Off The Burner 1.21.24

Welcome to Off the Burner – a semi-regular stream of consciousness about college hoops.

Jeremiah Fears announcing his decision tomorrow.

The four-star guard will announce tomorrow at 3pmEST. His finalists are Providence, Illinois, Kansas, Ole Miss and Michigan.

My official prediction:

Discord members had the decision date and gif before it was even announced.

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Referees are overworked.

There was a lot of commotion this weekend about the quality of officiating around the country. Everyone complains about officiating all the time, but I think it’s time to start looking at the problem from the referees’ perspective.

Most referees are regionally based. They’ll work in a handful of states across multiple leagues and they can go over a week between off days. Some refs, like Jeffrey Anderson and Roger Ayers, have a more national schedule as some of the top officials in the sport.

Jeff Anderson is working on a 12 day in a row stretch right now. Roger worked 14 consecutive days back in Nov/Dec, which included games in Hawaii, California, Texas, and all over the east coast. It’s wild stuff.

— Roger Ayers Ref Tracker (@AyersRefTracker) January 21, 2024

This account tracks every game Roger Ayers works. Yesterday he officiated his 61st game in 76 days. He’s traveled 43,120 miles across 19 states.

Think about the logistics of those numbers. Mid-week games typically start around 7pm. They’ll get to the arena anywhere between 60-90 minutes before tip. Once the game is over, they rush to shower and get to the airport for a redeye to their next location. Sometimes they drive between games if it’s reasonably close. Then they wake up and do it all over again the next day.

Coaches often say the best officiating happens during the mid-week games and the weekends are a crapshoot. It makes sense on paper. By the time these officials get to the weekend, they’re exhausted. There are thousands of studies correlating sleep deprivation with job performance and we’ve completely ignored them when it comes to officials. It’s time for the NCAA and the National Association of Sport Officials to look for some common sense solutions to improve the quality of life and performance standards for referees.

Sunday shoutouts!

• Drexel and North Carolina are the only teams with at least a two game lead in their conference standings. Drexel head coach Zach Spiker is having a breakthrough year after an off-season where he didn’t lose a single player to the transfer portal. Hubert Davis deserves a ton of credit for hitting the right buttons with his roster last spring. The Tar Heels look like a serious national title contender so far.
• Kentucky finally got Big Z on the court and man it went about as well as it could’ve gone. This Kentucky team was already fun to watch, but with this guy on the court? Lookout.

The NBA prospect that everyone is talking about this morning – Zvonimir Ivisic.

Kentucky’s 7-2 Croatian“Big Z” had 13pts (5-7 FG, 3-4 3pt) 5reb, 3blk, 2stl, & 2ast in 16min in his debut.

(And the crowd reaction & commentary added to the entertainment value) pic.twitter.com/flT40wpfM1

— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) January 21, 2024

• West Virginia knocked off Kansas yesterday thanks to 23 points from RaeQuan Battle and the sudden emergence of Pat Suemnick, who finished with 20. The Moutaineers are quietly starting to figure things out and should have big man Jesse Edwards back for their Tuesday matchup at UCF. This team has been through the wringer the last few months, but you’re starting to see glimpses of what made them the darling of portal season. Someone should write a fan fiction of how this year should’ve gone in Morgantown.
• Blake Hinson gave us an all-time villain performance at Cameron Indoor last night. After going 7-7 from three and beating the Blue Devils on their home floor, he jumped on the scorer’s table and talked his talk to the Cameron Crazies. It was an instant classic moment and one of my favorite Twitter accounts made it even better.

Zola aux outrages, by Henry de Groux, 1898, 📸 by Lance King pic.twitter.com/syQINeFg6X

— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) January 21, 2024

• Houston’s defense did Houston things again. They held UCF to record low numbers yesterday. Anyone who thought this team wouldn’t be able to hang in the Big 12 did not account for the fact that Kelvin Sampson is that dude. The Cougars’ offense is the only thing that could stop them from a title run this year.

UCF’s offense today against Houston …

Points: 42
FG: 7-for-44 (15.9%)
2PT: 3-for-23 (13.0%)
3PT: 4-for-21 (19.0%)
TOs: 15

Via @ESPNStatsInfo: UCF’s seven made FGs and three made 2-pointers are the fewest in a D1 game this season.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) January 20, 2024

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