The referee who blew an out of bounds call that went in favor of Syracuse in their NCAA Tournament opener is a referee who primarily officiates Big East games.
Stat Sheet says Ed Corbett officiated 46 games for six conferences this season, and the conference whose games he officiated the most was the Big East. Corbett was a referee for 24 Big East games, 14 more than the ACC, for whom he officiated the second-most games.
Now get this: According to Stat Sheet, since 1996 he’s officiated more Syracuse games (71) than any other school except Villanova (73). He also was a referee for six Syracuse games this season, second only to the seven Rutgers games he officiated.
So what was Corbett’s reason for missing the inbounds play?
“The out of bounds is not reviewable and it is not a play we would discuss,” official Ed Corbett told a pool reporter. “I’m not going to comment further because it is a judgment call. It was a clear (lane) violation. The player released early, before the ball hit the rim. We’ve since watched the replay 20 times and it was the right call.”
Even if you don’t want to question Corbett’s integrity, you should at least question why the NCAA has a Syracuse/Big East official reffing a Syracuse NCAA Tournament game. There should be impartial referees from conferences not involving the teams playing.
H/T World of Isaac
