Games lack consistency from officials
Stanford’s VanDerveer, others say calls, non-calls taint tournament
Tara VanDerveer is willing to cut officials some slack Sunday night with her Stanford Cardinal playing in the national championship, saying they can’t see everything and they do work hard to do their best.
Still, the type of basketball being played in the NCAA women’s tournament looks very different from how they played early this season, and VanDerveer said again Saturday that she just wants some consistency and players able to play without being thrown to the floor.
“It’s just the attitude that we change from playing basketball in the fall and winter to playing football in the spring,” VanDerveer said. “And I think we just need to be consistent with how we want our game played.”
This women’s tournament has had three very notable questionable calls and non-calls just since Monday night.
First came the lack of a call when Baylor’s DiJonnai Carrington was hit on the elbow and again in the face on a shot at the end of the game against Connecticut in the River Walk final.
Then Stanford’s Katie Hull appeared to kick the ball away from South Carolina guard Zia Cooke with 1:46 left Friday in the first semifinal. Hull got the ball to Cameron Brink for a layup and a 64-59 lead in a game Stanford won, 66-65. And Connecticut guard Christyn Williams fouled out with 3:51 left in the Huskies’ 69-59 loss to Arizona.
TV replays showed Hull’s outstretched leg kicking the ball and later in the other semifinal that Williams made no contact with Arizona guard Aari McDonald. VanDerveer said she thought Brink was hacked on the turnover that set up South Carolina’s final two shots at a victory.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley saw the kicked ball.
“I didn’t make a big deal out of it,” Staley said. “But, I mean, I don’t know what you want me to say. I can’t say much about it besides they [officials] got a tough job.”
Officials called 30 fouls in Stanford’s win, though Brink and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston and Destanni Henderson finished with four apiece.
Far more whistles blew in the other semifinal, with 44 total, and Connecticut and Arizona finished with more fouls than shots made.
Connecticut had 23 fouls and was 20 of 56, while Arizona shot 20 of 50 with 21 fouls called. Williams said the officiating was different in the semifinal and thought Olivia Nelson-Odoba fouled.
“Obviously I was devastated because I had to go out
Game: Stanford (30-2) vs. Arizona (21-5) for the women’s national championship, Alamodome, San Antonio.
When: 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN.
The skinny: Stanford seeks its first national title since 1992. … Arizona is in its first Final Four. … As members of the Pac-12, the teams met twice in the regular season with Stanford winning both by a combined 41 points. … Kiana Wiliams leads Stanford in scoring (14.3 ppg). Aari McDonald leads Arizona (20.5 ppg). … Tara VanDerveer has coached Stanford to two national titles and two runner-up finishes.
of the game,” said Williams, who had a team-high 20 points.
Staley said officials have a tough job.
“There are dreams on the line,” Staley said. “Everybody wants to compete for a national championship.
For all the talk about underclassmen like Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, the first freshman to win The Associated Press player of the year award, and Caitlin Clark of Iowa, the teams in the national title game are led by some very talented upperclassmen.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes keeps insisting that Aari McDonald deserved much more than being named second-team AllAmerican, and the senior guard helped slow down Bueckers to get the Wildcats into the title game.
Stanford counters with a pair of senior guards in Anna Wilson, a fifth-year player, and Kiana Williams. Wilson has been a lockdown defender for the Cardinal while running the offense as well.
“We trust everything that they do,” Stanford sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel said.
All 63 games in this women’s tournament were broadcast nationally, with six on ABC/WTAE, the first on a national broadcast network since 1995.
And people have been tuning in.
ESPN reports the Elite Eight averaged 1.186 million viewers, a jump of 6% from 2019. The Sweet 16 averaged 915,000 viewers for a 66% improvement and the most-viewed Sweet 16 since 2013. Second-round games averaged 375,000 viewers, while the 48 first- and second-round games averaged 261,000 viewers.