Washington had 2 starters in Brockman and their best player Brandon Roy sitting on the pine for key stretches of the 2nd half. Yet, Washington wouldn't go away. So, the refs made them go away, one by one. Jones, Smith, Jensen, Dentmon and finally Roy.. ALL FOULED-OUT !!! By comparison, UConn had only 2 players with 4 fouls and nobody fouled-out. Hmm. So, we had two # 1 seeds play in O.T. last night and both survived but not without some curious calls by the referees and a few really bad ones as well.