Game - Miami (FL) @ North Carolina - Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Line - North Carolina -5
Result - North Carolina wins 69-62, covering the 5-point spread
Tony Greene worked his 64th Division 1 game of the 2009-2010 season tonight when he was in Chapel Hill, NC, for the match-up between the Miami Hurricans and the North Carolina Tar Heels. North Carolina entered the game as a 5-point favorite, according to the Las Vegas Hilton. Early on it seemed like Tony Greene must have had dinner reservations at one of the Triangle's finer restaurants (Magnolia Grill in Durham, perhaps?) as ITGOTT seriously didn't notice him making calls one way or the other. There certainly didn't seem to be any questionable calls that could have been interpreted as an attempt to influence the spread. As for the game itself, which is one of the most boring and irrelevant games ITGOTT has reviewed all year long, see below.
Make The Big Calls At The End
The Charge/Block- It Can Go Either Way, So Make Sure It Goes Your Way
After 35 minutes of excitement-free basketball and minimal officiating, North Carolina led by 5 points - EXACTLY the spread - with 5 minutes to play. Then came a charge/block call, only the second one ITGOTT noticed the entire game (a stark contrast to Saturday's Tony Greene game, in which there were 8 or 9 charge/block calls). Tony Greene made a blocking call against Miami's Reggie Johnson (his fifth foul) as North Carolina's John Henson careened into the lane.
Even though the Hurricanes drained a couple of threes and cut the lead to one, it was the Tar Heels who executed at the end, getting a couple of key offensive rebounds and converting some second chance points.
Still, with just one minute to go, the Tar Heel lead was four - within one point of the 5-point spread. After Miami scored with 38 seconds to go, the officials step in to call a ticky-tack foul on Miami's Durand Scott 75 feet from the basket and send North Carolina's Will Graves to the line. The free throws push the Tar Heel lead to 4. After Miami missed an ill-advised, rushed three-point attempts, the Hurricanes were forced to foul. The Tar Heels converted their free throws during the last 30 seconds of the game and were able to win 69-62, barely covering the 5-point spread
Summary
In a game where the spread (not the outcome) came down to whether Miami could hit late shots and North Carolina made late free throws as Miami intentionally fouled, it would be tough to see that the officiating affected the spread. Nonetheless, ITGOTT was dedicated and watched a March regular season match-up of ACC bottom-feeders. Aren't we dedicated?
Showing posts with label Les Jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Jones. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Game 16 - Missouri @ Vanderbilt - Dec. 2, 2009
GAME - Missouri @ Vanderbilt; Wednesday, December 2, 2009
LINE - Vanderbilt - 3 1/2
RESULT - Vanderbilt covers, winning 89-83
Tony Greene popped up in Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Vanderbilt University tonight, working his 16th college basketball game of the season and his first televised game in more than a week. ITGOTT was there to review his performance.
This was the most exciting game Tony Greene has worked all year, and he made a call with 22.2 second to go that almost certainly affected the betting outcome. More on that later.
If The Team You Are Helping Has Bigger Players, Let The Game Be More Physical
Vanderbilt had an enormous size advantage, with Mizzou missing two of its bigger players, and the first half was very physical. The officials let them play early, and Vandy streaked out early; Mizzou came back; then Vandy streaked again to enjoy a 6-point halftime lead.
Tony Greene went largely unnoticed early, but the other two officials - Les Jones and Pat Adams - made several calls that went AGAINST Vanderbilt, earning the ire of the Vandy crowd. A call that went against Vandy was made by an out-of-position Les Jones with 4:53 to go in the first half, and Vandy coach Kevin Stallings was not impressed.
A note on Les Jones: while this blog reviews Tony Greene's work, of course ITGOTT notices other officials. And tonight Les Jones was VERY noticeable. He seemed to be out of position, often trailing the play, all night. It was as if he was out of shape and unable to keep up with the action. And if he demonstrated a visible 10-second count once tonight, ITGOTT never saw it. Truly a bad performance.
When Things Are Going Your Way, Swallow Your Whistle
Missouri's shooting was so poor, and Vanderbilt's size advantage and rebounding so dominant (at games end, Vandy outrebounded Mizzou 45-24) that the Commodores slowly nudged their lead to double digits. With 5 1/2 minutes to play, Vanderbilt led by 14, easily covering the spread.
Use Calls To Stop Momentum Of The Team You Are Not Helping
But Missouri went to work and began hitting their shots and forcing repeated Vanderbilt turnovers. With momentum beginning to swing Missouri's way, Tony Greene steps in and makes a call with 3:54 to go sends Vandy to the line and they push their lead back to 4, where it remains until 2:30 to play. The spread is definitely in doubt, in either direction.
Make The Big Call At The End
The Charge/Block Call - It Can Always Go Either Way, So Make Sure It Goes Your Way
With Vandy clinging to a 3-point lead inside of a minute to play, no calls are made at all during frenetic segment with both teams battling, sttempting steals, making turnovers, etc. With 22 seconds to go and Mizzou STILL down three and with the ball, Mizzou guard JT Tiller drives to the hoop and his shot is swatted out of bounds.
Whistles blow. A foul is called. Tony Greene signals charge on Tiller, giving Vanderbilt the ball with a 3-point lead and 22 seconds to play. According to Jay Williams, working color commentary for ESPNU, Pat Adams signals a block on Vanderbilt, giving Tiller free throws.
Guess who wins this battle. Our man Tony Greene. Even though Jay Williams says clearly that the Vandy player was "moving" and the call should have been a block, Tony Greene prevails. Mizzou is forced to foul, and Vandy's free throws result in a 6-point win. Vandy covers the spread, and Tony Greene's big call with 22.2 seconds to go preserves that cover.
LINE - Vanderbilt - 3 1/2
RESULT - Vanderbilt covers, winning 89-83
Tony Greene popped up in Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Vanderbilt University tonight, working his 16th college basketball game of the season and his first televised game in more than a week. ITGOTT was there to review his performance.
This was the most exciting game Tony Greene has worked all year, and he made a call with 22.2 second to go that almost certainly affected the betting outcome. More on that later.
If The Team You Are Helping Has Bigger Players, Let The Game Be More Physical
Vanderbilt had an enormous size advantage, with Mizzou missing two of its bigger players, and the first half was very physical. The officials let them play early, and Vandy streaked out early; Mizzou came back; then Vandy streaked again to enjoy a 6-point halftime lead.
Tony Greene went largely unnoticed early, but the other two officials - Les Jones and Pat Adams - made several calls that went AGAINST Vanderbilt, earning the ire of the Vandy crowd. A call that went against Vandy was made by an out-of-position Les Jones with 4:53 to go in the first half, and Vandy coach Kevin Stallings was not impressed.
A note on Les Jones: while this blog reviews Tony Greene's work, of course ITGOTT notices other officials. And tonight Les Jones was VERY noticeable. He seemed to be out of position, often trailing the play, all night. It was as if he was out of shape and unable to keep up with the action. And if he demonstrated a visible 10-second count once tonight, ITGOTT never saw it. Truly a bad performance.
When Things Are Going Your Way, Swallow Your Whistle
Missouri's shooting was so poor, and Vanderbilt's size advantage and rebounding so dominant (at games end, Vandy outrebounded Mizzou 45-24) that the Commodores slowly nudged their lead to double digits. With 5 1/2 minutes to play, Vanderbilt led by 14, easily covering the spread.
Use Calls To Stop Momentum Of The Team You Are Not Helping
But Missouri went to work and began hitting their shots and forcing repeated Vanderbilt turnovers. With momentum beginning to swing Missouri's way, Tony Greene steps in and makes a call with 3:54 to go sends Vandy to the line and they push their lead back to 4, where it remains until 2:30 to play. The spread is definitely in doubt, in either direction.
Make The Big Call At The End
The Charge/Block Call - It Can Always Go Either Way, So Make Sure It Goes Your Way
With Vandy clinging to a 3-point lead inside of a minute to play, no calls are made at all during frenetic segment with both teams battling, sttempting steals, making turnovers, etc. With 22 seconds to go and Mizzou STILL down three and with the ball, Mizzou guard JT Tiller drives to the hoop and his shot is swatted out of bounds.
Whistles blow. A foul is called. Tony Greene signals charge on Tiller, giving Vanderbilt the ball with a 3-point lead and 22 seconds to play. According to Jay Williams, working color commentary for ESPNU, Pat Adams signals a block on Vanderbilt, giving Tiller free throws.
Guess who wins this battle. Our man Tony Greene. Even though Jay Williams says clearly that the Vandy player was "moving" and the call should have been a block, Tony Greene prevails. Mizzou is forced to foul, and Vandy's free throws result in a 6-point win. Vandy covers the spread, and Tony Greene's big call with 22.2 seconds to go preserves that cover.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Game 3: Tony Greene works East Carolina-Wake Forest - Sunday, Nov. 15
GAME: East Carolina vs. Wake Forest at Greensboro, NC; Sunday, November 15, 2009
LINE: Wake Forest -16 1/2
RESULT: Wake Forest covers, winning by 31
Tony Greene worked his third game of the 2009-2010 college basketball season today in a match-up of East Carolina and Wake Forest from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC.
Although technically a home game for East Carolina, there were very few fans of either team in the venue, which is much closer to Wake Forest's campus in Winston-Salem, NC, than it is to East Carolina's campus in Greenville, NC. Those are the things "mid-majors" must do to get big-time teams to play them; the mid-major has to agree to play it's "home" game in a "neutral" location that favors the big-time team.
It is important to note the betting line for today's game. Wake Forest opened as a 9 1/2 point favorite, yet at game time, the Demon Deacons were 16 point favorites. In other words, so much money came in on Wake Forest that casinos had to adjust their line by a whopping 6 1/2 points, trying to entice bettors to bet on East Carolina. For a point of reference, there was no other line in today's college basketball games that moved as much - apparently, there was a disproportionate amount of money on Wake Forest.
During the game, it was obvious that Wake Forest was the better team. 16 points better? Maybe, maybe not. But it seemed to ITGOTT that the officials, including Tony Greene, were intent on allowing Wake Forest, clearly a bigger and stronger team, to be must more physical on the defensive end than they were allowing East Carolina. (Note: the other officials were Mike Stuart and Les Jones).
This was so egregious to East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy that he actually received a technical foul during halftime. His protests of some no-calls on Wake Forest's defense earned him the ire of the officiating crew, and thus a technical foul call. ITGOTT always notes technical fouls on coaches for protesting calls, because we believe an official "on the take" could easily use a technical foul as a TRIPLE whammy, favoring the team he needs to cover.
The technical foul triple whammy:
First, the technical foul silences the coach of the team being cheated. Fearing getting a second technical foul and being ejected, the coach is likely to protest LESS after the technical foul, thus drawing less attention to the official on the take.
Second, it gives "free" points to the team being helped. In a game where the outcome is not in doubt but the point spread is, a couple of free points here and there can go totally unnoticed by everyone other than bettors.
Third, officials are most likely to assess technical fouls when their integrity is questioned. All officials know they will miss calls here and there, and usually are OK with coaches yelling at them about that. But question their integrity? Officials are much more likely to be offended by this if they really ARE on the take, don't you think?
During the early portion of the second half, Wake Forest extended its lead to 28 points, but a spurt by East Carolina, aided by several three pointers, pulled the lead back to 20 points. The point spread was threatened, and on two of the next three East Carolina offensive possessions, obvious fouls on Wake Forest were ignored by Tony Greene. As the TV commentators pointed out that Wake Forest was pulling away, a shot of an incredulous East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy lingered on the TV screen. Apparently afraid to questions the officials, perhaps due to the technical he received at halftime, Coach McCarthy stood silently bemused, appearing to be defeated by not only the superior talent of the Demon Deacons but also the officiating crew.
(Note: Mike Stuart also contributed to the Wake Forest run, calling a three-second call on an East Carolina offensive possession.)
It should be noted that, with 13:17 left in the game, a shot by East Carolina that was "clearly tipped", according to the commentators, out of bounds by Wake Forest was ruled to be Wake Forest's ball. "All three officials clearly missed that one," the commentators said, "Mack McCarthy can't even get the officials to meet to talk about it." Wake Forest scored on the ensuing possession to increase its lead to nearly 30, safely above the 16 1/2 point spread. It should be noted that refusing to work as an officiating team could be an easy tactic for an official on the take, preferring to stick to what HE claims he saw rather than asking his fellow officials for help in case he missed something.
An official on the take dealing with a large spread needs to be careful to get the spread "covered" before the end of the game. As in many games with large spreads, Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio was unconcerned with the spread and spent the last 10 minutes of the game getting playing time for his reserves. As such, the 30 point deficit Wake Forest obtained with about 10 minutes to go was steady until the end of the game, which Wake Forest won by 31, easily covering the 16 1/2 point spread.
LINE: Wake Forest -16 1/2
RESULT: Wake Forest covers, winning by 31
Tony Greene worked his third game of the 2009-2010 college basketball season today in a match-up of East Carolina and Wake Forest from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC.
Although technically a home game for East Carolina, there were very few fans of either team in the venue, which is much closer to Wake Forest's campus in Winston-Salem, NC, than it is to East Carolina's campus in Greenville, NC. Those are the things "mid-majors" must do to get big-time teams to play them; the mid-major has to agree to play it's "home" game in a "neutral" location that favors the big-time team.
It is important to note the betting line for today's game. Wake Forest opened as a 9 1/2 point favorite, yet at game time, the Demon Deacons were 16 point favorites. In other words, so much money came in on Wake Forest that casinos had to adjust their line by a whopping 6 1/2 points, trying to entice bettors to bet on East Carolina. For a point of reference, there was no other line in today's college basketball games that moved as much - apparently, there was a disproportionate amount of money on Wake Forest.
During the game, it was obvious that Wake Forest was the better team. 16 points better? Maybe, maybe not. But it seemed to ITGOTT that the officials, including Tony Greene, were intent on allowing Wake Forest, clearly a bigger and stronger team, to be must more physical on the defensive end than they were allowing East Carolina. (Note: the other officials were Mike Stuart and Les Jones).
This was so egregious to East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy that he actually received a technical foul during halftime. His protests of some no-calls on Wake Forest's defense earned him the ire of the officiating crew, and thus a technical foul call. ITGOTT always notes technical fouls on coaches for protesting calls, because we believe an official "on the take" could easily use a technical foul as a TRIPLE whammy, favoring the team he needs to cover.
The technical foul triple whammy:
First, the technical foul silences the coach of the team being cheated. Fearing getting a second technical foul and being ejected, the coach is likely to protest LESS after the technical foul, thus drawing less attention to the official on the take.
Second, it gives "free" points to the team being helped. In a game where the outcome is not in doubt but the point spread is, a couple of free points here and there can go totally unnoticed by everyone other than bettors.
Third, officials are most likely to assess technical fouls when their integrity is questioned. All officials know they will miss calls here and there, and usually are OK with coaches yelling at them about that. But question their integrity? Officials are much more likely to be offended by this if they really ARE on the take, don't you think?
During the early portion of the second half, Wake Forest extended its lead to 28 points, but a spurt by East Carolina, aided by several three pointers, pulled the lead back to 20 points. The point spread was threatened, and on two of the next three East Carolina offensive possessions, obvious fouls on Wake Forest were ignored by Tony Greene. As the TV commentators pointed out that Wake Forest was pulling away, a shot of an incredulous East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy lingered on the TV screen. Apparently afraid to questions the officials, perhaps due to the technical he received at halftime, Coach McCarthy stood silently bemused, appearing to be defeated by not only the superior talent of the Demon Deacons but also the officiating crew.
(Note: Mike Stuart also contributed to the Wake Forest run, calling a three-second call on an East Carolina offensive possession.)
It should be noted that, with 13:17 left in the game, a shot by East Carolina that was "clearly tipped", according to the commentators, out of bounds by Wake Forest was ruled to be Wake Forest's ball. "All three officials clearly missed that one," the commentators said, "Mack McCarthy can't even get the officials to meet to talk about it." Wake Forest scored on the ensuing possession to increase its lead to nearly 30, safely above the 16 1/2 point spread. It should be noted that refusing to work as an officiating team could be an easy tactic for an official on the take, preferring to stick to what HE claims he saw rather than asking his fellow officials for help in case he missed something.
An official on the take dealing with a large spread needs to be careful to get the spread "covered" before the end of the game. As in many games with large spreads, Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio was unconcerned with the spread and spent the last 10 minutes of the game getting playing time for his reserves. As such, the 30 point deficit Wake Forest obtained with about 10 minutes to go was steady until the end of the game, which Wake Forest won by 31, easily covering the 16 1/2 point spread.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)