Deference to Refs a Tournament Trouble

Forget regional bias and even racial undertones, the most offensive part of the NCAA Tournament to this point has been the on-air love afforded the officials.

Sure, the regional bias exists, and Big East haters have enjoyed themselves during the tournament. And it sure sounds like the racial undertones remain in every conversation regarding BYU and Jimmer Fredette -- especially when people discuss whether his game will "translate at the next level."

Still, the love fest for the make-no-mistake zebras has been the biggest problem with tournament coverage.

It starts early in every game as the on-air types paint themselves into a status-supportive corner. They introduce the game officials to viewers and then almost invariably note how many combined years of experience they have. Or, they note it's a "veteran crew."

Maybe that's supposed set the stage for a straight-down-the-middle call and effectively escort the officials off stage, giving them their due to start and hoping they stay out of the way as things progress.

Unfortunately, that has not been the case through most of the tournament to this point. With controversial calls and tight games, the officials have seemed ever present. Instead of not noticing them, they're often center stage.

That's not necessarily bad or wrong, because fans and viewers want the games called correctly and fairly. But because the broadcasters set the ground rules early -- reliably expressing their admiration and respect for the game's officials at the start of a broadcast -- the likelihood of those same broadcasters commenting on the work of officials or (even more unlikely) criticizing that work seems limited.

So, with an unbiased approach out of the question, it's then the broadcasters' credibility that then suffers.

In addition, for the $10 billion or so that CBS Sports and Turner Sports are paying for the tournament, the broadcasters seem surprisingly at arm's length from immediate official word of controversial moments during the game.

Fans a home expect such access and answers -- it's one of the perks of watching from the living room as opposed to a lower-level seat in the arena -- and TV has rarely delivered. Sure, commentary and follow-up information come during studio segments, but not reliably enough during the game itself.

With the importance of calls and fouls only likely to increase as the tournament progresses, the TV partners (and it becomes all CBS for the Final Four) need to get word -- or at least share that word if they are getting it -- with viewers sooner about what was called and what happened. Having the broadcasters of record guess just seems silly.

If the NCAA is holding back on information or preventing some network ears from clearly hearing what on-court officials tell to people at the scorer's table (and that's entirely likely) it should relent. Confusing moments and unanswered questions hurt the game, and a little bit of access can easily fix the problem.

Tournament Tidbits

• While Verne Lundquist usually makes a broadcast enjoyable, he was sloppy at times Thursday night during the Sweet 16 round, especially when he mistook late-game UConn assist-dunk-showboat move for unselfish play.
• Also, while Gus Johnson gets plenty of praise for his usually appropriate emotions on play-by-play, his color commentary partner, Len Elmore, gets overlooked for his ability to make cogent points quickly and also get out of the way for Johnson's calls.
• Louisville coach Rick Pitino moved to ESPN this weekend for this round of action and predicted a Richmond victory over Kansas.
• Fellow ousted coaches Tim Izzo (Michigan State) and Jay Wright (Villanova) take TV turns with CBS/Turner through the weekend.