King Karl screws up another Big East game; somewhere Dan Dakich is blasting fans

This link to Deadspin has a video from last night’s UConn @ Marquette game that you will find interesting.

Officials mutilated the start of an overtime period last night in Milwaukee, casting doubt on the outcome of what would eventually be a 82-76 Marquette victory over UConn and tarnishing the already-black reputation of referee Karl Hess.

Hess, last seen in this space ejecting former NBA players Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani from the stands, lined the teams up in the wrong direction to start overtime—which was then complicated by a Marquette goaltend on a UConn shot.

After several minutes of debate, the goaltend was waved off (as UConn had been shooting at their own basket) and Marquette awarded the ball on the alternating possession. The opening tip blunder notwithstanding, did Hess and his fellow officials follow the right procedure to right the ridiculous wrong? No, says NBC Sports’ Rob Dauster. His interpretation of the rules (and we’re inclined to believe it) states UConn’s basket should have counted, since it occurred before referees recognized the mistake. Color us unsurprised Karl Hess made a bad situation worse. [ESPNU]

First, how dare Deadspin think that Karl Hess has an already black reputation? Don’t they know that John Clougherty, other ACC officials and new media lord Dan Dakich think Hess hung the moon? If you are wondering why/how I loop Dakich into this then I encourage you to click here. (You can click here for even more.)

Second, why do say that Hess screws up ‘another’ Big East game? Take a look at this one that highlights King Karl’s work schedule last year right before he clearly lost all of his mental faculties during Florida State’s visit to Raleigh.

Last night’s events are explained exceptionally well in this edition of ‘Fire this moron”. (I can only imagine how Dakich would endorse throwing that author out of any game that he attends) I love this guy’s writing style and sarcasm. Reminds me of SFN.

And as Rob Dauster was first to note after the game, the rule book confirmed that suspicion –

From Rule 5, Section 1, Article 3:

“When the official(s) permits a team to go in the wrong direction, and when the error is discovered all activity and time consumed shall count as though each team had gone in the proper direction. Play shall be resumed with each team going in the proper direction.”

and the Big East commissioner of officiating did the same:

@JeffEisenberg: Big East coordinator of officiating Art Hyland confirmed referees erred nullifying the two points UConn scored to start OT at Marquette.

Hess copped to the screw-up, too, but in so doing offered the most curious interpretation of the word “everything” I’ve ever seen, telling reporters that the crew “did everything right,” except, of course, for crediting UConn with two points on Wilson’s goaltend. This is akin to saying that you “did everything right” for Christmas dinner, except you forgot to thaw the turkey and people were forced to eat pretzels for the entire meal.

Fire this moron.

Allow me to share this from 2009 so that we are clear with the world that our frustration with Karl Hess goes far beyond last year’s Corchiani and Gugliotta situation. (And, it is always nice to get a reminder of how awful NC State’s ‘leadership’ was BY – “Before Yow”.)

Stop me if you have heard this one. Karl Hess officiates an ACC game, a grotesque number of fouls get called, the game is brought to a crawl and at least one key player is handcuffed changing the outcome of the game. If you have watched any ACC basketball you have seen a Karl Hess officiated game go exactly this way. NC State’s Tracy Smith apparently had enough during the Pack’s loss to Wake Forest and let the media know than in his postgame comments:

The refs, I don’t think they did a good job tonight, I think they favored Wake Forest all the way but that’s ACC basketball. You’ve got to play through that.

I felt like there was too many touch fouls. It’s a man’s game, I mean there’s going to be touching and hitting, you can’t call every little touch foul.

As soon as I read that the first thing I thought was not how much trouble Smith would be in but rather “I bet Karl Hess was the referee.”

Smith, for his trouble, won’t be playing in NCSU’s next game against Arizona but not because of anything the ACC did. NC State decided to suspend its star player over his criticism of ACC officials.

Wow, way to stand by your player there Wolfpack. What is worse is they trot an apology out from Smith but no one else from NCSU commented. Seriously, Smith had a point. There were 42 fouls called in the game and he was obviously frustrated by foul trouble. Granted criticizing officials is taboo but in my opinion NCSU should have the balls to force the ACC’s hand and have them hand down the penalty. Much the same way a coach might get a technical to protest poor officiating, NCSU should have informed John Swofford that they stand by their player and will accept any suspension handed down, if for no other reason, than to make a point. Instead Lee Fowler and The Easy Button cowered before the ACC choosing the bench their own player rather than makes some waves.

Nothing says “enabler” like doing the dirty work of the league whose officials royally screwed you for them.

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College Basketball

22 Responses to King Karl screws up another Big East game; somewhere Dan Dakich is blasting fans

  1. ncsu1987 01/02/2013 at 1:15 PM #

    How he can be held up constantly as a shining example is simply beyond me. Perhaps this is done in an attempt to say that he is the “least incompetent”? If so, sad commentary. I hold no illusions about the difficulty of the job, but you watch this clown on the court, then you hear the PTB leap to his defense and bristle at ANY criticism…

    With apologies to Will Smith from the MIB series, all you can say is….”Damn.”

  2. STLPack01 01/02/2013 at 1:45 PM #

    This is obviously an attempt by Hess to screw us by hindering our RPI.

  3. gumby 01/02/2013 at 2:58 PM #

    “How he can be held up constantly as a shining example is simply beyond me.”

    Oh, that’s an easy one. If you polish a turd, you get a really shiny turd.

  4. packof81 01/02/2013 at 3:24 PM #

    I watched that snafu. It will come to be regarded as vintage Hess. I hope we don’t get hessed up too badly this year.

  5. wufpup76 01/02/2013 at 3:38 PM #

    “This is obviously an attempt by Hess to screw us by hindering our RPI.

    ^Haha

    I saw it too, and just … Well, all you can do is shake your head.

  6. MrPlywood 01/02/2013 at 4:03 PM #

    It has occurred to me that the reason Dakich defends Hess so steadfastly is that they are very similar in temperament – thin-skinned. That explains why Hess responded to Corch and Gugs, and why Dakich calls out fans for negative comments.

  7. Master 01/02/2013 at 4:28 PM #

    Hess must never be made to feel the least bit welcome in PNC. Frankly, I don’t think he should be allowed to officiate another game for us, ever. As a fan base we should apply pressure against him any way we can – thru the press, letters to the Conference, YouTube compilation videos of every bad call and every poor rule interpretation and any other means to create chaos and mayhem for that POS who has still not apologized for tossing Googs and Corch last year. He must go!

  8. wilmwolf80 01/02/2013 at 4:47 PM #

    As far as I’m concerned, I can’t wait for KH to be back in PNC. I will have front row tickets that day, and I can assure you that KH will know who I am by the time of the first tip. But honestly, I can’t see that ever happening. The ACC is stupid, but I don’t think they are that stupid.

  9. BureauOfMines 01/02/2013 at 5:41 PM #

    I would consider it a badge of honor to be tossed out of the PNC arena by Karl Hess. Next time he sets foot in there, I hope his ears ring.

  10. packalum44 01/02/2013 at 6:10 PM #

    There will definitely be a Karl Hess sucks chant if he ever returns.

  11. ADVENTUROO 01/02/2013 at 7:00 PM #

    For the sake of my GK’s, one of which or both, are at every game and the other kids, I hope the “Hess Sucks” chant is the ONLY chant. It is the least offensive and the least profane of the one that I have heard and can think of.

    I read about the Hess screw-up and saw in on ESPN as I was working out tonight. You gotta know it is making the rounds….but hey, ask Corchiani about Rick Hartzell’s “CHARGING” call. At least Hartzell did apologize to V and to Corch and admitted his mistake.

    Hess reminds me of a bombadier on a B-52 with Nukes and drops them on London instead of Moscow and never admits he screwed up….

    What a piece of work…..if you want to get an insight, go to StatSheet.Com and follow the BB links and find the Ref listing. He and his equally dumb and obnoxious playmates who like to wear the other’s initials on their shoes….sort of like your girl friend putting your class ring on a chain around her neck because she wants to show the world how TRUE she is to you.

    This is gonna be a great season. Ask UNLV about Hess and his refereeing of the ACC Games. He was the Ref that the announcers kept talking about and the one that used his whistle to control UNLV’s momentum.

    Yes indeed….KH is here to stay. My own personal opinion is that they will let the luck of the draw do the schedule and if KH draws the PNC, he will be there and it WILL be interesting.

  12. gumby 01/02/2013 at 7:32 PM #

    If (and I hope it is indeed an unlikely if) KH ever works the PNC again, I envision a student section all holding giant Corch and Googs faces and wearing rabbit ears and t-shirts saying “Wrong Way Karl”

  13. john of sparta 01/02/2013 at 7:56 PM #

    King Karl over-rules the ABC commentary?
    were the Mayans really right?
    *it’s just a Matrix*

  14. MrPlywood 01/02/2013 at 8:15 PM #

    Here’s what Hess needs to make sure the teams are headed the right direction:

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b03_1345152152

  15. wolfonthehill 01/02/2013 at 10:08 PM #

    ADVENTUROO nailed it as usual. I watched the UNLV-uncch game, and the officiating played a major role in unc-ch maintaining a lead that was quite tenuous. I hadn’t paid enough attention to realize Karl was working that game… but no shocker there…

  16. PackerInRussia 01/02/2013 at 11:13 PM #

    Listen, I like Karl Hess a lot and I didn’t see the play, but if he said they should have been going the other way and the basket didn’t count, then the basket didn’t count. Did I mention I like Karl Hess a lot. Cuz I do. A whole lot.

  17. ancsu87 01/02/2013 at 11:20 PM #

    Hell dumbass Seth Greenberg even put UNC back in top 25 because they were aggressive in getting to line 33 times. WTF – did he even watch the game and realize Karl Hess was the ref? It appears the sport it rigged yet, just like with UNC issue, no one wants to investigate and fix it. They just keep lying and smearing shit everywhere.

  18. ancsu87 01/02/2013 at 11:35 PM #

    How can KH be wrong. Seth Greenberg said UNC played the game of the week cause they were more aggressive in getting to the FT line. KH was so good for them that Seth gave UNC a top 25 ranking because of his play. He studies tendencies and when other teams appear to be able to beat Swafford’s team then he tends to call lots of fouls on the other team. What a f’ing joke both of those UNC homers are.

  19. JohnGalt78 01/03/2013 at 7:45 AM #

    “How he can be held up constantly as a shining example is simply beyond me”……think FLAGSHIP.

  20. vtpackfan 01/03/2013 at 8:22 AM #

    How in the world do you line them in the wrong direction at OT? Just take a look at the bench and remember how things look at every tip off of every game ever officially played. The real shame is that the others refs didn’t step in and remind Hess of it in a professional manner. This just goes to illustrate that Hess is the unquestionable, all powerfull, and always positioned as sole authority, every time he steps on the court. This doesn’t happen by its own but by commissioners and officials who hold the reigns prescribe things to be such a way.

    Exclude Hess and does Swoff and company replace him with another? Probably. Force Swoff out and now and one would expect the best results-especially with the whole league holding their nose at the dung heap that is Chapel Hill and making sure that no one with any ties to that corrupt machine take over Commissioner duties.

  21. YogiNC 01/03/2013 at 11:40 AM #

    [quote]As far as I’m concerned, I can’t wait for KH to be back in PNC. I will have front row tickets that day, and I can assure you that KH will know who I am by the time of the first tip. But honestly, I can’t see that ever happening. The ACC is stupid, but I don’t think they are that stupid. [/quote]

    Ummmm, I’ll bet ya a C note they are!

  22. Greywolf 01/05/2013 at 1:00 PM #

    So Marquette goal-tended, and then was awarded the ball under their own basket. What’s wrong with this picture?

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