Papa Joe - Huskies 6🏆 - 🇺🇦

Because they’re not going to admit that Ayers’ failure to call the tech there may have changed the game outcome (not to mention the wild change in how the game was called the second half). It does them no good to admit the truth.

My favorite image from last night

Having reffed both sports at a very high level, I can tell you that the atmosphere in basketball and dealing with coaches is very different. It’s all game long, a constant back and forth, and there is a mutual understanding between basketball refs and coaches. It’s part of what makes reffing it so much fun. I’m happy that Roger Ayers (who always referees games at a Final Four level official) handled the end of the game the way that he did. This was not a confrontational situation. Uconn hit a buzzer beater a few seconds before the viral moment between Ayers and Hurley. Ayers is telling Hurley that the game isn’t over yet (there was a clock adjustment from 0.02 to 0.04 - which is notable for catch and shoot). Hurley isn’t physically contacting him, he’s just between Ayers and the scorer’s table. I’ve been in some wild environments/end of game scenarios both in basketball and football. They feel surreal and you are in a state of shock to an extent. This is how great officials handle these situations, so kudos to Roger Ayers and congrats to UConn.