The last week of the regular season saw the Mountaineers lose 3 consecutive games, running their losing streak to 6 and 7 of the last 8. Things just fell apart for the Mountaineers late in the season…

Mar 2, 2013; Lawrence, KS, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins call out instructions against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas defeated West Virginia 91-65. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The last week of the season started off with the Mountaineers getting absolutely destroyed by Kansas. WVU actually held the lead for the first 11 minutes of the game, but suffered the predictable letdown and ended up getting blown out 91-65. This game went the way early season games went- WVU got a lead early but couldn’t hold it.

The next two games went exactly the way many games the second half of the season went- we fell down big, clawed back, but could never quite get over the hump. Against Oklahoma, WVU was down 17 with 2 minutes left in the first half, but closed to within 4 with 7 minutes left in the game. Against Iowa State, WVU was down 27 with 15 minutes left in the game, but closed the gap to 4 with 46 seconds left in the game. It’s been the story of the season- we can play really well for periods of time, but we could never but a complete game together. We always kept fighting though, which is a silver lining on an otherwise miserable season.

The 2012-2013 season is the worst season we’ve had since Gale Catlett’s final year, 2002-2003 (we finished 8-20 that year) and is Bob Huggins’ worse season since a 12-14 campaign in 1984-1985, his first year at Akron. We’re not used to seasons like this, and I don’t think we’ll have to get used to them. Huggins is a hall of fame coach, and you can be sure that he won’t let this happen again.

There will be no postseason tournament for the Mountaineers this season. All that is left is the Big 12 Tournament, which starts this Wednesday. I’d be highly surprised if we notched a win. We were competitive through January because we played solid defense, even if we had no offense. But for whatever reason, our defense is now terrible too, and that just spells doom for this team in the Big 12 Tournament.

Mar 2, 2013; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks center Jeff Withey (5) blocks the shot of West Virginia Mountaineers forward Dominique Rutledge (1) during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas defeated West Virginia 91-65. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Player(s) of the Week: There really was no single player that stood out in all three games, so I’m going to highlight the best performances in each game:

@ Kansas: Terry Henderson (20 points, 6-9 3 PT FG), Dominique Rutledge (17 points, 13 rebounds, 2 Steals)

Rutledge played the game of his career against Kansas, and Henderson was hot from beyond the arc. It wasn’t anywhere near enough though.

@ Oklahoma: Eron Harris (23 points, 5-10 3 PT FG), Deniz Kilicli (20 points)

Harris was hot from beyond the arc and Oklahoma didn’t have an answer for Kilicli inside.

vs. Iowa State: Jabarie Hinds (19 points, 4-5 3 PT FG, 3 assists)
Hinds finished the season off with his best performance of the year.

Coming Up:

• Big 12 Tournament

The Big 12 tournament is all we have left this season, unless we make a miraculous run and win it. Here’s a hint- that’s not going to happen. We enter the tournament as the 8 seed and play 9th seeded Texas Tech in the first round on Wednesday. We beat Texas Tech twice this year, but I would be highly surprised if we beat them a third time. We just don’t seem to have it right now. If we manage to beat the Red Raiders, we get #1 seed Kansas the next night. So it looks like we will have at most a two night run in the tournament.

Feb 18, 2013; Manhattan, KS, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins yells at guard Eron Harris (10) after Harris fouled out during a 71-61 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

This week’s update is going to be short but sweet.  This was just not a good week for the Mountaineers.  We dropped two games at home and finished February on a 3 game losing streak.  We’re 2 games under .500 and have pretty much no shot at getting into any post season tournament unless we win a bunch of games in the Big 12 tournament.

As we have so many times this year, we started off strong against Oklahoma State than suffered a big collapse that we could never recover from.  Simply put, we couldn’t shoot, got out rebounded, and played poor defense for long stretches of the Oklahoma State game.  I think effort was a problem in this game, so Huggins tried to make some adjustments for the game against Baylor- he went with a different starting lineup, started the game out in zone defense, and used a different player rotation.  I guess you could say it worked-this game was close throughout, and we had chances to win at the end.  Eron Harris missed an open look at a three with around 17 seconds on the clock, and Staten took a very ill-advised contested three pointers with 7 seconds on the clock that wound up being our final chance to win. That’s the story of our season though- we’ve hurt ourselves far more than any other team could.

As we go into the final three games of the season, it’s very apparent that this team isn’t what we thought it was.  Huggins has repeatedly said himself how surprised he is.  What it comes down to though is the players with the most athletic ability don’t have the drive and the want to, and the guys that do try as hard as they can but they just don’t have the talent of other guys.  It’s a deadly combination.  Eron Harris gives me hope though.  He is a huge bright spot on offense- he can make shots and drive to the basket.  He seems like he really cares and tries hard.  He just needs to work on his defense, which is downright terrible at times.  But I would expect that to get better.  Better years are ahead…

Feb 13, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Eron Harris (10) dunks against the Baylor Bears during the second half at the Ferrell Center. Baylor won 80-60. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Week:  Eron Harris: 31 points in 57 minutes

Harris scored a career high 25 points against Baylor and was the only reliable offense for us all game.  Unfortunately, 25 points weren’t enough- we needed 28.  But Harris keeps stepping up and is setting himself up to be the focal point of our team next year.

Coming Up:

• Saturday 3/2 @ Kansas
• Wednesday 3/6 @ Oklahoma

We go out on our final road trip of the year, and it’s going to be an ugly one.  We’ve already lost to Oklahoma twice this year, and there’s no reason to believe we’ll beat them again this time around.  We actually had a really good chance at beating Kansas the first time around, and they have been struggling this year, so maybe, just maybe, this is an opportunity for the Mountaineers to ease a little of the pain from the season with a big victory.  I’m not saying it will happen- but the ingredients would seem to be there for an upset.  We’ll see tomorrow…

News and Notes

• Ukranian forward Gerun got some playing time against Baylor.  I liked what I saw out of him- he hustled and seem to have more basketball IQ than the other players on the court.
• Huggs said after the Baylor game that he’s done playing guys that don’t try, don’t make adjustments, don’t listen to him.  We saw that in the Baylor game- Aaric Murray played a couple of minutes than never saw the court again the rest of the night.

Feb 18, 2013; Manhattan, KS, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins looks at an official during first-half action against the Kansas State Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

We started this week off with a very uninspiring victory at home over Texas Tech. In reality, this game shouldn’t have even been close. We missed 17 free throws. Seventeen points we left at the line and just half of those would have made a huge difference. The reality of this game was Deniz Kilicli played the best game he has played, maybe ever. He did everything for us- Texas Tech’s bigs got in foul trouble (3 of them fouled out) because of him. He scored 25 points and contributed 8 rebounds in 38 minutes of action. He drew defenders inside and opened up others for shots. He put everything together in this game. It’s such a shame that he hasn’t done that consistently for the past four years. We could have won many more games. But this highlights the current state of this year’s basketball team: we will only go as far as Kilicli carries us. Never thought I’d say that, but he’s become the focal point of our offense and is the only player we can consistently rely on, right now. Let’s hope he continues to step up.

As for everyone else, this game shouldn’t have been close but it was because we let down in the second half consistently. We just can’t play 40 minutes and don’t know how to respond to pressure. We are our own worst enemy. We do as much to hinder our success as our opponents do. And it doesn’t really look like that is going to get any better this year. Coincidentally, the officials in this game were absolutely dreadful, but we might have actually gotten the better end of the officiating for once. Texas Tech’s coach wasn’t too happy after the game. Can’t say I blame him, but we’ll take whatever help we can get.

Following that game, we traveled to Kansas State for a Big Monday matchup. This was Huggins’ first game in Manhattan since he left KState to come to WVU, and somewhat surprisingly he was given a warm reception from the crowd. Unfortunately, our team didn’t fare as well. Aside from another solid performance from Kilicli, this game was ugly. We couldn’t run offense, we couldn’t defend, we lost our cool. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Kilicli got fouled hard while taking a shot and no foul was called, and Huggins got a technical while running onto the court in protest. Eron Harris pushed a defender over in the middle of the court and received a technical, fouling out of the game. The officiating was borderline worst I’ve seen in my entire life It was really an embarrassment to the game to an extent I can’t even quantify it. But in the end, we doomed ourselves in this game. Coach Huggins summed it up best after the game:

“We panic, as soon as someone gets up on us and we get pressure on it, we panic. It’s not like they have a knife or a gun or a sword, and they’re not allowed to touch you, so why would you panic? You find out about people in times of adversity, you find out what people are made of. Reality is I probably overscheduled because I thought we were better than what we are. I don’t think I’ve ever overjudged a group like I’ve overjudged this group…. I don’t know that I’ve ever been, 26 games in, and I’m still searching for a guy I can rely on.”

A lot of people have been mumbling about Huggs maybe losing a step, maybe he doesn’t have it anymore. I disagree though. No coach would have gotten this much out of the players on the roster. His faith in Kilicli, when everyone else, myself included, had given up on him, demonstrates that Huggins still has what it takes.

“Deniz has never quit. As big as Deniz is.. [when we] run sprints, Deniz never stops, never rolls on the floor. He plays, he fights through things. That’s why I thought, when a whole lot of people thought Deniz wasn’t the answer, I thought he was.”

Coach also injected some humor after the game when talking about a rowdy Kansas State fan at the game: “People are so brave. By God if you by a $22 ticket, it makes you brave. When the reality is, they’re cowards.” He tells it like it is, folks, and that’s why I love him so much.

Feb 18, 2013; Manhattan, KS, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Deniz Kilicli (13) drives against Kansas State Wildcats forward Nino Williams (11) during the Mountaineers

Player of the Week: Deniz Kilicli: 41 points, 12 rebounds in 65 minutes

The Turk is our only consistent option on offense right now. He wins this award without question this week. It sure would be nice if he could make more free throws though.

Coming Up

• Saturday 2/23 vs. Oklahoma State
• Wednesday 2/27 vs. Baylor

Back to back home games on tap for the Mountaineers this week. Hopefully the lack of travel helps. We’ve lost games to both of these teams already, and neither of them were very close. Hopefully we fare better at the Coliseum, but I don’t have much hope for that.

News and Notes
Nothing comes to mind this week.

Feb 9, 2012; Fort Worth, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jabarie Hinds (4) shoots against TCU Horned Frogs guard Clyde Smith III (3) and forward Connell Crossland (2) in the second half at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. West Virginia Mountaineers won 63-50. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

WVU continued to roll Saturday at TCU, notching it’s third win in a row in Coach Huggins’ 1,000th game. Despite this game being against a weak opponent, I’m cautiously optimistic about how the Mountaineers are playing right now. For the first time all season, we are consistently running the offense and having some success shooting the ball while continuing to play good defense. For the game, WVU shot 51% from the field including 70% on three pointers (largely thanks to freshmen Terry Henderson and Eron Harris) while holding TCU 36% and 21%. Eron Harris has stepped up to be the focal point of the offense and has diversified his game. He not rains threes down but is now driving to the basket and drawing fouls.  Kilicli has turned his season around with three straight solid performances, and Jabarie Hinds has settled into the point guard role and has been a steady hand to guide the Mountaineer offense. Hopefully our improved offensive play continues as we go back into a tough stretch of the schedule. I’ll say it again though, the officials were not good in this game. They were inconsistent, missed obvious calls.. you know how it goes. Fortunately in this game, it didn’t hurt us too bad.

The real key to the TCU game was defense though. TCU stayed with us throughout the first half, finding openings in our man defense for good shots, which they made at a 60% clip. However, in the second half, Huggins’s switch to what appeared to be a 2-3 zone defense, which completely stymied the TCU offensive attack (25% shooting in the 2nd half). We might have the most diverse set of defenses in the country available to us- we have now used the man, 1-3-1 zone, 2-3 zone, and point-drop defense this year. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what having a hall-of-fame, 700+ win coach gets you- he has an extensive bag of tricks and knows what moves to make at what time.

Feb 13, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins yells at forward Dominique Rutledge (1) during the first half against the Baylor Bears at the Ferrell Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Unfortunately though, he didn’t have enough tricks to pull out a win against Baylor. This game was a lot closer than the score indicated. We kept it close until it started to get out of hand late, with Baylor’s lead usually running up to 7 before we closed it to 2. Turnovers killed us in this game (we lost that battle 18-9), and we got out shot again. No one on the team played particularly well, especially in the second half. We kept allowing one of the best three point shooters in the Big 12, Brady Heslip, to get open for 3′s, particularly in the second half, and he killed us by draining 6 of them. We quit running an offense in the second half too. Once Baylor got the lead to double digits, it seemed like we just quit playing.

“We don’t pass the ball, we throw the ball. We got guys open every where…. its sickening for me to watch. It’s not basketball… we play like guys who’ve never played and goto the YMCA and think they’re superstars.” – Coach Huggins on the performance against Baylor

Coach Huggins, needless to say, was not happy after the game. We also were hurt by our bigs getting into foul trouble early. Aaric Murray wasn’t able to contribute at all, as he got 2 fouls early in the first half, a third foul right after being put back in towards the end of the first half, and a 4th foul within a few seconds of being inserted in the second half. Noreen also was in foul trouble in addition to Gary Browne.

And let me say it again- the officials in this game were AWFUL. There was a really key point early in the second half where we had a chance to gain control of the game, but the whistles kept it away from us. I’m not saying that we didn’t do plenty of things to kill ourselves, but they sure didn’t help. Let’s run it down:

• Baylor double dribbled the ball obviously at least 4 times, and the ESPN announcers even commented on it once or twice, but there were no calls. This lead to points for Baylor.
• We got called for moving screens a few times, but when Baylor did the exact same thing, it was only called once.
• The announcers commented on how officials were “anticipating” us committing a foul, and blowing the whistle before one actually occurred, based on our reputation. This has happened all season.
• They called 6 fouls on us in the first 5 minutes of the second half, compared to 2 on Baylor. Let me assure you- Baylor committed just as many as we did.
• Baylor players routinely got away with making plays that Murray was called for a foul on.
• The foul that resulted in Kilicli getting T’ed up? He didn’t commit a foul. No wonder he was upset.
• They appeared to call us for a 5 second violation after the ball had been inbounded.

“You know what, for whatever’s its worth, it’d be nice if there was some consistency from game to game [with officiating]. It’d help… You go from, like the Texas game it was very physical, to… If you can’t stand there with your hands up, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do. They say scoring is low, so we need freedom of movement. Nobody wants to watch someone shoot 80 free throws… oh well.”  - Coach Huggins on the officiating in the Baylor game.

Sometimes I have to wonder, is this part of the entrance fee to the Big 12? Since we only get 50% of the TV money this year, does that mean we only get 50% of the calls that we should get? Huggins was not happy with the officials either. Jay and Tony didn’t sound too thrilled in the post game talk with Huggins. It’s just a bad problem that needs to be fixed.

On another note, I think I’ve identified the player that will dog us every time we play him and it will seem like he will never graduate. You know the type I’m talking about. In the Big East, it was Steve McNamara and Eric Devendorf for Syracuse. In the Big 12, the first one is going to be Baylor’s freshman forward Rico Gathers. He has talent, but he’s arrogant and annoying to watch. And we get to see him at least 7 more times if he makes it to his senior season.

Feb 13, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Eron Harris (10) dunks against the Baylor Bears during the second half at the Ferrell Center. Baylor won 80-60. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Week: Eron Harris: 33 points, 5-8 3 Pt FG in 57 minutes

Harris is the only player consistently able to make shots and consistently scoring points for us. We need him to put up 15-20 points every night if we are going to have a chance. He makes me very hopeful for our future though. He seems like the type of player you can build a team around.

Coming Up Next Week

• Saturday 2/16 vs. Texas Tech
• Monday 2/18 @ Kansas State

Not much to say here. We’ve seen both of these teams. We already beat Texas Tech, we should have beaten Kansas State. We need 2 W’s, however we can get them.

News and Notes

• Coach Huggins is once again competing in the ESPN Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge. The first round is open until Feb 27, and you can vote here. Check out Coach Huggins’ hilarious commercial for the Infiniti Challenge too.
• Does ESPN hate us? For some reason, they broke away from the final minute and a half of WVU-Baylor to show the finish of top 200 teams Texas and Iowa State. Really? I can’t imagine the casual basketball fan was watching Baylor-WVU over UNC-Duke Wednesday night, so it’s safe to assume that if you were watching WVU-Baylor, you really cared about one of those schools and didn’t care so much about seeing the multiple endings of the Texas-Iowa State game. I guess the people that swear ESPN hates WVU have another point for their argument.

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these that didn’t feature at least one loss. For the first time since a three game winning stream in December over Oakland, Radford, and Eastern Kentucky, WVU has won consecutive games.

Feb 2, 2013; Lubbock, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Juwan Staten goes in for a basket against Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Jaye Crockett (30) in the second half at the United Spirit Arena. West Virginia defeated Texas Tech 77-61. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The men’s basketball team fared much better in its first trip to Lubbock than the football team did. Texas Tech is a terrible basketball team, but WVU didn’t mess around. We held the lead throughout the game and stretched it in the second half to finish up with a comfortable 16 point victory. For once, we shot the ball extremely well, going 56.5% for the game from the field, including 55.6% from three. The second half was particularly amazing, as WVU made two out of every three shots they took, even from three. This was the game where the offense really seemed to come alive. Kilicli played his best game of the season, up to that point in time.

It was nice that, for once, we took a small lead into halftime (3 points) and actually increased it in the second half rather than succombing to a letdown like we usually do. Huggins employed a point-drop zone defense in the second half, and that really seemed to give us the breathing room we needed.

“The point-drop (defense) really slowed them down,” said Huggins. “They were trying to figure out what we were doing, which nobody can figure out because we have no idea what we’re doing.”

Following the trip to Lubbock was another home Big Monday game, this time against Texas. The crowd was small for this game, mostly due to the snow and bad road conditions. The Mountaineers didn’t shoot quite as well in this game, but still managed to lead most of the first half and take a 7 point lead into halftime. We had the lead up to 11 6 minutes into the second half before our letdown started. Within 6 minutes, Texas had reclaimed the lead. It remained close down the stretch, but we kept our cool, made some key free throws and defensive stops, and held on to win the game. Deniz Kilicli put in his best game of the season, hands down. He scored 14 points playing a team high 34 minutes, and only committed 2 fouls. He really bothered Texas inside. We need more performances like that out of him.

WVU needed these wins. We are in the midst of one of the easier stretches of the season, and it’s important for us to notch a few W’s, get our problems sorted out, and be ready to pull off some upsets and make a run late in the season. We’re off to a good start.

Jan 16, 2013; Ames IA, USA; West Virginia Mountaineer Deniz Kilicli (13) looks to pass against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half at Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 2, 2013; Lubbock, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Eron Harris (10) shoots over Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Josh Gray (5) in the first half at the United Spirit Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Co-players of the week:

• Eron Harris: 31 points, 6 rebounds in 61 minutes.
• Deniz Kilicli: 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks in 58 minutes.

Couldn’t decide between these two, so they both win. Harris hit key buckets in each game, and Kilicli played his two best games of the year, logging lots of minutes, clogging up the inside, and scoring points for the Mountaineers. If we continue to get these types of performances from these two players, we will pull some upsets in the stretch run.

Coming Up Next Week:

• Saturday Feb 9 @ TCU
• Wednesday Feb 13 @ Baylor

For the first time in the Big 12, we’re playing back to back games on the road. We already beat TCU by 21 at home, so you wouldn’t think this would be a close game. However, TCU just knocked off Kansas, so I’m sure they’ll be a very confident team this Saturday. Hopefully we take care of business. Following that, we play Baylor for the first time in Big 12 play. Baylor is a very good offensive team and will be a big jump in competition for us. It’s a big road game that we have to win.

News and Notes:

• Matt Humphrey must still be hurt- haven’t seen him for a while.
• The officials continue to suck.

The last week was a tough one for the Mountaineers. We dropped two games- one blowout and one very close and fell 2 games below .500 on the year. The week kicked off with a trip to Oklahoma State last Saturday.

Jan. 26, 2013; Stillwater, OK, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins coaches his team against Oklahoma State Cowboys during the second half at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Oklahoma State won 80-66. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo J. Adams-USA TODAY Sports

This game followed a familiar recipe- we got a big lead and gave it all away. We were up 13 with 5:29 left in the first half. Everything was going our way- shots were dropping, we were running the offense, our defense was tough and physical. But we got that double digit lead and just quit playing again. Oklahoma State finished the first half on a 19-3 run and went into the break with a 3 point lead. And, as usual in games where we had a big lead, we didn’t bother playing in the second half. We gave up 50 points on the way to a crushing defeat.

I can’t imagine how frustrated Huggins was with this game. You could hear it in his voice after the game. I think he’s at a loss as to how you can play so well for a period of time and then just quit. It seems like whenever teams adjust their defense to a zone, we have no answer, despite seeing it in virtually every game this year. I’m not really sure why every team doesn’t play a 2-3 zone against us 100% of the time, because it gives us fits. We don’t have the outside shooting to break it and we can’t seem to figure out how to penetrate it. It’s incredibly frustrating to watch. Huggins doesn’t know what to do- he says he calls timeouts, tells the players exactly what to do, and they go out and do something completely different on the next play. And things like that lead to blowout losses and repeatedly giving up big leads.

After that, Kansas came to the Coliseum for Big Monday. To be honest, I went into the game thinking we had absolutely no chance of winning. I actually was just hoping we’d keep the loss to 15 points or less. Sports are funny like that though, just when you think you have a team figured out, they come out and do something you thought they were incapable of doing.

The game against the Jayhawks started out about how I expected- 7 minutes into the game, we were down 12 and showed no signs of being able to do anything on offense. Our bigs were in foul trouble already and our guards looked clueless. The deficit grew to as much as 15 points with 6 minutes left, and then we started to crawl back, largely thanks to Aaric Murray and some solid defense. Murray scored 9 points in under 3 minutes to help the Mountaineers close to within 8 at the half. We continued to crawl back in the second half, closing the deficit to 2 with 14 minutes left on the clock and keeping it close the rest of the way.

We never did retake the lead though. We had it down to 2 a few times but some absolutely horrible calls from officials and very stupid plays by our players never let us get over the hump and take the lead. I’ve already discussed the officiating so I won’t get into that again, but we do plenty of things to stop ourselves. One obvious problem is that we cannot consistently shoot the ball. That’s not going to change this year. But the bigger problem is we go into spurts where we refuse to run an offense. One of the guards just dribbles the ball around half court for 20 seconds while every one else just stands around. Then, after a few failed attempts to get the ball inside, said guard is rushed and either turns the ball over, takes a completely ridiculous shot just before the shot clock expires, or tries to drive the lane and gets stopped by 3 defenders. I am certain that Huggins does not tell them to do that, so one can only conclude that the players are doing their own thing or just get lost on the court. The other big problem is that we can’t inbound the ball. Just like running the offense, it seems like every time, the four players on the court stand around for 3 seconds and then frantically move around trying to get open and the inbounder has to try to force the ball into a small area, which results in turnovers. Again, I’m sure that’s not what Huggins is telling them to do, it just looks like we’re lost on the court.

But, despite all of our shortcomings, I think we have players who play hard. They just make stupid decisions and don’t do what the coaches tell them to do. Hopefully Huggs finds a way to fix it. If he does, we still have a team that can compete and win games. But at this point, one has to question if this team will ever “get it” and start playing up to their potential.

Jan 19 2013; West Lafayette, IN, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers center Aaric Murray (24) dunks against Purdue Boilermakers center A.J. Hammons (20) at Mackey Arena. Purdue defeats West Virginia 79-52. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Week: Aaric Murray: 28 points, 17 rebounds, 2 blocks in 52 minutes.

He was the catalyst that got our offense moving and kept the game from getting out of hand early against Kansas. He’s a beast when he wants to be, and might be our biggest threat from the outside right now.

Coming Up:

• Saturday 2/2 @ Texas Tech
• Monday 2/4 vs. Texas

We got a little break in the schedule this week after a pretty rough stretch. Texas Tech is also 2-5 in the Big 12 (9-9 overall) and only has one good win on their record- a 56-51 win over Iowa State two weeks ago. This game is a tossup. Again, we have the talent to win but will we have the execution in Lubbock? I sure hope so- we need to exact some revenge for the football team’s trip to Lubbock last fall. Following that, we have our second home Big Monday game in a row- a rematch against Texas. We already beat them in overtime in Austin, hopefully we don’t need the extra period to win this time. This is another tossup- we should win, but will we execute? That seems to be the big question.

News and Notes

• Matt Humphrey, who began seeing more action over the past few games, reinjured his shoulder… a big blow to any hopes of the Mountaineers shooting better.

Dec 30, 2011; Newark, NJ, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins (right) argues with official John Higgins (left) during the second half against the Seton Hall Pirates at the Prudential Center. Seton Hall Pirates defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers 67-48. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

I understand that it’s a fast game and people make mistakes. No arguments from me there. I’m willing to tolerate some blown calls in a game because they are inevitable. But the amount of absolutely obvious calls that have been blown this year, from giving the ball to the wrong team when it goes out of bounds to calling fouls before they occur, is completely ridiculous and is really quite embarrassing. I had sincerely hoped that officiating would be better this year in the Big 12, but defying my belief, it’s actually worse.

We all knew it was bad in the Big East. Whenever you saw Tim Higgins, Jim Burr, or Pat Driscoll take the floor (among many others), you knew you were going to be frustrated by the officials the whole game. You knew there would be inconsistent calls- players would be allowed to body check each other under the basket without being called while the slightest contact outside would be, and you’d get a fair number of inconsistent blocks and charges called. But they at least got the easy calls right most of the time- goal tending, out of bounds, those sorts of things. Tim Higgins is now retired though, but don’t worry- a familiar face has taken his place: John Higgins.  We’ve seen him before, but he never seemed this bad.  He’s just one of many that need to go though.

Every game this year, the officials have blown countless obvious out of bounds calls. There was the goal tending call on Aaric Murray against Kansas State that wasn’t even close to goal tending (those 2 points proved to be the difference between winning and losing). And then there’s the inconsistent application of judgement calls. Terry Henderson got hacked on just about every three pointer he took against Texas, no calls. Eron Harris was hip checked with seconds left on the clock and a chance to win in the balance against Iowa State, but there was no call, even though we got called for a much less egregious, but similar foul at the end of the Kansas State game.

November 13, 2011; Pittsburgh,PA, USA: Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon (rear) talks to referee Jim Burr (front) against the Rider Broncs during the second half at the Petersen Events Center. PITT won 86-78. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

I’m certainly not saying that we can blame all of our problems and losses this year on the officials. I tend to remember the times we have gotten the raw end of the deal most, but we’ve also benefited from poor officiating, particularly in the TCU game. I think in many games, the bad calls go both ways enough to balance out, but that still doesn’t excuse it. However, there have been games where the officials had a direct impact on the outcome, and that is not acceptable. This was no more apparent than in the loss against Kansas.

Jan 7, 2012; Louisville, KY, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey argues a call with official Pat Driscoll during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center. Notre Dame defeated Louisville 67-65. Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

No doubt, we shot ourselves in the foot repeatedly in this game (more on that later this week), but make no mistake about it, the officials protected Kansas in this game. There wasn’t a single call at the end of the game that directly took away a chance to win, but a series of calls and non calls, particularly from the 10-16 minute mark of the second half, that killed our momentum and allowed Kansas to build it’s lead back up to 7 or 8 after we closed it to 1.

Are they really so inept that it takes 5 minutes to decide if a Staten jumper was a 2 or a 3? Was it just a coincidence that the long, unnecessary delay occurred when WVU was closing in on the lead, had all the momentum, and Kansas was struggling? How does Kansas, a physical team who was body checking and arm wrestling our bigs all game, end up with 34 free throw attempts to our 15, and 19 team fouls to our 26? They repeatedly called us for blocks when our defenders were easily set for a second. They called Aaric Murray for his 4th foul a good second before he was even close enough to commit a foul. There are so many other examples in the game (and yes, we got some calls as well.. but Kansas definitely got the whistle more times than not).  We still had chances to win and blew them all away, but it’s hard to play 5 on 8.

It’s a problem that needs to be addressed. It can never be perfect, but I can never remember it being this bad. This is not an isolated problem that occurs in few games, it’s been every game. And games I’ve watched between other teams seem to be similar- missed calls, inconsistent calls, overall terrible officiating. It seems like some of the officials take joy in making themselves a story line- they like making the overly dramatic block or charge call and give an Oscar worthy performance while prancing around the court waving their arms, they like the boos from the hometown crowd. That stuff needs to stop.

There needs to be a central body (maybe the NCAA, but they’re too busy investigating themselves right now probably) that evaluates all officials and actually has the power to suspend or terminate them based on poor performance. Officials need to be limited to the number of games they can officiate across all sports in a given period of time. And, maybe most importantly, officials should have to go before the media and answer for themselves. Coaches do, players do, and now it’s time for the officials to face the music too.

Week In Review

“I want to apologize to our fans, apologize to the people in the state of West Virginia. This is totally unacceptable. This is not what we’re supposed to represent and hopefully they have enough faith in me that I will fix it.” – Coach Huggins after the big loss to Purdue.

Jan 19 2013; West Lafayette, IN, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins coaches on the sidelines against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Never good to start off a post with a quote like that, is it? We were coming off of two games that we should have won. Controversial officiating and stupid plays in the final seconds cost us against Kansas State and Iowa State. But we were playing the best basketball we’d played all year. It seemed like we had finally turned a corner and were ready to put it all together. But that couldn’t have been further from reality.

Here’s all you need to know about the 79-52 embarrassment of a loss to Purdue… for the first time in my life, I turned a Mountaineer game off because I couldn’t bear to watch any more. There are no words to describe just how bad we were in that game and I’m not going to rehash it. We sucked in every facet. I’ll let Coach Huggins sum it up (go here for more):

• “I told our guys, honestly… I didn’t see it coming. I did not see it coming.”
• “I’ve done this a long time and I haven’t seen the stupid stuff that we do”
• “It just seems like every time I think I maybe got something figured out that could work, they say, ‘Eh, we can screw this up, too. He thinks he’s going to figure this out, we’ll screw it up good.’”

If anyone can fix it, it’s Bob Huggins. But it’s sure looking questionable right now.
Following that debacle the Mountaineers returned home to face TCU. This was one of our easier games of the year and a game that shouldn’t have been anywhere near close. And thankfully, it wasn’t. We made plenty of mistakes in this game. There were tons of missed assignments, stupid passes, bad turnovers, stupid shots taken… you know the drill by now. The most frustrating thing was missing 15 free throws. We were a miserable 16-31 from the line. We might have won by 21 points, but it didn’t reallyfeel like it. Huggins was throwing anyone and everyone in the game in an attempt to find players who “get it”. 10 players saw 10+ minutes and he played another 2 for more than 5 minutes. The unquestioned star of the game was Eron Harris, who contributed a career high 19 points in 27 minutes of action. But the whole team was pretty inconsistent. It’s pretty hard to read too much into our win because we were playing a pretty mediocre team. We play some really good teams in the next week, so we need to get better, fast. Huggs still wasn’t too pleased after the game:

• “We give up more layups than any team in America… we get tired and we just kinda stand there. It’s frustrating.”
• “We’re 16-31 from the foul line. That’s inexcusable with the [basketball practice] facility we have.”
• “I want guys that are committed to this basketball program, to this university, and to our fans. If other things are more important, get out.”
• “I’m so upset because I’m tired of it. I’m fed up. I’m tired of guys standing around wondering what to do.”

On a side note, the WVU-TCU game might have been the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen in my entire life (I’ve probably said that a few times this year, but it just keeps getting worse). In all honesty, we probably got more calls than TCU, but it was just terrible. I cannot understand how an official can stand 2 feet away from the ball, stare directly at the ball, clearly see Aaron Brown dribble the ball completely out of bounds, and not make a call. There were at least 10 easy calls that they blatantly got wrong. And the fouls. They’d let you tackle someone, but you couldn’t graze them with your hand. It was ridiculous. I really thought going to the Big 12 would mean better officials, because I thought it was bad in the Big East, but I’d love to have those officials back now.

October 20, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers fan reacts as he watches the game against the Kansas State Wildcats during the fourth quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Kansas State Wildcats won 55-14. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Week:   Mountaineer fans.

We all deserve it for watching any part of the Purdue game.  If you made it through that whole abomination, you’re either a hopeless optimist or just a better fan than I. But either way, you showed more talent than anyone on the team did.

Coming Up:

• Saturday 1/26 @ Oklahoma State
• Monday 1/28 vs. Kansas

This is a tough stretch for the Mountaineers. We should be heavy underdogs in both games, and honestly we’ll be lucky to keep it close in either if we don’t drastically improve our play. Even if we play at our best, we’d have to shoot lights out to stay close with Kansas. Right now we’re really just playing to stay at .500, so we need to find a way to win in Stillwater.

Oklahoma State is 12-5 with an impressive win over #6 NC ST on their record. They are a middle of the pack offensive team but play good team defense. This should be a low scoring game. Hopefully some of our shooters catch fire and we steal one here.

#3 Kansas comes in for the first of back-to-back home Big Monday games for the Mountaineers, and the Jayhawks provide our toughest test of the year. There’s not much they do wrong. They’re 17-1 and riding a 16 game winning streak. They’re a good scoring and rebounding team and they shoot the ball well. They play pretty solid defense. Simply put, we are way outmatched in this game. We need someone to step up and have the game of his life if we want to win. I just hope we keep it respectable.

News and Notes

• Terry Henderson saw 27 minutes against TCU, but still appears to be limited by a back injury. He scored only 3 points after going 1-6 from the field.
• No Mountianeer saw more than 27 minutes of action against TCU. Not very often do you see not one player on a team get at least 30 minutes of playing time.

Week In Review:

Well, we followed up the win against Texas with our best performance of the year overall, even though we lost the game. WVU shot the ball well (an eye popping 51.1% from the field and 50% from three), played solid defense, and rebounded well against one of the better rebounding teams in the nation. We played as close to a complete game as we’ve played all year, and the players on the court seemed invested in the game all the way through. Juwan Staten sat the bench the entire game, but Jabarie Hinds stepped up with probably the best performance at point guard we’ve had all year. He’s out of his slump and he is scoring and running the offense consistently. The only thing he didn’t do well is the thing that ultimately cost us the game: free throw shooting.

Jan 16, 2013; Ames IA, USA; West Virginia Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins talks to Aaric Murray (24)against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half at Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Inconsistency at the line reared it’s ugly head again as the Mountaineers went 12-22 (54.5%) for the game. The worst offender of all was Jabarie Hinds, who went a miserable 1-6 from the line. Obviously, in a 1 point game, missing 10 free throws as a team, including 5 from your point guard, is unacceptable and no doubt cost us the game.

The officials became a story line in this game as well. I’ve been writing about how bad they’ve been all year and this game was no different. Towards the end of the game they inexplicably called Aric Murray for goaltending when he actually just went up and got an ordinary looking rebounded. It wasn’t even CLOSE to goaltending. There were also three out of bounds calls towards the end of the game that were horrible- all three very obviously touched last by a KSU player, but the refs gave the ball to KSU anyway. No doubt we cost ourselves the game with the poor free throw shooting, but these were crucial calls that could have tipped the scale in our favor (and quite literally, the stripes put points on the board for KSU- points that changed the outcome of the game, so we have a legit complaint). To be fair, KSU could complain about the 22-12 advantage we had in fouls being called to, so it definitely goes both ways.

Following the heartbreaker against KState, WVU traveled to Ames, Iowa and another heartbreaker. A new rotation emerged in this game, as Huggins was forced to go deep in the bench due to an injury to Terry Henderson, who didn’t make the trip, and Gary Browne, who sprained an ankle in the first half. Matt Humphrey and Aaron Brown saw the court for the first time in what feels like a month, and Juwan Staten came off the bench after sitting out the last game and a half. We went up 11-3 early before going cold (34.5% from the field, 0-10 from 3) for the rest of the first half, which featured the Cyclones raining threes down on the WVU defense. All-in-all, we were luck to go into halftime only down 3. The second half started out very badly, as WVU was COLD and not playing well at all. We went down as many as 17 before starting to climb back in the game, thanks to Eron Harris and Matt Humphrey getting hot from beyond the arc. Just like we did in the Texas game, we hit some key shots and made some nice shots on defense to get back in the game and tie it up on a three from Jabarie Hinds with 14 seconds on the clock. Iowa State then promptly took the ball down the court, got Aaric Murray to leave his man under the basket, and took the lead with 3 seconds on the clock.

“We just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot by not making rotations”- Coach Huggins on Aaric Murray’s defensive lap that lead to the winning basket.

What happened next is fitting for how this season has went. WVU, without any time outs, inbounded the ball. Eron Harris was trying to cross the halfcourt line when he was body checked by a Cyclone defender. No call. Time runs out. Huggins was livid. “That was every bit as much of a foul as the one they called on us in the Kansas State game… I just can’t believe we come off a home [game] when we bump and it’s a foul, and our guy gets bumped tonight and it’s a no call. It has to be consistent throughout the league.” I have to agree. The same thing has been called on us, so it has to be called when it’s done to us. Once again, you can’t chalk the loss up to the referees, but once again they took away a legitimate shot at winning the game in the final seconds. I just wish we could get competent officials. I’d almost rather have Tim freaking Higgins back at this point. It’s been really bad this season.

“They want us to be consistent, they want our players to be consistent, so they need to be consistent in the way the whistle is blown.” -Coach Huggins on the officiating this year.

After the game, Huggins also alluded to changes in the rotation, specifically going small with a four guard lineup: “It’s not advantageous to have a post guy with the way the game’s being called. This team was built to play in the Big East, and this is not a big, physical league. We’re going to have to go small and take our chances. Playing with our big guys just has not worked.”

My guess is this means we’ll be seeing more of Matt Humphrey, who could provide some desperately needed shooting. It should also mean more playing time for Aaron Brown. If we only have one big in the game at a time, I’d expect that to rotate between Rutledge, Murray, and Noreen. Kilicli doesn’t play in key situations and doesn’t get much playing time at all any more, and I wouldn’t expect that to change much. I do wonder if, when, and how Huggs will get Gerun into the lineup.

This team is just plagued by bad decisions though. I lost count of the number of threes we took in the first half that we shouldn’t have. There was Murray’s defensive lapse on the game winning basket. With just over a minute to go, Iowa State had the ball and WVU was playing tough defense. With only 10 seconds on the shot clock and ISU’s guard dribbling close to half court, Eron Harris fouls him. The list goes on and on. We continually shoot ourselves in the foot. All is not lost though, as Huggins said in post game, “We’re a call or two away from being 3-1 instead of 1-3.” Hopefully the new lineup will improve our fortunes going forward.

Jan 16, 2013; Ames IA, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers Jabarie Hinds (4) drives past Melvin Ejim (3) of Iowa State Cyclones in the second half at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State beat West Virginia 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Week: Jabarie Hinds, 35 points, 4 assists, 1 steal in 70 minutes.

Hinds repeats as player of the week. He’s out of his slump, recorded a career high 20 points against Iowa State, and is running the offense consistently.

Coming Up:

• Sat 1/19 @ Purdue
• Wed 1/23 vs. TCU

WVU wraps up the nonconference schedule on Saturday against Purdue. Purdue is in the midst of a disappointing season themselves, much like the Mountaineers. The don’t shoot the ball particularly well or score a lot of points, but they can rebound. In many ways, this game will be like playing ourselves and the winner might be the first to score 40 points.

Following that is a home matchup against TCU, who, despite their above .500 record (thanks to a weak nonconference schedule), is one of the worst teams in the Big 12. Their offense makes ours look like an NBA team. If we drop this game, you can kiss any hope of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament away.

News and Notes:

• Juwan Staten sat out the entire game against Kansas State but saw 29 minutes of action off the bench against Iowa State. It’s unclear if he’s out of the dog house or if Huggins had no other choice due to the injuries to Henderson and Browne.
• Noreen and Rutledge continue to start for the Mountaineers over Kilicli and Murray.

This team is it’s own worst enemy.

That was my exact thought as I was watching the monumental implosion in the 2nd half of the game against Oklahoma. The first half couldn’t have gone much better. The first half saw Terry Henderson break the game wide open, scoring 18 points, including 5 three pointers, in the final 10 minutes to give the Mountaineers a 35 – 29 lead at the half. The first half also saw some overall good defense from the Mountaineers. We came out strong early in the second half and ran the lead up to 12. Then it happened- the second half letdown that has become the trademark of our season so far.

December 15, 2012; Brooklyn, NY, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins reacts to a referee

Terrible defense combined with terrible offense combined for our downfall. On defense, we left shooters wide open on the wings to unnecessarily bring a third man to help in the paint to help. When help was needed, it wasn’t there and we allowed easy layups. On offense, we took terrible shot after terrible shot (Gary Browne’s defensive prowess was overshadowed by his poor decisions on offense in this game). This was a horrible loss. We got dominated inside and made terrible decisions down the stretch. I forget who it was, but one of the players admitted in the post game that the team just quits playing when they get a double digit lead. No reason for it, no excuses for it. There were two bright spots in the game though: Jabarie Hinds recorded his best performance of the year, recording 11 points in 27 minutes of mostly solid play, and the previously mentioned performance of Terry Henderson (21 points, 18 of which came in the final 10 minutes of the first half).

Following the Oklahoma game, we found ourselves with a 7-6 record heading into our first Big 12 road contest against Texas. This game was UGLY. Neither team had much of an offense (WVU shot only 30.6% from the field, with Texas only slightly better at 34.5%). WVU looked doomed from the start. Huggins started Rutledge and Noreen in place of Kilicli and Murray because he was not pleased with their performance and hustle down the stretch against Oklahoma. He was trying to send a message to his team from the start. Based on the first 3/4 of this game, it didn’t seem like the team had gotten the message. We had no offense, and some of the people on the court were making the same mistakes they’ve made all year (such as Kilicli putting the ball on the floor instead of going to the rim strong). It was so bad I was about ready to throw in the towel on this season.

Something happened though. WVU finally started to stretch together some good possessions on both sides of the ball, and the score inched closer. We had the deficit down to 8 with about 4 minutes to go, and Henderson popped open for a wide open three pointer (WVU had yet to make a three pointer in the game). It was coming together- Henderson would nail the 3, get us to within 5, and we’d have all the momentum. Just like it was a sign that this just wasn’t our year, the ball slipped from his hands was turned over and scored by Texas to extend the lead to 9. That seemed like the nail in the coffin. But on the next possession, Noreen hit an absolutely huge three to get some momentum back. WVU played good defense down the stretch and even took the lead on a nice three pointer from Eron Harris with 20 seconds on the clock before giving up a game tying three with just seconds left.

Jan 9, 2013; Austin, TX, USA; The West Virginia Mountaineers bench reacts against the Texas Longhorns during the second half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. West Virginia beat Texas 57-53 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

Overtime was frustrating. No one on either side could make a shot to save their life, free throws included, but we got offensive rebounds and battled hard. We possessed the ball for almost two full minutes at one point without scoring. However, some big free throws from Gary Browne and Aaric Murray, and a great save on a ball going out of bounds by Dominque Rutledge, gave us the victory A big comeback win like this could be just the thing that turns the season around. We need to string together some big wins to get ourselves back in the discussion for the NCAA tournament, and this was a great start.

“This is not his team, it’s mine.  He’s going to do what I tell him to do.”  Bob Huggins on Juwan Staten being benched in the second half against Texas

This team still has a lot of problems though. We cannot shoot the ball consistently. Our big guys get into foul trouble often. Players don’t do what Huggins wants them to do. The most concerning thing was Huggins benching of Juwan Staten in the second half. After the game, Huggins said “This is not his team, it’s mine. He’s going to do what I tell him to do. He thought he had a better idea than I did. Whether he did or didn’t doesn’t matter, he’s going to do what i tell him to do, [or he's] not going to play.”  Simply put, we cannot win consistently without Staten in the game. Hopefully he responds to the benching the right way and comes back with a strong performance against Kansas State.

December 15, 2012; Brooklyn, NY, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jabarie Hinds (4) during the first half of an NCAA men

Player of the Week: Jabarie Hinds: 22 points, 3 assists, 3 steals in 64 minutes.

Hinds is slowly coming out of his slump and has been contributing solid minutes for the Mountaineers. His performance against Texas was key. He ran the offense well with Staten benched in the second half and hit a key three pointer late in regulation to keep WVU in the game.

Coming Up:

• Saturday 1/12 vs. #18 Kansas State
• Wednesday 1/16 @ Iowa State

Kansas State is a great team and will be a big challenge for the Mountaineers. A 31% field goal percentage isn’t going to cut it on Saturday, so let’s hope we shoot the ball better. We really need this game. Our tournament resume is pretty thin right now, but a win over Kansas State would put a marquee win on it and give us a lot of momentum. It’s not difficult to imagine a win over Kansas State following the big comeback against Texas springing us to a nice winning streak.

Iowa State will be a tough challenge as well. They just took Kansas to overtime and always give Big 12 foes trouble. This is another game we really need though. We can’t afford many more losses to unranked teams. Hopefully a solid performance against KState gets us on a roll and we don’t get caught up in Ames.

News and Notes (and a rant)

• With all of the foul trouble our bigs were in against Texas, I’m perplexed as to why Gerun didn’t get any playing time. He’s a tall guy and supposedly one of our best shooters, why not get him on the floor?
• Ditto for Matt Humphrey and Aaron Brown. Aaron Brown was our leading 3 point shooter last year. Matt Humphrey has been a good shooter in his career. Why aren’t they getting any playing time?
• Is it just me, or is the quality of officiating worse than it’s ever been? I thought the switch to the Big 12 and Tim Higgin’s retirement would bring better officiating, but that hasn’t been the case so far. I’m not blaming any of our losses on the refs, we create our own problems and losses, but the officials just seem to miss so many obvious calls. For example, in the waning minutes of regulation, a Texas forward blatantly pushed Noreen out of the way under the hoop then proceeded to get the ball for an easy layup. No call. With just over a minute in the game, the ball clearly goes off a Texas defender and out of bounds, and the refs give the ball to Texas. Henderson appeared to get fouled on multiple three point attempts. No call. Officials are blowing their whistles and calling a foul before the foul actually occurs. The bad calls go both ways. It’s ridiculous and it is hurting the integrity of the game. It amazes me that that NCAA regulates every minute detail of certain aspects of the game, but largely stay out of officiating. It’s time for someone to step in and do something to improve the quality and consistency of the officiating. It’s embarrassing for major college basketball teams to be playing with these terrible officials.