Humblebola

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.