Did The Officials T Up Aboya For His "African Accent"?

by Nestor on Jan 25, 2009 6:51 PM PST in Basketball Comment 21 comments

The LA Times has this report on AA2 getting his first techincal of his entire freaking career (emphasis added)

The Bruins were leading by three points and had stopped Washington on defense. But then Aboya leaned over fallen Huskies guard Venoy Overton.

"I told him to stop flopping because he always flops," Aboya said. "And I tried to help him up."

The officials called taunting. Washington got two foul shots and possession of the ball, and began to take control of the game.

Afterward, Overton still wasn't sure exactly what had transpired between him and the UCLA center from Cameroon.

"He's got a little accent. He's from Africa," Overton said. "So I couldn't understand what he was saying."

And here was Coach Howland's take on the bizarre situation which turned out to be one of the key turning point in the second half:

"I'm sure it was just misread by the official because he's not the kind of kid that would taunt anybody,'' Howland said. "That's just not in his nature. Al said he went to pick the kid up and the official said, 'No, he never leaned over to help him up and he got right in his face and taunted him.'
"Just knowing Al for four years, I'd be surprised.''

Just think about it for a second. We are talking about the same kid who acted with nothing but class after being subjected to one of the most brutal cheapshots in recent history of Pac-10 basketball.

Pac-10 is lucky because it is a conference featuing a number of wonderful schools with unmatched athletic programs. It's too bad it is constantly let down with an incompetent group of administrative officials from top to bottom turning the conference into a but off jokes around the country.

I wonder if the officiating crew will have the guts to spell out exactly what they thought AA2 had said that merited that techincal. I guess I will not hold my breath considering the track record of these incompetent officials from probably the worst managed major conference in today's college athletics.

You know someone like Coach Howland has too much class to think out his thoughts on these clowns out loud, but we can certainly speak up.

GO BRUINS.

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If that's all he said then that's terrible

I don’t like us talking to the other team like that in the first place, but there’s no way that’s deserving of a technical.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 25, 2009 6:58 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Uhh

He has an accent but its really not that hard to understand him

by lil eg not cs on Jan 25, 2009 7:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yep ... I know

That’s why Overton’s comment is so freaking ridiculous (and so far one of the few explanations that stick out for him getting a T). Someone from the officials still needs to provide a specific explanation on what was said.

by Nestor on Jan 25, 2009 7:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Confirms what I've been thinking and saying

AA2 is a classy kid. it was impossible to believe he said something worthy of a T.

And, it confirms what shitty ref’s we have — a complete disgrace to the conference.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Jan 25, 2009 8:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Any time I see yet another thing to add to the SPTR's

I just have to pray the new commissioner will do something about it.

Along those lines, has anyone heard anything new about the search for the new commissioner? Hansen is out in 6 months so I’d think there would be some progress in the near future.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 25, 2009 8:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The refs should be T'ed up

for their “Stupid Accent”.

But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.

by tasser10 on Jan 25, 2009 8:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Here's what I posted last night on another board...

How much crap does Alfred have to take?
————————————————————————————————————————
Posted by NJBruin on January 24, 2009 at 19:51:15

Now that I’m hearing about that tech on Alfred (the most heroic Bruin on this year’s team), I just wonder how much crap he’s expected to take? Last year, he gets nailed in the face with what has to be one of the biggest chicken s**t plays of the year. Now this year, he’s get’s clobbered by Brockman’s elbow and has to watch him shoot FTs while he’s sponging his own blood off his face.

by mplsbruin on Jan 25, 2009 8:23 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Review

From the questionable charge on Air Bud at the end of the UA-ASU game to the disparity in free throw attempts during this swing through Washington (for both UCLA (15 to 43 attempts) and sc (17 to 40 attempts)) to the fouls on Aboya… No one is safe from these refs. There has to be some process to independently review the officiating. Leaving it up to Pac-10 administration is not enough. After the review of the no call for the ball that was thrown off Aboya’s face, I have no confidence in the Pac-10’s ability to be fair. They seem intent on covering their @$$3$ rather than uphold high standards.

by Westwood is the best wood on Jan 25, 2009 9:26 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Refereeing is a duty assigned to each individual conference

The NCAA doesn’t monitor it until the NCAA tournament so there isn’t a higher up to go to. Hopefully the new commissioner makes the horrible officiating a priority.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 25, 2009 10:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Facepalm

I should be surprised. But I’m not.

I’m going to be so glad when Hansen is gone. I think it really says something when we have to worry about stuff like this every freaking game. All I want is a little consistency. Call the game as tight or as loose as you want, but make sure that what is a foul now is still going to be a foul five minutes from now. Make sure that what is a foul 23 feet from the basket is still a foul 5 feet from the basket. At least that way the players can adjust early in the game.

And most of all, let’s FIRE the frickin prima donna refs that think the fans go to the games and tune in to watch them blow their whistles. They know who they are.

by Tydides on Jan 25, 2009 10:09 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think we need to start a tom hansen lack of appreciation thread

I’m sure we are going to see a bunch of tributes now that he is retiring. I will remember him for:

1) Almost zero national television exposure for men’s basketball

2) The worst football bowl tie ins of any major conference.

3) the worst officials in men’s college basketball

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 26, 2009 8:47 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs

SPTR's Are Bad In Football, Too

I wonder if they are bad, across the board, in all sports, including non-revenue.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Jan 26, 2009 9:36 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If my memory serves,

They seem to be pretty decent in most of the minor sports (at least the one’s I’ve watched):
-In about 10 games this year, women’s basketball refs have been pretty shaky, and can be really inconsistent with the foul calls, but it’s never been quite as bad as this game, or some football games.
-In about half the tennis matches last year, no problems I can remember.
-In most of the soccer games, this and last year, nothing really game changing, IIRC. That said, I feel like I remember one of the women’s games towards the end of this year (maybe in the playoffs) was really shady, but we managed to win anyway. Also, in the men’s game against Indiana earlier this season, IIRC, the game got totally out of hand for 10-15 mins, Indiana got a couple cheap goals and we definitely didn’t respond well.

(These were all home games)

by jaffa on Jan 26, 2009 3:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Not-Pac 10

But Marvin in volleyball is usually pretty good

by lil eg not cs on Jan 26, 2009 8:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I've been trying to figure out the fastest way to identify the bad refs

There is a loose correlation between the flamboyance with which a ref makes a call and his likeliness to get “involved” with a game (his ego). These are the guys that really punctuate their “and 1” calls by punching the air or some other equally useless gesture. Another red flag is the manner in which the charge and block calls are done. If I see another middle aged man do a full on pelvic thrust to accentuate a blocking call or practically sprint down the court in making a charging call, I will hurl.

by Tydides on Jan 26, 2009 11:01 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Lol

Agreed. You would think some of these clowns were trying out for Cirque du Soleil with their “moves” on the Court.

No one paid to watch the refs. And, God help us all if anyone paid to watch free throws, the most excruciatingly boring part of the sport.

As you said earlier, either call the game close or don’t call it close, but be consistent. Is it that f*ing hard?

When one side shoots 20 or 30 more FTs than the other side (and there is no Hack A Shaq going on), the result of the game has been unfairly affected.

by Barnes2JJ on Jan 26, 2009 11:31 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Pac-10 Officials and Guts? Ha!

They’re spineless when it comes to making the correct calls. This is clearly an example of a SPTR making an asinine call because of what he assumed had happened instead of actually opening his eyes and ears to what did happen.

by UCLA4Life on Jan 26, 2009 9:23 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

2 things

If Overton didn;t even understand what Aboya said then how did the ref see it as taunting?

In the SuC- UW game they called one of their famous “can’t decide if it’s a block or a charge so lets call a double foul” calls. Correct me if im wrong but it is either a block or a charge. There is no possible way that it can be both.

by lil eg not cs on Jan 26, 2009 12:37 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

On the taunting question

I think it was simply that it appeared that Aboya got in his face, regardless of what was said. It looked like he kind of hovered over him while he was on the ground. I think that is how they called it even though Aboya might have been whispering sweet nothings for all anyone knew at the time.

On the block/charge question, you are right. It cannot be both. If that is how they called it, they are morons. If they were totally confused, they probably should have called no foul or they should have made up their minds and called a foul on one person.

by Barnes2JJ on Jan 26, 2009 12:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Aboya got in his face

And a good referee would’ve just warned Aboya as a first offense. There was nothing leading up to that incident that suggested anything was coming to a boil. Nope, that was a case of a SPTR’s ego going completely out of control and currying favors from the home crowd. Why is Libby still a ref?

by UCLA4Life on Jan 26, 2009 2:00 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure

he may have leaned down to pull him up.

But, completely agree on not calling a T at that point of the game. Lead changing on each possession — we pull ahead and they get 2 FT’s and the ball. Game changing call.

That’s not to say we played perfectly down the stretch but that call was BAD.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Jan 26, 2009 3:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs