Hightower: So bad he makes Valentine look good.The Buckeyes lost the game (75-50) and their composure facing the tall order of trying to beat a solid Purdue team on the road combined with the incompetent officiating of Ed Hightower.
To be clear, Purdue was (is) the superior team and deserved to win but I don't know that the Lakers could've gone into West Lafayette and got a win in the face of Hightower's incompetent showmanship, er, officiating.
And props to ESPN's Stephen Bardo for doing what few announcers will do. He continuously called out Hightower's bad calls and totally unnecessary antics accentuating calls showing again he cares more about being on TV than he does anything else.
The time has come for the NCAA to do something about his act. Problem is, he's obviously considered a strong official in some higher up circles as evidenced by his appearances at the Final Four. A quick sampling of his shenanigans today includes:
- Awarding Purdue possession after blatantly throwing the ball away on a fast break with OSU trailing 26-14.
- Under the bucket, he was right in front of a call in which the ball bounced off Chris Kramer and out of bounds with OSU trailing 37-30. Kramer even dropped his hands to the floor in disgust because he knew it was off him but Hightower still blew it drawing a smile from Kramer.
- In the first half, a questionable failure to reset the shot clock after Purdue nearly stole the ball led to OSU calling a timeout but upon the possession restart, the shot clock wasn't reset and of course OSU shot themselves in the foot by failing to get off a shot before the clock ran out.
- My favorite BS call of the day was a phantom moving screen call on Evan Turner with 10:24 left in the game. The whistle gave Turner his fourth foul. Unbelievable call. And of course, Eddie got all theatrical making the most of his airtime on the horrific call.
- One last grasp at unnecessary airtime occurred when he stopped the game to counsel BJ Mullens after he dunked on Robbie Hummel and gave him a very brief scowl.
Again, for any Purdue fans especially, I want to reiterate this is not about sour grapes because Purdue would've won this game if the players reffed the game themselves. This is about the fact it's time for something to be done about the continued incompetence of Hightower. The college game deserves better. The players deserve better. It's time to hang up the whistle. He's so bad he even takes some of the stank off Ted Valentine. That, my friends, is hard to do.
With that off my chest, the game itself was equally frustrating as OSU failed to show much heart outside of a roughly four minute span to close the first half in which they held Purdue to 0/6 from the floor cutting a 32-20 lead to 32-26 at the half before scoring the first four points of the second half further trimming the deficit to 32-30.
The two point game was short lived, however, as Purdue delivered a 17-2 haymaker spanning six minutes to go up 49-32 with 12:56 to play. E'Twaun Moore sparked the run with two triples and Robbie Hummel added four points while OSU went into a death rattle shooting 0/4 with three turnovers. Game over.
Even when OSU drew to 32-30 there was little reason to believe they would keep it close considering the disparity in rebounds (32-17), especially on the offensive glass (13-5), leading to countless second chance points. Purdue scored 10 points on putbacks in the first half alone while the Buckeyes couldn't throw it in the ocean.
The first half was especially brutal as Wil Buford and Jon Diebler combined to make 1/11 shots leaving Turner (10 pts) and P.J. Hill (7 pts) responsible for the heavy lifting. Equally dreadful was the combined efforts of Mullens and Dallas Invisidale. The dynamic duo posted first half numbers of two points and two boards. Sweet.For the game, Turner led the way with 14 points though he had another five turnovers. No other Buckeye reached double figures but it should be noted Hill and Jeremie Simmons combined for 14 points (6/10 FG). Too bad they had four turnovers against three assists.
The worst performance of the day, outside of Hollywood Hightower, belonged to Diebler. He finished with six points on 2/12 shooting bringing his points per game average against the two best teams in the conference to 8.7 against a season average of 11.4 per contest.
I'm sure there's more worth mentioning about today's game but I don't have the energy. I guess I'll just take solace in the fact OSU had no business winning this game nor did the fans have any reason to think winning at Purdue was realistic so it's time to move on.
Matta and company must turn the page because while a 25 point blowout certainly doesn't help the resume, wins at Iowa and over Northwestern should still be enough to secure an NCAA berth.
Comments
Perhaps some farking will contribute to the healing process here: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s...
You left off when Turner got smacked in the head going for the reverse layup which wasn't called....
My simple question is: If Steve Bardo is right, and I believe he is, in saying that road teams have to effectively outscore their home opponents by at least ten points in order to overcome the officials' propensity to favor home teams, then why is this being tolerated? What he is really saying is the athletes and teams must suffer because of the incompetence of the officiating. This is the fault of the NCAA and the Conference leadership. Get the offending officials out and get a new bunch in!!
It may just be a basketball thing. The NBA is no bastion of great officiating either.
It just seems like football and other sports care more about being precise, where with basketball, it's 70% athletic competition, 30% showtime.
No doubt. That was brutal, as well. Happened right in front of him.
Early in today's game Bardo also said "fans don't pay to watch the officiating, they pay to watch the athletes". Hightower reminds me of the young athlete who is constantly looking to make the spectacular play but only succeeds about 5% of the time, the other 95% of the time he creates a turnover or commits a foul. I think Ed is always looking to make the spectacular call, but winds up blowing the call much of the time. He and other officials need to heed what Bardo said and stick to solid, no flair officiating where more calls are accurate. These guys are being compensated at such high levels these days that inferior or incompetent officiating should not be tolerated. Get 'em out!!
This happened in the NFL back in the late '80's early/ '90's with Jerry Markbreit and Jerry Seeman, where any game they officiated became about their calls and how they impacted the game rather than the teams playing the game. You can't let the officials become famous or they will become the game, and take it out of the players hands. I should not be able to name any official in any sport by memory, they should be invisible and interchangable.
Officials are humans and I know they sometimes have off days. But what burns my ass about this jackass is his incessant need to be part of the show. People don't watch the game to see refs doing some fucking dance and looking like a Cirque de Soleil reject. His antics need to stop.
Can Matta and Ohio State file a complaint to the NCAA. I agree with the fact that we would have lost either way, but those calls were ridiculous.
The officiating was poor but the Buckeyes should have overcome the poor calls when they were close coming out of the half-time break.
Purdue fan here, and I don't disagree w/ any of what you said (regarding EH calls or their ultimate impact on the game). IMO, we got the other side of it Thursday @ Mich, when EH & crew effectively took our only inside presense out of the game w/ 3 bad foul calls on JJ. Give Mich credit (hard to do on an OSU board, I know), they played great, shooting 80% in the second half. But I'd prefer to watch games where I felt the officials were not as important to the outcome as they have been at times recently.
Wow is all i can say about those refs. First off someone should take a close look at any major wagers placed on purdue in the last 48 hours. Not only did they miss many fouls against purdue they fucked up atleast 10 other calls.
That said I think we have figured out zone doesn't work. Tri and 2 or str8 man please god! It might help to push the ball. When we do get a rebound they need to outlet the ball and sprint up court.
Diebler became the ghost again. Dallas was dog shit again and continues to play like a zombie. No emotion in a game we needed to win. Buford might be the worst defender ive ever seen. The only thing that comes close to sucking that bad is his rebounding. It wouldn't piss me off so bad if he would get 15 a game. BJ Mullens got two bullshit moving screens called on him. PJ looked good at times so did Simmons and Turner was the man till he picked up a joke of a offensive foul.
If we don't get a couple more wins "Por ti Volare" NCAA tourney.
how about the quick "t" on matta
Is that head of hair on him real? Eventhough we lost by 25, officals can change the momentum of a game with just a couple of bullshit calls. I think this was an example of that. Having said that, with Lighty out, Diebler really needed to step up this year. He hasn't. The only thing that saves him is that he hustles. Beyond that, his shot is horrendous and he cannot be counted on to bang threes with regularity. So far, a real disappointment I think. On a positive note, he is still young, but it appears that he has a head case with his shot.
Hey Buckies - I'm a Purdue fan/alum. I think Purdue was playing great during this game and would have won. I just wish the refs had let Ohio try. A lot of those calls for Purdue offended even me.
I still think we would have won, but at least it wouldn't be a stinky win.
Purdue probably would have won anyway, but our guys totally mailed this one in, looked like they were saving gas for the last two.
Hightower refs too many games a week, how can someone of his age and build not be exhausted this time of year?? The B10 needs to do a better job of rotating fresh officials.
The refs were terrible in that game and caused OSU players to concentrate on not getting a foul called instead of trying to beat Purdue. The refs disrupted the flow of the game like they always do in Big Ten games which always makes me think that one of the reasons players leave early for the NBA is because of the terrible refs. Remember how many fouls Oden had called? Why put up with the crap when you get paid to play. If I had to guess, I bet the Big Ten calls more fouls than any other conference.
I agree that Purdue would have won anyways based on OSU's zone defense that gives up to many threes, but at least it would have been competitive. Luckly, OSU still has two games left which could get them in the tourney.
I say we win the last two, at leats one tourney game, and we lace up the dancin shoes. Only to play zone, shoot like shit, and go out in the first round.
I think if he would shot fake the 3 every once and awhile he could get into the lane with no problem.
who knows with this team. It just seems like if one guy is on everyone else tanks. When everyone is clicking this team is great, however we haven't seen it more than a couple times this year.
"FireEdHightower.com" anyone?
If you Google the words "Ed Hightower" and "hate", you'll find that there are plenty of teams who think Ed Hightower blatantly hates their schools.
totally agree -- losing 4 of 5 at the end of the season aint good, especially looking like total crap in a high profile game. I think we HAVE to win the last two and our first game in the Big 10 tourney if we want to go dancing.
It could be possible that we are tanking on purpose to get a good seed in the NIT - Repeat NIT Champs anyone?
In Big Ten play this season Diebler is shooting nearly 45% from 3 point range (best in the big ten) on 118 attempts. That means the Ohio State offense gets 1.35 points per possession when Diebler attempts a three (not counting offensive rebounds, which unfortunately is not a bad assumption on a Thad Matta team minus Oden, Koufos or Hunter). Overall this year Ohio State is averaging 1.07 points per possession. This all means that one of the best things the Ohio State offense can do is set up a 3 point attempt for Diebler (raises the expected points by 0.28 points per possession). His 118 attempts put him third in the big ten, behind Taylor Battle and Craig Moore, which means he is arguably the best weapon in the Big Ten from long range.
I was on this site last season complaining about how his 29% from beyond the arc was hurting the offense, this year however his shot is a major asset.
If you are looking for what makes this Ohio State team different from those we have seen before under Matta, the answer is on the defensive end.
Year Defense Adj Efficiency (national rank) Opp 3pt% OpOffReb
2005 Man 90.1 (20) 32.4 (53) 30.7 (45)
2006 Man 90.7 (24) 30.7 (11) 32.5 (95)
2007 Manw/Zone 87.9 (15) 33.6 (106) 31.2 (71)
2008 Zone 89.3 (18) 32.0 (33) 35.7 (286)
2009 Zone 97.3 (91) 35.9 (260) 33.6 (217)
The Zone when fully implemented has killed Ohio State’s Reb% on defense. This season the combined effect of the poor rebounding with poor perimeter defense has turned what was always a strength under Matta into a liability.
I can't take anymore about the game, who's voting for me in the whitest on the team election?
Already did. haha
what was up with the Purdue students in green? didn't get to see all the game - maybe it was explained later?
That T was nonsense but it wasn't Hightower it was a white guy.
The students in green was to show their love for Marcus Green, a senior on the Purdue team.
Ed Hightower is the WORST official in college hoops, and he's held that title for at least 20 years. I'm a UC Bearcats fan, and I swear to Christ almighty that UC never won a game that he officiated. He picks a team he wants to win, and they will win. He's the only official that I actually know by name. WORST!
Someone really should do a statistical analysis on the OSU games that this idiot has refereed in the last (almost) thirty years. As an undergraduate back in the 80's I can remember cringing every time I heard the announcers name Hightower among the officials for the games I would go to or watch, because even then, he was just .... plain .... lousy. You just knew we were going to struggle when he was on the crew. It was before he got the plugs, so he was ugly, too.
I am guessing, if the information could be acquired and crunched, that the basketBucks:
- lost at least twice for every game that they won on the road (compared to maybe an overall 40-60 road mark for B10 games without Hightower during his tenure?).
- lost at least twice for every seven B10 games that they won at home (compared to maybe an overall 85+% winning percentage with other referees in that time span).
- someone with enough time to spend and the right tools could definitively prove that not only is this guy a horrible official, but also that he is even worse when he does our games.
When we are forced to have him officiate our games due to rotations, we should be spotted 10 points just to make it close. You're right that it wouldn't have mattered in this game, but the little ticky-tacks early in the game get into the players' heads down the stretch. Like Bardo mentioned - "it's an unwritten rule that the visitors have to play 10 points better"; I think it's a load of crap, for starters, that it is a rule at all, but with Hightower and OSU it's probably more like 20 on the road.
haven't heard the word bastion in awhile nice usage.
Ed Hightowers Stats sheets
http://statsheet.com/mcb/refer...
its obvious that he favors home teams.
Since 97-96' through 08-09' home teams have out scored the visitors by a 10 point average when ed hightower is a ref. All there in black in white.
Well, there had to be some karmic retribution for the (wrongful) ejection of Manny Harris when they played at Purdue. You don't eject a guy for an inadvertant elbow like that.
It's pretty sad that everyone just has to get used to the likelihood that you'll get hosed on the road (for example the refs took the Michigan@Iowa game to overtime with some rotten one-sided officiating). It's consistent across all Big Ten games at this point -- you're going to see at least 5 completely mystifying or wrong calls per game minimum, and most of them will probably go against the road team. And Hightower has really gotten ridiculous. My dad used to ref and even 15 years ago he knew guys who reffed with Hightower and they all hated him because he had an overly high opinion of himself and his importance to the game. The theatrics have somehow only gotten worse since then. Those photoshops by the KU board guys were classic.
But I agree with Jason that it's hard to expect good officiating in college when many of the NBA officials are pretty awful too.
I still remember one of the all-time absurd NCAA officiating performances when Illinois fouled out two entire front lines in an Elite 8 game against Arizona. I guess they did get their revenge a few years later.
It doesn't look like you can filter on point spread, but you can actually filter on the "Largest Home Foul Margin" and Hightower checks in at #2 behind a Pac10/B12 ref (who has only reffed 130 games).
http://statsheet.com/mcb/refer...
Boiler fan here. I too am so annoyed with Hightower (and others) that I wrote the following article:
http://bleacherreport.com/arti...
10 out of 10 Wolverines agree - Hightower is a pox upon all our houses.
Thanks, Kris - just what the doctor ordered. I would love to be able to see ALL of his games (just for grins).