NCAA BASKETBALL OFFICIATING CANNOT GET ANY WORSE

We are well into March madness and for the most part  fans have not been disappointed in how the players have performed.  I emphasize players have performed since I cannot say the same about the officials.  As I watched the four sweet 16 games last night, I became aware how often fouls were being called.  In the first 2 games, it was not as much as how often, but what they were being called for as well.  This became more apparent in the West Virginia/Kentucky game where it seemed like a player could not breathe in the direction of an opposing player.  An example of this did not take long in that game when a foul was called within the first 15 seconds of the game, with a second one following not long after.  4 fouls were called in the first 2 minutes and it appeared that one of those four was something that was truly a foul.  In other words, the officials had decided that they would be the main performers of the game.  By no means am I suggesting that the officials decided any of the games last night, but emphasizing that what they are doing is in some ways changing the way some players perform.  Several times in all the games, a player would drive towards the basket, put up a shot, and a foul was immediately called.  Problem is when the replay was shown, there was no foul committed in some cases.  Officials are calling meaningless touch fouls or anticipating that a foul might have occurred.  Neither is good for the players in how they might play or the fans in watching a steady parade  to the foul line all night.  For the record,  there were a total of 148 fouls called last night in the four games.  That is nearly one foul called per minute of play and to be honest, I have watched some games this year that were a lot worse.  Watching so many games this year makes me wonder or question a few things.

Some officials actually think that the fans have come to the games or turned on the TV just to watch them control a game.  Do officials have egos??  ABSOLUTELY

Do officials target some players and call fouls more often on them????  ABSOLUTELY  Some players have a reputation, warranted or not, to be foul prone, so officials are anticipating  these players will commit more fouls.  The result is some players are getting fouls called on them for little or no reason.

Basketball officials think that the average fan is stupid  and do not understand  or see the game correctly.  UCLA won their tournament game against SMU on a late game 3 point goal tending call.
According to the rules of basketball, it may have been the correct call.  I am saying "may" have been the correct call, based on how the call was later explained by a NCAA representative of officials.  After explaining the rule, this individual went on to say that the shot had a chance to go in the basket.
REALLY????  That shot was shown numerous times and it was plain to see that at best, the ball might have grazed the right side of the basket.  But then again, the NCAA would like us to believe a lot of things they throw at us on many issues.

Do some teams get the benefit of some calls from officials???  ABSOLUTELY   No doubt there are some officials that play to the crowd or for popular reasons some teams are destined to win.

Basketball is a difficult game to officiate.  Maybe  it is the most difficult of all sports to officiate, but in some ways it can be simplified,  Touching a player who is not trying to do anything should not be a foul.  Anticipating a foul based on a play (Example..drive to the basket) or what player may be defending, should not be reasons to blow the whistle.  In other words, if an official does not truly see a foul, then do not call it.  There are 3 officials out there, so if none of them honestly did not see a foul, then call nothing.

Basketball is a fun game to watch, but the officiating is making it much harder to enjoy it.   Officials need to call only what is meaningful and what they honestly and truly see.  Most important is to LET THE PLAYERS PLAY AND LET THEIR TALENT PREVAIL