Last night I watched a college basketball game between 2 unranked teams.  The first half was unbelievable! It was fast-paced, exciting, and loaded with highlights.  The second half, not so good.  The officials began blowing their whistles on EVERYTHING... 6 fouls were called in the first 70-seconds of the second half!  In fact the first seven minutes of the second half, took THIRTY minutes of actual time!  The final 1:30 got good again because of the absence of most of the "whistles".

But this is my point.  Over-officiating ruins games.  Basketball can be a great game to watch when you let the players play.  I'm real tired of the team that does the best job "fooling the refs" winning the game.  I admit that I could not do their job.  However, basketball referees, more than other referees, get a crazy amount of calls wrong yet they keep on blowing their whistles!  It can kill a game.

I really do hate seeing games won at the free throw line.  How many times have you seen Duke or Kansas (or any top team) win a close game because they shot 38 free throws vs. their opponents 18 ?!?  And how many times in a game do you see a marquis player fly into the paint, out of control with no hope of getting a shot off, be SAVED by the whistle and a contact foul ?  To me it's ridiculous.

Last night I saw both the great game that I love and the lousy game I can't stand ... all in one game!  Tonight we get Duke against Kentucky and Kansas against Michigan State.  If there were ever 2 games to "just let them play" and keep the whistles to a necessary minimum, these would be the ones.  I hope tonight that the highlights all happen when the clock is running, not by some guy going 16-for-18 at the line.  

Kentucky v Wichita State
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