Anyone have any kids that play AAU basketball? The more I think about this game, it was officiated exactly like an AAU game. There was no consistency or flow, the refs anticipated contact on a majority of the calls, but allowed way too much contact other times.
My kids play, and I also used to coach AAU. And in HS, 5-8 graders, and CYA church leagues,
Nah, not the same. AAU calls nothing. The refs are on a time schedule to get all the games in. Games start at 8 am and run until 8 pm. If they run 10 minutes over per game from calling fouls, well that's like 2 hours behind by the end of the day. They let pretty much everything go underneath. More aggressive team usually wins. I though it was more like a mid-tier HS game, where nobody can figure out exactly how they are calling it.
I think refs call it pretty well on the outside. They call hand checking, travelling, reach ins, and other basic stuff that is easy to see.
But inside and with big men they are clueless, which in this game hurt Karnowski, Collins, and Meeks. On offense they need to be allowed to bang for position and rebounds. Collins had phantom fouls called on him. He got called for over the back once. There is actually no such call, and the ref clearly used a sign that showed over the back. Look it up, There is no such rule. Fans and parents scream it out all the time. Pushing in the back is a foul. Jumping over someone to get the ball is not. Karnowski got an early moving pick call that was a joke. It's 28 feet from the basket. Let it go. And the last foul on Meeks if anything should have been on Karnowski. Meeks made a great play. He went over the pick, beat Karnowski to the low post spot, they banged, and Meeks got a foul. It was a terrible call. Not only was it called on the wrong person, it took away from a solid D play by Meeks.
Not just in this game, but throughout the tourney, big guys are also protecting the rim. Even if they go straight up, a defender runs into them and their arms come down. Put your hands up, get punched in the stomach, and see what happens to your hands. They come down. Guards on both sides were creating the contact, but the bigs get fouls all the time for playing defense correctly. I think this is more a function of more 3 pointers spreading the court even more, then the offense penetrates and the bigs step in a there's going to be contact. I think the refs need to let more of that contact go.