Officiating was the big story coming out of the Iowa–UConn game as the contest was ultimately decided on an illegal screen call that has divided college hoops fans across the country.
Some say the referee should have had a better understanding of the moment and swallowed the whistle on a call like that. Others simply look at the clear illegal screen and believe the ref did right by assessing a foul that was warranted. Former Villanova coach Jay Wright was of the first opinion and said he’d be quite ticked off if he was UConn coach Geno Auriemma.
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“If I was Geno, I would be upset,” said Wright on the TBS Final Four pregame show the next day, explaining the unspoken dynamics at play late in a close game like that, especially one of such stakes.
“There’s an un-talked-about phenomenon in basketball with officiating called advantage, disadvantage. The referees really can’t talk about it, coaches really aren’t supposed to talk about it. But at the end of the game there, there’s the great referees — and we all know who they are when we’re coaching — that just have a feel. Like, was an advantage gained there?”
Even Jay Wright, who didn’t like the call, did have to admit the screen was illegal. But his issue comes with whether that sort of foul needs to be called in that moment.
“By the letter of the law, the screener’s feet were too wide, she moved her shoulder, it’s a foul. But did that really impact whether the offensive player was going to get the ball or not? Probably not. It’s one of those things as a coach, you just wish the official maybe had a feel for the end of the game situation.”
An underrated part of the play is that Iowa senior Gabbie Marshall, who was fouled, did a nice job selling it and was knocked pretty far back by the screen from UConn’s center. If she fight through it a little harder, perhaps the referee doesn’t see the need to blow it.
Either way, the foul was committed and called. After the game, Auriemma himself shared a brief comment on the call and didn’t seem to pleased with it.
“There’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession,” Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said in the postgame. “I just know there were three or four of them called on us and I don’t think there were any called on them. So I guess we just gotta get better on not setting illegal screens.”
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