Photo by Clay Maxfield
I WATCH a lot of basketball. A lot. Throughout the years, games generally have started and ended on time. There was the occasional overtime that delayed the broadcast of the next game, but all-in-all everything ran on schedule.
Then we entered the era of the official review, and that changed the game.
In concept, the official review is a great idea. After all, everyone wants to see the game officiated objectively so poor calls don’t determine unfair outcomes. The beauty of sports and competition is the pitting of one team against another to see who wins. It’s pretty simple and makes for compelling content for fans. At no time in my life did I want my game’s outcome to be in the hands of someone else (i.e., the officials). I wanted the outcome to rest with me, my team, or the team I’m rooting for.
But with all its advantages, the OR is killing the game it is set up to enhance. Overall technology can improve officiating, but leagues should be cautious when to implement it because by using it to balance accuracy, it is messing with the flow of the game. On average, a college basketball game lasts 2 hours. Nobody can predict how players are going to play or how the officials are going to call the game. In my unofficial opinion is that the use of OR in the last couple of years has extended the amount of time it takes to end a game.
Now that we live in the land of basketball aplenty, when three games grace my flat-screen nearly every night, it is more important than ever to run on schedule. If your team plays in the second or third game of the night, the chances of you getting to see the action from the tip are sketchy at best. More often than not, the beginning of the game you are interested in will be streaming somewhere while officials are looking to see if a common foul should be upgraded to a flagrant 1 during the last minute of a 78-52 blowout.
The number of times games are stopped for review is frequent, so coaches have worked these breaks into their end-of-game strategies. A coach’s strategic acumen is often what sets them apart. This involves not only understanding the intricacies of the sport but also knowing how to adapt strategies to exploit the weaknesses of opponents and maximize the strengths of their team. This requires a deep knowledge of the game, keen observation skills, and the ability to make decisive adjustments. The strategic aspect of coaching is about more than just winning; it’s about being efficient and calculated.
Official reviews give each team added “timeouts” near the end of the game so coaches have evolved and planned on not calling their last timeout with minutes remaining because they know there will be stoppages. And to get one, all a coach needs to do is request a review.
Basketball has traditionally relied on the judgment of officials, and that’s where the game needs to stay. While technology can assist when needed, maintaining the integrity of the game by allowing the refs to make calls without the threat of constant review is paramount. Now that the OR is part and parcel of the game, the process needs to be refined so that when reviewing a call, less time is used and the game flows forward.
If this happens, viewers of the game will rejoice.
