Humblebola

By: Atty. Toby Pavon

A lot has been said about the officiating in the first round of UAAP Season 88. The referees have been under a lot of scrutiny, from the coaches, the fans and even from the armchair analysts like ourselves. But it turns out, nobody scrutinizes these referees more than the Commissioner’s office.

At the start of the season Commissioner Jai Reyes stated his intention to heavily align the officiating with FIBA standards to prepare student-athletes for the international stage. In accomplishing this goal, the UAAP Commissioner has employed several measures to not only maintain, but continue to improve on the standard of excellence he and his team of deputies have set for the referees. These include referee audits in every game, game-time microphones on referees and a database of call-accuracy data which they can use to make decisions.

A lot of fans, myself included, mistakenly believed that nobody was overseeing the calls of these games, and that once a wrong call was made, there would be no recourse but to accept fate. Apparently not. The Commissioner’s office is constantly watching. In fact, every wrong call, every missed call that fans think they see, is recorded, and more.

Take for example, the three plays highlighted in our previously published piece. The Commissioner’s office invited us to see the data on those plays.

On the Jared Bahay three-pointer, the Commissioner’s office had clear footage of Jared Bahay’s toe on the line when the shot was released. The referees correctly called that a long-2. I wrongly called them out on it.

On the goaltending violation called against Mike Phillips, the Commissioner’s office logged it as a wrong call, flagging it as a clean block. However, I wrongly stated that the referees reviewed the call on the spot. According to FIBA Rules, a goaltending call can only be reviewed if it was called in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter or overtime, so it would have been inappropriate for the referees to review the call.

On the Matt Erolon three-pointer, the Commissioner’s office logged it as a wrong call. It was supposed to be a three-pointer. I wrongly believed nobody noticed and that nobody was watching.

So what did we learn?

First, that the Commissioner’s office is always watching. They record and audit every call made during the games, logging missed calls, wrong calls and correct calls. As fans, all we notice are the calls we feel are wrong, what we don’t notice are all the right calls, and there are a lot of them, an overwhelming lot of them. Based on the UAAP’s call-accuracy data, the men’s division has a 92.3% call accuracy for the first round. According to the Commissioner’s office, they use this data to identify which of the referees in the pool are performing at acceptable accuracy levels consistently. Those that don’t meet the UAAP’s accuracy standards are left off the pool for the following games.

By implementing this, the UAAP has set up a system which uses actual data, not just whims and emotions, in determining whether a game was well officiated or poorly officiated. Using this data only the most consistently accurate referees are left in the pool. Referees who have officiated with poor accuracy have been suspended or even banned. The UAAP sees them and holds them to account.

Second, the UAAP is committed to enforcing FIBA standards as it is the pinnacle of non-professional basketball. This means strict implementation of every aspect of those standards, down to which calls may or may not be reviewed, the interpretations of violations, procedure and even bench decorum. Many take it for granted that the UAAP has already been adhering to FIBA regulations for many years and believe that what worked before should continue to work. But there’s a reason there’s so much emphasis on this change, because it is change. With a higher accuracy of calls, it’s possible that teams simply aren’t able to get away with violations that they used to in the past. 

Something as simple as bench decorum and protocol are being standardized, aspects of the game that most people don’t give much thought to. From the number of chairs on the bench, to where players can sit, how they are supposed to come in and out of the court, FIBA regulations means something new for them to learn, and in school is the best place to learn this. Even coaches may need to adjust to the strict implementation of protocols. Coaches who have been around the game longer than many of us have been alive, are probably already set in their own ways, making conforming with FIBA standards a possible pain point.

This might not be the first time the UAAP has implemented a referee report card, but it’s the first season the Commissioner’s office has released the call accuracy data it collected, a welcome development in terms of transparency toward the teams and the other stakeholders. is the first season the UAAP has tracked call accuracy for the referees. The Commissioner’s office reported to the teams that the calls have been 92.5% accurate for the first round. Unless someone does the work and audits the calls from previous seasons, we’re going to have to consider that maybe the problem isn’t that the referees are making too many bad calls now, but instead, people have gotten used to the referees not making the right calls before.

Finally, the UAAP is indeed keeping an eye on the situation. Whenever there’s a perceived wrong call, the Commissioner’s office is taking note of it, reviewing it and grading it, together with the hundreds of other calls that didn’t garner the same violent reactions from coaches and fans. But if the call cannot be reversed or corrected on the spot based on FIBA rules, then that’s just how it’s going to be. It will be marked a wrong call, the call accuracy will be affected, and based on the data, the UAAP will impose the necessary sanction. The consistently accurate referees are kept in the pool while those with poor accuracy are kept out. A high standard keeps getting higher.

Even the voice data captured from the microphones placed on referees is used to evaluate their performance. It gives the UAAP insight not only into the thought process of the referee who made the call, but also the people around them, the coaches and players who had something to say to the officials. They could probably verify if a coach was given a warning for trying to ask a question. That’s the level of data gathering the UAAP engages in, and the amount of scrutiny the referees undergo each game. So the idea that the UAAP is not doing anything to address complaints or is not holding their referees accountable is simply wrong.

As we previously stated, refereeing is a thankless job, one where doing it right earns no praise but a single mistake draws the ire of rabid fanbases. In the UAAP the task is even more difficult because the stakes are higher, the games are more intense and the crowd intensity is unmatched. This is why the Commissioner has emphasized keeping a close watch on the people working the games to ensure that officiating is accurate, but based on how they have formulated their policies, it looks like what they won’t do is undermine their referees by breaking protocol to overrule them in situations they are not allowed to. Even at 92.5% accuracy, teams and audiences will still be able to spot a missed or wrong call or two every game. The referees will not be able to get everything right all the time, but it is reassuring to know the UAAP has mechanisms to keep improving.

As fans of the game, we all want the players to decide the outcome of games. But this also means having the players decide the outcomes of games within the rules. The referees serve to ensure everyone plays by the rules, sometimes this rigidity can feel frustrating, especially to those who are not used to that level of scrutiny. For the longest time, the fans have been clamoring for FIBA caliber officiating. The UAAP has done everything it can to give us a system that gives us the FIBA experience, perhaps we need to let more time pass to see if the UAAP is successful in achieving this goal, or if we as fans really wanted this shift to international caliber in the first place.

Moving forward, players on the court will continue to complain. Coaches on the court will continue to complain. Fans in the stands, in front of their monitors and phones will continue to complain. While all of that is happening, the Commissioner’s office is watching, holding the referees to account, employing a method that keeps consistently accurate refereeing in the UAAP pool– moving forward.

by: Atty. Toby Pavon

Officiating in the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball Tournament has been terrible. Just ask Coach Gavina of the UE Red Warriors. His expletive laden tirade verbalized what was on everyone’s minds, the referees need to do better.

“They’re supposed to be the best of the best? Hell no! Get the f*ck out of here!”

“All week long, we talk about leaving the outcome of these games and the beauty of these games to the players, but what’s happening? There’s three idiots on the floor!”

These were the words of an angry Coach Gavina after his UE Red Warriors lost a nail-biter in overtime to the De La Salle Green Archers. That game saw Wello Lingolingo called for an unsportsmanlike foul after a scramble for the loose ball saw him diving onto Kean Baclaan on the floor. De La Salle’s Kean Baclaan unfortunately suffered an injury that forced him to be stretchered out of the game, but to Coach Gavina, it shouldn’t have been an unsportsmanlike foul on Lingolingo.

This call came with less than 5 minutes left in regulation, at a time when the Green Archers stormed back from a 21-point lead to cut the lead to 4. Wello Lingolingo was also the leading scorer for the Red Warriors at the time, putting up 23 points before being called for the disqualifying foul.

The UE Red Warriors stayed winless after the game, but a win over a perceived championship contender would have done wonders for their morale; or, a clean comeback win by the Green Archers would have been a beautiful display of championship resolve. But neither happened, and if Coach Gavina were to be believed, it was because of the referees.

Later in the game the referees made another blunder with game-changing implications. With less than 4 minutes left in the game, Mike Phillips swatted away what was supposed to be a gimme for Batumalin. The referees initially called it a goaltend. They reviewed the footage and still called it goaltend. Despite the ball still being on its way up, despite the ball not hitting the backboard, they called it a goaltend. 2 points for UE.

Had the referees made the right call, the Green Archers might not have needed overtime to complete their comeback. While the flagrant foul call on Lingolingo might have been a matter of judging intentionality, a goaltend is just a matter of checking the trajectory of the ball.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first game the coaches voiced their frustrations over the officiating. With the first round almost over, several games have been marred with poor officiating dictating or almost dictating the outcomes of the games.

Winners and losers were not spared from the plague of poor officiating. Coach Jeff Napa remarked that the referees need to have a refresher on the rules despite his NU Bulldogs beating the DLSU Green Archers after several crucial calls and non-calls turned up the stress levels for everyone involved. Meanwhile, Coach Tab Baldwin tried, in so many words, to tell the media how he feels about the inconsistent officiating while maintaining a semblance of professionalism after his Ateneo Blue Eagles lost to the UST Growling Tigers in a triple overtime thriller.

The thing is, the officiating has been wildly inconsistent, even more-so than previous seasons. While most people would complain about judgment calls and non-calls, a missed foul, an overly thin foul, and the like, this year the officiating errors are reaching gaslighting territory.

When the first set of officiating blunders occurred, we thought it would be quickly addressed and the referees would do better moving forward. They did not. Aside from the procedural lapse of letting Adamson play with only 4 players on the court, a three-pointer from Matt Erolon was ruled a 2-pointer without review or warning. It’s as if the officials were experiencing a different reality from that of the players, audience and everyone else.

With how close the games have been, that one point difference matters. It spelled the difference between needing Ray Allen Torres’ game-winner or not.

Coach Nash Racela was left in disbelief as to how the referees could allow a team to play with only 4 players on the court, remarking it was the first time in his career that happened.

In Ateneo’s case, it meant the difference between winning and losing.

In the 2nd overtime of their game against UST, Jared Bahay threw up a stepback triple with 1:52 left on the clock. It bounced off the rim, but Josh Lazaro got the offensive rebound and got the ball back to Bahay who pulled up from the arc again and got the shot to go this time. The score should have been 82-81 in favor of UST, but after an extensive review by the referees, without showing the footage that was reviewed, the shot was ruled a 2 which meant Ateneo was down 2 instead of just 1.

The remaining game seconds resulted in yet another tie, leading to the third overtime of the game. A third overtime that wouldn’t have happened if Ateneo had the extra point that the officials took away.

But this shot isn’t even on the minds of the coaches, players and fans who complain about the referees. When Coach Tab insinuated a “third team” being “disgusting” it was likely the inconsistency of the foul calls for both teams that brought about this reaction.

All teams and fans ask from the referees and officials of the UAAP is consistency. Apply the same standards enforced at tip-off until the final buzzer. The same actions should be or not be fouls, how much contact is allowed, and when can we expect players to be rewarded or penalized, because right now, everything is so arbitrary. Even worse is when the arbitrariness spreads into the dimensions of the court. Seeing feet behind the three point arc is binary– the feet are either behind the arc or not. But when the game officials, referees, scorer’s table and the army of officials all get it wrong when there’s clear evidence of their error, this poses a huge problem.

The poor officiating turns into gaslighting by the officials, making fans question the game being played before their eyes. Are they even watching the same thing? Are we even in the same reality anymore?

And of course, we aren’t supposed to expect an explanation from the league. The UAAP doesn’t owe us an explanation, anyway.

The UAAP strives to be a league where the tiniest details spell the difference between victory and defeat. Student-athletes have an almost professional knowledge of the game at this level just to compete because the race is so tight. If the officiating in these games continue to be so questionable, wherein even the most objective of calls can’t be done right, trust will erode in the officials, the games will be turned into a flip of the coin, or depend on the mood of the official’s table, and all the training, blood sweat and tears by these students will be for naught, because the true results of the games are being robbed from us right in front of our very eyes.