The 2nd round of the UAAP Season 74 has started and Ateneo Blue Eagles just won its first match against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. Ateneo was trailing the whole game and was on the verge of its first loss of the season. Momentum was on their side in the 4th quarter but FEU seems to have an answer with every rally they attempted. Suddenly, the referees seem to love blowing their whistle for Ateneo. There was a time that Ravena was supposed to be fouled attempting a jump shot and when there was a replay even the announcer thought it should not have been called a foul. Every time Greg Slaughter touches the ball, he seems to get fouled. Really soft fouls. Touch fouls but luckily Greg keeps on make 1 out of 2 only. Thanks to some FEU turnovers, the game went to overtime.
In overtime both teams did not score for a few possessions. In one crucial play, RR Garcia was supposedly blocked and the rebound to an Ateneo fast break. When the play was replayed in slow motion, Garcia's lay up was blocked after hitting the backboard. A tough no-call and it became a wicked 4-point swing. Ateneo eventually held on to win and become 8-0
Ateneo Blue Eagles are so strong and they do not need the referees help to be champs. The UAAP should make sure that games are not decided by referees. I know it is tough to call a game with Ateneo playing in Araneta but they should get used to it since Ateneo will mostly be going far this season. I root for our best players and I do not want them to get used to getting favorable calls because when they play in international games, they will not get those calls. Our best players should learn to toughen up even in the college level. We should never let them get that false sense of comfort of hiding in the whistles of the refs.
Not really, even Ateneans themselves have their own complains regarding the officiating. There's the 2nd half of the Ateneo-La Salle first round (where a certain "kalbong ref" became so famous to Ateneans). Then in the game yesterday, there's that offensive foul on RR which was not called (it was after another called offensive foul on FEU,though, where Ravena was in the restricted lane), and a number of traveling non-calls on FEU that got Black, the bench of Ateneo, and their crowd complaining.
ReplyDeleteSo it's more of purely poor officiating than biased officiating that has been the problem all season and throughout the years. There's also the game-fixing issue by syndicates, which for some reason, hasn't been solved yet. Up to now, that Baracael case remains unresolved (I wonder why).
Regarding that goaltending non-call, some people in some forums argue (and cited article 31.2.3, on page 32 of this: http://www.fiba.com/downloads/Rules/2010/OfficialBasketballRules2010.pdf) that goaltending doesn't apply when in the judgement of the referee, the ball doesn't have a chance to go in the basket. Besides, that's only two points at stake here, although the issue of momentum is another question.
As for FEU, they only have Romeo and themselves to blame for that end-game collapse. That out-of-bounds call was also correct, since according to Trillo, you can't go out-of-bounds and immediately go in and get the ball.
You may be right about the fouls called, though. I would guess one reason is how Slaughter's height attracts so much attention from everyone. For one thing, it's so easy to see if someone pushes him around. And FEU needs to shoot less jumpshots (both close shots and 3's).
Well. said. ;)
ReplyDeleteIndeed officiating is an area where the UAAP or the rest of the Philippine leagues can improve on. SBP should know that the refs are factor in the development of our players. Hopefully the issue could be addressed in the higher levels as well.