MSU fouls out of the Big Ten Tournament
Next up for MSU is the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and most likely a non-Big Ten conference officiating crew.
Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal had these thoughts on Saturday’s Michigan State loss in the Big Ten Tournament.
Hightower is a chump
I swear this guy has it out for MSU. I’ve seen a ton of horribly officiated games and it seems like 99 percent of the time this zebra is involved. Maybe its not just him but it always involves a crew he’s with. I’m never one to blame a loss on the ref, no matter how bad it is - If you play well enough, it should be a non-factor. However, its gets a little tiresome to see it happen time after time.
This is Big Ten basketball and its the most physical brand of basketball in the country. Conference officials need to recognize this and call the games as such. Its sickening to see the ticky-tack touch fouls when there is pushing, shoving, hooking, holding and illegal screens being used during every single play - literally.
Steve Grinczel of MLive.com/Booth newspapers had this report on the game.
INDIANAPOLIS — My sports editor once scolded me for blaming a Michigan State loss on questionable officiating and told me to never, ever, do that again.
His rationale was that officiating is a game condition not unlike a muddy field, the wind, the crowd, the sun or whatever. It’s just something that has to be adjusted to and overcome and if the losing team doesn’t do that, it’s just so much whine and geez.
And, since then, I have included commentary about officiating in my stories only when brought up by a coach or player, to be included between quotation marks, and only then when it seems absolutely germane to the telling of the story of the game.
That all said, I am not sure there was anything Michigan State could have done to overcome the officiating that took place in Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal loss to Wisconsin.
Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press also covered the game.
There’s losing and there’s getting robbed.
The Spartans wouldn’t make this distinction.
I will.
What happened in Saturday’s Big Ten tournament semifinal was officiating shoveled straight off the stable room floor.
There’s always an unfriendly whistle and those inequities usually balance themselves out over the course of a season. That’s never an acceptable excuse for defeat because if coaches and players better execute those situations within their control, their fate wouldn’t rest in the judgment of those beyond their control.
But the Spartans got an unfair whistle in their 65-63 loss to Wisconsin.