State: The New SEC Ref Darling

by weloveum on Jan 17, 2010 1:28 AM EST

We all knew that Varnado was going to be the beneficiary of extreme preferential treatment by officials, and this has obviously proved true. We are actually supposed to believe that he played 35 minutes against Arkansas Thursday and racked up 12 rebounds and 10 blocks but only fouled once the entire game. That's utterly ridiculous and I think everyone knows it. But what has transpired that is even more disturbing is the overall disparity in officiating between State and their SEC opponents. Check out these numbers:

Opponent	Opp. Fouls	State Fouls	Opp. FT	State FT
Ole Miss	21	13	13	33
Arkansas	22	12	14	30
Georgia	17	9	9	25
Totals	60	34	36	88

To put that into words, in three games they have been called for 26 fewer fouls (8.7 per game) and have shot 52 more free throws (17.3 per game).

Keep in mind that all three games were down to the wire, and had margins of victory of 5, 2, and 3. How is any team supposed to beat State when they are given such an unbelievable advantage at the line? Sure, there might be an aberration of this type of disparity in one game, but when it has happened for three consecutive games, we have to start wondering what's happening. What did all three of State's opponents do so wrong?

This post is a Red Cup Rebellion FanPost. Please don't sue us.

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For what it's worth...

Arkansas is a very short team, especially when Mike Washington is on the bench or when he’s feeling lazy. I didn’t watch the game, because I figured that we would get smoked, but that rebound-and-block-to-foul-ratio doesn’t really surprise me.

by dxf04 on Jan 17, 2010 2:06 AM EST reply actions