The Southeastern Conference (SEC) officiating during basketball games this season has been absolutely horrendous. As a basketball fan, it has been less fun watching the game because of the woes of the officiating crews.
Basketball is an upbeat, fast game, but the undisciplined officials have caused an uproar not only from Mississippi State students and fans, but fans all over the conference.
It is embarrassing that the SEC brings in so much money from these athletes and sports, but does not allow players a fair shot at succeeding while playing the game.
Significant changes need to be made by Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, and Steve Shaw, the head of officials.
It is Sankey’s job to ensure that everyone below him is doing their job correctly and it appears Shaw may not be taking the decision of selecting officials serious enough.
“We cannot live with incorrect outcomes,” Shaw said at SEC Football Media Days in July of 2016. Even though he was referring to football, the same precedent should be set in basketball. There is no way we can live with incorrect outcomes in sports.
It is ridiculous that we must watch the continual confusion and disarray of referees in the Hump. The student section continuously shows its fury with loud boos.
There are blatant missed calls and even what seem to be made-up calls during games. Players are called for fouls while they are not even touching anyone. You cannot commit a foul if you are not touching anyone from the other team.
All current basketball officials need to be reassessed by the league to make sure they have the ability to make correct calls. Yes, basketball is a fast game and it is hard to see sometimes.
That is understandable, but for refs to be continuously confused and incorrect is not. If an official is too slow or has bad eyesight, they need to be removed from officiating.
When one team shoots eight free throws in a game and the other shoots 27 in the same game, something is not right. It should be an equal fight.
No, there will not be the same amount of fouls called, but that much of a difference in free throw attempts signals an error.
Much of this sounds biased towards the experience of MSU fans this season, but we are not the only fans that feel this way. SEC officiating has been that bad and it needs to be improved.
