GAME: Florida State @ Florida; Gainesville, FL; Tuesday, November 24, 2009
LINE: Florida -2 1/2
RESULT: Florida covers, winning 68-52
Just like Huey Lewis and the News, Tony Greene apparently needed a "couple days off." ITGOTT half expected to see Tony Greene turn up in one of the pre-conference tournaments like Maui or Cancun after his brief respite, but instead he turned up officiating a vanilla inter-conference, intra-state match-up in Gainesville, FL.
Perhaps the most easily followed adage ITGOTT can imagine for an official “on the take” is:
When Things Are Going Your Way, Swallow Your Whistle
With just a 2 ½ point spread favoring the home-standing Gators, it was easy to imagine the crowd getting behind their team vs. their rivals, and momentum swinging strongly toward the Florida side. And it did.
Of course, they had to have a little help from the men in stripes.
Get Major Players On The Team You Are Not Helping In Early Foul Trouble
Florida State's Chris Singleton scored his team's first 10 points, and Florida State led 10-8. Then the officials intervened, and called two quick fouls on Singleton, neutering him for the rest of the half. But back to the overall theme.
As soon as the game began tonight, Florida State began making turnovers. And more turnovers. And more turnovers. And tonight’s officiating crew of Tony Greene, Mike Kitts, and Ted Valentine certainly weren’t going to step in and call a hand check or something away from the ball to stop the carnage. They had a lot of opportunities, what with physical play on both ends resulting in 16 Florida State turnovers in the first half, but they only called 7 total fouls during a lightning fast half of basketball (only 3 on Florida).
An 11-0 Florida run, uninterrupted by any calls, broke open the game early and Florida eventually took a huge 20-point lead into the halftime break.
With the 2 ½ point spread easily covered, this game could simply have been a matter of running out the clock. But with Singleton back in the game, and playing aggressively, the Seminoles cut the lead to 12 within the first 5 minutes of the second half and all the way down to a 5-point lead with 12 minutes to play.
The Charge/Block Call - It Can Always Go Either Way, So Make Sure It Goes Your Way
Use Calls To Stop Momentum Of The Team You Are Not Helping
So the men in stripes stepped in, with Ted Valentine calling a key charge call on FSU as they drove for a bucket that would have cut the lead to 3, and then with Mike Kitts calling a push on a Florida player as he snagged a key rebound. These two calls definitely changed the momentum of the game, and the ensuing 6-0 Florida run pushed the lead to double digits.
Then Ted Valentine called Chris Singleton's third call on a great block that should have been a no-call. Even the TV commentators called this a "late call by Ted Valentine" and additionally said that Florida was the "beneficiary" of said call. Tack on a free throw and another bucket, and the Florida lead was back to 14. Then tack on yet another bucket and one, and Florida's 12-0 run after the momentum-changing charge-block call extended the Gator lead to 17. Florida maintained this advantage for the last 7 minutes and went on to win by 16, 68-52.
A stat fact: in the first half, with Florida pulling away, the officials made only 7 total foul calls (4 on FSU, 3 on Florida). In the second half, with Florida State making a run to threaten the spread, the officials asserted themselves much more and made an unbelieveable 24 total foul calls (14 on Florida State, 10 on Florida). And Florida's cover of the spread, in fact, was preserved.
What's interesting here is that Tony Greene wasn't involved in any of the calls we detailed, which stopped Florida State's second-half momentum and sealed up the cover for Florida. Is anyone else on the take? Perhaps multiple officials in cahoots? We'll see how many more games involve both Tony Greene and Ted Valentine or both Tony Greene and Mike Kitts, but ITGOTT can only effort to monitor Tony Greene completely (and undoubtedly we'll miss a few games as the season unfolds).
Showing posts with label Florida State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida State. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Game 9 - Florida State @ Mercer - Nov. 21, 2009
Tony Greene worked his 9th game of the 2009-2010 basketball season this afternoon in Macon, GA. The ACC's Florida State Seminoles traveled to Macon to play the Mercer Bears of the Atlantic Sun Conference. There was an obvious talent differential in this game, with Florida State just being much larger, much faster, and much more talented than Mercer.
ITGOTT couldn't find a betting line on the Mercer-Florida State game anywhere, so a review of Tony Greene's officiating in that light is sort of pointless.
However, there were two officiating trends that ITGOTT noticed, both of which are possible strategies used by an official "on the take."
If The Team You Are Helping Has Bigger Players, Let The Game Be More Physical
This was certainly the case today, as Florida State was just MUCH larger than Mercer. Early on, the play was very, very physical, and Florida State was blocking shot after Mercer shot inside the three-point arc. Pretty quickly, a 6-4 Mercer lead turned into a 21-7 Florida State advantage, and the Seminoles had a commanding lead early. In addition, the physical play allowed by the officials seemed to rattle Mercer, and they were unable to hit many shots at all; the TV commentators repeatedly claimed that "the size of Florida State is intimidating." Had the play been called tight, for example, early on, clearly Mercer would have been favored, but this was not the case.
If You Are Favoring A Heavy Road Favorite, Don't Let The Home Team's Fans Get Into The Game And Motivate Their Team
Mercer has a history of upsetting major conference teams, and this was perhaps their most obvious chance to do that in recent memory. An NCAA-tournament team in Florida State comes to Mercer's little on-campus gym on Homecoming weekend... the game had been sold out for a while... just a LITTLE run by the Mercer Bears could have resulted in a flood of emotion from the partisan crowd. Instead, there was no emotion at all from the crowd, and the Florida State rout was on. Florida State eventually won 89-50.
ITGOTT couldn't find a betting line on the Mercer-Florida State game anywhere, so a review of Tony Greene's officiating in that light is sort of pointless.
However, there were two officiating trends that ITGOTT noticed, both of which are possible strategies used by an official "on the take."
If The Team You Are Helping Has Bigger Players, Let The Game Be More Physical
This was certainly the case today, as Florida State was just MUCH larger than Mercer. Early on, the play was very, very physical, and Florida State was blocking shot after Mercer shot inside the three-point arc. Pretty quickly, a 6-4 Mercer lead turned into a 21-7 Florida State advantage, and the Seminoles had a commanding lead early. In addition, the physical play allowed by the officials seemed to rattle Mercer, and they were unable to hit many shots at all; the TV commentators repeatedly claimed that "the size of Florida State is intimidating." Had the play been called tight, for example, early on, clearly Mercer would have been favored, but this was not the case.
If You Are Favoring A Heavy Road Favorite, Don't Let The Home Team's Fans Get Into The Game And Motivate Their Team
Mercer has a history of upsetting major conference teams, and this was perhaps their most obvious chance to do that in recent memory. An NCAA-tournament team in Florida State comes to Mercer's little on-campus gym on Homecoming weekend... the game had been sold out for a while... just a LITTLE run by the Mercer Bears could have resulted in a flood of emotion from the partisan crowd. Instead, there was no emotion at all from the crowd, and the Florida State rout was on. Florida State eventually won 89-50.
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