A day after LSU defeated Iowa in the most-watched NCAA women’s basketball championship in history, many fans are still blasting the questionable officiating.
Officials called a staggering 37 fouls, whistling early and often. The most egregious call of the game saw National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark hit with a technical foul for a seemingly minor offense. On the other hand, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey appeared to have free rein to walk out on the court and protest calls or lobby the refs without penalty.
Fans ripped the officiating conditions, and the hits kept coming a day later. Former NCAA national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating John Adams told The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach that the referees did an “awful” job.
“Having that level of officiating in that type of game, I think, really hurt the meteoric rise of women’s basketball,” Adams said. “There is not perfect officiating anywhere ever, but, man, that was awful.”
Auerbach noted that if the women’s game is to continue to grow in popularity, officiating must improve.
“It’s time to fix this now,” Auerbach wrote. “That means a more robust recruiting program, better training, and a stricter evaluation process to determine which officials advance to the biggest games. This can never happen again, not as the sport continues to grow.”
[Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic]
