MORGANTOWN — Having long been a proponent of making basketball referees more accessible and accountable, Bob Huggins’ message may have hit more of a national audience on Feb. 17.
Following the 20th-ranked WVU men’s basketball team’s 77-69 loss against No. 13 Kansas with ESPN’s GameDay crew inside Allen Fieldhouse — a game in which Huggins was ejected with eight seconds remaining and where the Jayhawks attempted 35 free throws to the Mountaineers’ two — the veteran coach again called for referees to be made accessible to the media following games.
“I don’t know why officials want to be part of the game, but they don’t have to be part of the game that has to answer [questions],” Huggins said in his postgame press conference. “Why aren’t they in here answering your questions?”
To be sure, Huggins pinpointed several mistakes made by the Mountaineers (19-8, 8-6 Big 12), including guard Daxter Miles passing up a 3-point attempt with 1:09 remaining, when Kansas had only a 68-66 lead.
Huggins, who was a Hall of Fame candidate this year and has 837 career victories, also pointed out WVU not taking advantage of some scoring opportunities in the first half and some of the Mountaineers’ 13 turnovers were crucial, but the 35-2 advantage in free-throw attempts by Kansas was simply unfair.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” Huggins said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where we shot two free throws. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where the disparity was 35-2.”
According to Big 12 policy, a basketball referee is made available only to a pool reporter and is never brought out to answer questions in a press conference-type atmosphere.
According to the policy, only a question can be asked of a referee concerning a rule clarification and no questions may be asked of a judgment call.
In order for a pool reporter to question a Big 12 referee following a game, the reporter must first get his question approved by the home school’s media coordinator, who then must escort the reporter to the referee’s locker room.
Once notified that a question has been approved, the head referee will be made available after having time to confer with fellow referees.
The other conferences in the country operate with a similar policy.
“We’re going to bring in 19-and 20-year old kids who don’t get paid and ask them questions,” Huggins said. “You’re going to ask Dax [Miles Jr.] why he didn’t shoot the ball. [The referees] don’t want to get asked, ‘Why didn’t you call this?’ or “Why didn’t you call that?’ ”
On his postgame radio interview, Huggins said he believed referees missed two crucial foul calls that could have made a difference.
“I thought Sags [Konate] got fouled on the jump hook,” with the game tied at 66 with 1:41 remaining, Huggins said. “There’s no question Dax got fouled [with Kansas leading, 70-66, with 12 seconds remaining. We had no chance. No chance.”
In all, WVU was whistled for 26 fouls and senior point guard Jevon Carter fouled out with five seconds remaining.
Kansas was whistled for 14 fouls with no player getting charged with more than three.
“The sad part is they don’t need that,” Huggins said of Kansas. “They’re a good team. They’re well-coached. They don’t need somebody to do that. I’ll tell you what, there is something wrong when you do that to kids who played their hearts out.”
By the end of the game, Huggins said his frustrations toward the referees simply boiled over and that he deserved the two technical fouls and the ejection.
“I feel so bad for my kids that I can’t not say something,” Huggins said.
