LOS ANGELES — Having covered college basketball for nearly a quarter of century, there has been one prevailing truth that has held up through the years: Never has a ref decided a game. Never.
Seton Hall fans want to go back to that 1989 NCAA title game when the Pirates got the shortest whistle in the biggest of moments? Fine. John Clougherty swallowed so hard, I think he gave Urban Meyer esophageal spasms.
But the Pirates also were outscored 18-4 off the bench and John Morton was just 11-of-25 from the field.
The refs didn’t cost St. John’s the game on Saturday, although they surely didn’t do much to help the visiting team. By now you know the disparity in free throw attempts.
UCLA went to the line 41 times in its 66-59 victory over St. John’s on Saturday and the Bruins might still be taking free throws except all sporting events were mandated to end before kickoff of Super Bowl XLV.
The Johnnies went to the line seven times. UCLA made 27 free throws. St. John’s made five. In a seven-point game, the home team outscored the visiting team by 22 points.
Instead of asking for crime scene tape to ring the court at Pauley Pavilion, St. John’s coach Steve Lavin, smiling like the cat that was choking on a powder blue and gold UCLA canary, discussed the toughness needed to win on the road.
“We tell our guys when you go on the road, you have to be that much better because there are factors you have to overcome,” he said, pausing to rinse and spit on several occasions. “That’s why they call it the home court advantage.”
One disgruntled member of the St. John’s traveling party called it a home job, or perhaps he was hacking into his pocket hankie and I misheard. This, too, is open to interpretation:
One of the refs that worked the St. John’s-UCLA game, Mike Reed, called a technical on Lavin in the Red Storm’s season-opening loss at St. Mary’s.
“When one of our teams agrees to go as far West as the Pac 10 or the Mountain West they have two choices,” Dan Gavitt, the Big East’s associate commissioner for basketball, told The Post. “They can ask to bring officials from the Big East or they can ask for a crew from a third conference.”
If not, the home team uses its conference officials. A Pac 10 crew worked Saturday’s game and a Big East crew will work the return engagement next year in the Garden (date and time TBD).
This sets up the potential for skepticism, which isn’t fair to the players, coaches and refs. It’s a lose, lose, lose.
Within 24 hours of the end of the game one Big East coach, one former Big East coach and one Pac 10 assistant coach texted to express their chagrin over the officiating. The consensus was this was a classic case of officials not being familiar with a team from a conference known for its physical style of play.
“One of the first things the veteran coaches in the league teach you is never take a team west without your officials,” said one coach.
In the moment, this was just one game. But there is a bigger picture. In his post-game remarks, victorious coach Ben Howland said, “Overall, I am pleased with the win and it will help us with our RPI.”
Which is why it’s crucial for non-conference games played this late in the season to be given every chance to be conducted in as neutral fashion as possible.
There is a good chance St. John’s and UCLA will be NCAA Tournament bubble teams. RPIs, wins against Top 10 teams, strength of schedule and all those other criteria will be considered.
As of today, both of these teams seem worthy of an at-large berth. Wouldn’t it be a shame if the one from New York didn’t get in because of a game it lost in February at UCLA — a game in which home court advantage unintentionally was taken to the extreme?