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Big Ten at Ten 1.29.13: The Refs are Awful

The Big Ten at Ten says the Big Ten basketball refs are awful.

I'M TERRIBLE
I'M TERRIBLE
USA TODAY Sports

It’s not just me, right? Check a gamethread. Any gamethread, of a Big Ten blog on SBNation and you’ll notice immediately that everybody is bitching about the referees. Why? Because they’re awful. They’re inconsistent, showboating, self-absorbed sons of bitches who make Ed Hochili look like J.D. Salinger (that’s a recluse joke). The thing I’ve noticed this year is the manner that they favor the home team. Doesn’t matter if it’s The Barn, that high school gym in Evanston, Breslin, Carver, Value City or Assembly, the referees shun shun SHUN the visitors. Don’t believe me? Ok

The following graph lists Big Ten referees who have at least called 6 conference games (and Ed Hightower). It lists the games, the fouls and the home foul margin. Per Statsheet:

Home foul margin is a metric designed to determine if the home crowd sways an official. You often here when there is a bad call made in favor of the home team something along the lines of "the crowd got to the official there." Well, with home foul margin, you can actually figure out whether or not this is true. Terry Wymer (Big Ten, MAC) had the greatest home margin, with a -4.0 margin, while Joe Lindsay (SEC, ACC) had the lowest home margin at -0.3.

So basically, the more negative the number, the more they favor the home team. Here’s the graph:

Games

Fouls Per Game

Home Foul Margin

Ted Valentine

9

32.0

-6.0

Mike Kitts

9

32.6

-1.2

Terry Wymer

7

31.4

-0.6

Mike Eades

6

35.8

-3.5

Mike Sanzere

6

36.0

-2.7

Bo Boroski

6

34.0

-3.7

Ed Hightower

5

36.4

-0.4

Nothing mindblowing, right? Not a real secret that referees are usually swayed by the home crowd. What’s most disturbing that the Big Ten’s most popular referee favors the home team in such a disproportionate manner. Oh well, TV Teddy!

Here’s the links.

Enjoy it…while it lasts.