SEC officating needs some repair and Tim Higgins is a good place to start...

Tim Higgins needs to retire

There is an unspoken rule among Sports writers – never criticize an official. Now that I am no longer a sports writer but a blogger that rule doesn’t apply to me.  It is a silly rule anyway. To maintain that sports officials are above criticism and don’t really affect the outcome of games is crazy. In fact, and I want to make this perfectly clear – writers, bloggers, authors, TV Commentators, and my mother ought to tell it like it is when a referee makes bad calls.

My buddy, the esteemed Robert J.Bob Bentley, says things always even out. I respect Bob’s basketball opinions greatly. He is usually spot on about almost every prediction or observation he makes.  He is of the “don’t knock the ref” school.  J.Bob you have chosen the wrong school to attend.  Higgins made three critical and incorrect calls in the last thirty seconds of the Vandy game that probably cost Alabama a huge road win.

1.        Calling a foul on Trevor Releford who was pulling his hand away from the Vandy shooter, and with at least three feet of separation between he and Tinsley was laughable.  It was one of those “let’s give the home team a gift” calls.  It changed the strategy of how Bama approached a possible final possession

2.        Green steps out of bounds on the ensuing possession.  Not counting the fact that Green was fouled so hard that a grand jury could be convened, he simply did not step out of bounds. Replays clearly showed he was a full six inches inside the Court. Nor did the ball hit the baseline.  Higgins had a horrible angle. Rather than being directly on the baseline he chose to move to a point where it might appear that Green stepped out.  Green would have shot two free throws and Vandy would have to fight for a winning shot.  They might have gotten it. With that horrendous oversight five young kids were denied a chance to win. How bad a call was it? So bad that Anthony Grant went old school ballistic and he had every right to do so.

3.       Denying Grant a time out before the Vandy free throw shooter was handed the ball. Yep, that’s what happened, and Higgins looked up the Court when Grant asked for the time out, and said “no”. The rule book says the time out is discretional. I have never seen one not given, have you? How bad was the failure to give a timeout? Grant went so ballistic he ran up and down the baseline and had a few choice words for Higgins when the two met.  Forget that horse manure about Higgins showing restraint for not calling a technical on Coach. That’s like telling a jury that the thief could have stolen the TV but chose not to.

Here’s my take.  In key situations replay could be used to make correct calls. I’m not saying that everything could be reviewed. But in the last two minutes of a game they could.  J.Bob would tell me that the home team deserves those calls. I think he really means they expect those calls.  Sorry, they don’t deserve them, and shouldn’t expect them either.

Higgins has been a open sore on the SEC’s butt for years. He needs to move on to retirement and let a younger better man have the whistle.  His bad calls were not the classic charge or block situation. Each was a poorly judged call or poor judgment was used in a discretionary spot.  Mr. Higgins you are not the center of the earth regardless of what you believe. You are a flat earther.  It is appalling that you could miss or make such calls. Even worse it is ghastly that the SEC can’t find someone to run the officials behavior and eliminate such horseshit.  I’m sure that the officials made some bad calls that had an effect of Vandy.  No one can be perfect. But this showboating of officials with demonstrative movements only draw attention to themselves and hurts their ability to focus on making the call. On the end line call Higgins was getting ready to make the call as soon as Green went to the baseline. Was Higgins thinking about a call or was he thinking about some grandiose movement?  Are we going to have referees that are non-biased on the road or do we need to start having a panel of judges scoring the choreographed calls of a wheel head?

Hey , don’t get me started about the mugging that Tony Mitchell endured around the one minute mark. No call on a clear foul that was so hard the versatile Mitchell was knocked to the floor?  The official who let it go?  Gee that be Higgins now wouldn’t it?  The SEC should step in and take affirmative action to correct an unbearable problem.  They moved quickly to make Cam Newton eligible. Surely every SEC game is as important as one player. So let me be crystal clear about what I am saying about Tim Higgins. You cheated and helped Vanderbilt win.  I think you did it on purpose. I also think you are not alone in the morass known as SEC basketball officiating. It is a systemic problem.