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Ref loading up on frequent flyer miles.....

heyoh22

heyoh22

Active member
Was surprised to see Chris Rastater (aka buzzcut) doing the Weber/SUU game, man he must live out of a suitcase.

Saw him doing the Utah State/Colo St game from Ft. Collins on Tuesday;
Then off to Seattle to do the Stanford/Washington game on Wed;
Thursday then to Cedar to do Weber game.

I actually have come to appreciate his officiating, not perfect, but he doesn't seem to favor any team ( unlike some others) and he gets up and down the court to stay with the action.

But the end question: How do you get from Seattle to Cedar City overnight? He must hit SLC or Vegas by air and drive.
 
heyoh22 said:
Was surprised to see Chris Rastater (aka buzzcut) doing the Weber/SUU game, man he must live out of a suitcase.

Saw him doing the Utah State/Colo St game from Ft. Collins on Tuesday;
Then off to Seattle to do the Stanford/Washington game on Wed;
Thursday then to Cedar to do Weber game.

I actually have come to appreciate his officiating, not perfect, but he doesn't seem to favor any team ( unlike some others) and he gets up and down the court to stay with the action.

But the end question: How do you get from Seattle to Cedar City overnight? He must hit SLC or Vegas by air and drive.
Click to expand...

Just because he refs other conferences, doesn't mean he is good at what he does.. Did you not see the game last night? I did... He was horrible on many calls...... He hates WSU..... At one point he made every call within a 10 minutes stretch :ohno: ...
 
WSUfan said:
But the end question: How do you get from Seattle to Cedar City overnight? He must hit SLC or Vegas by air and drive.
Click to expand...

There are daily flights from SLC to Cedar City. The flights cost about $125 round trip.
 
WSUfan said:
heyoh22 said:
Was surprised to see Chris Rastater (aka buzzcut) doing the Weber/SUU game, man he must live out of a suitcase.

Saw him doing the Utah State/Colo St game from Ft. Collins on Tuesday;
Then off to Seattle to do the Stanford/Washington game on Wed;
Thursday then to Cedar to do Weber game.

I actually have come to appreciate his officiating, not perfect, but he doesn't seem to favor any team ( unlike some others) and he gets up and down the court to stay with the action.

But the end question: How do you get from Seattle to Cedar City overnight? He must hit SLC or Vegas by air and drive.
Click to expand...

Just because he refs other conferences, doesn't mean he is good at what he does.. Did you not see the game last night? I did... He was horrible on many calls...... He hates WSU..... At one point he made every call within a 10 minutes stretch :ohno: ...
Click to expand...

In my many years of watching Big Sky basketball, I'd say Chris is probably in the better 25 percent of officials we've had. The thing you have to remember about the Big Sky is that it is a "developmental" league -- for coaches, athletic directors and staff, announcers, writers...and officials. The best of the best don't stick around long. Scott Thornley cut his teeth in the Big Sky, quickly moved up to the Big 12 and PAC-12 and did four Final Fours before he retired this year. Some of the on-the-borderline types like Eric Curry (yes, I know he's everybody's favorite whipping boy, but...) get a chance to move up to the big time, but don't stay. (Curry reffed in the Big Ten for a few years before being let go.) He's back in the Big Sky, along with a couple of other leagues now.

The "best of the Big Sky," I typically find, are guys like Chris and Eric who occasionally get a taste of the better leagues and get to work an NCAA tournament game or two each year, work other western leagues like the West Coast, Mountain West and WAC, but are still "available" enough to be an asset to the league. Are they perfect? Hell no, but they develop some consistency over time, and many of them also begin to accept that they are not going on to the NBA or a major conference on a regular basis, and they lose "the attitude" that some of the younger, more aggressive officials get.

In my observations over the years, I find that coaches who obsess over officials or particular calls can lose focus and wind up costing their teams wins. It's fine to look at video after a game, write up a particularly bad performance by an official, or question a particular interpretation with the league office. I certainly have no problem with a coach calling out an official who has "an attitude," or a quick T. But coaches that obsess on officials are doing their teams a disservice. As fans, we'll always criticize officials and specific calls or missed calls. But it's always been a part of the game and always will be.

And the Big Sky will always be a mixed bag when it comes to officials: an occasional young, up-and-comer who will be gone soon; middle of the roaders who can't rise above the Big Sky; and guys who taste the top on occasion, but still have the time and inclination to be an asset to the league. I think Chris fits well in that last category.
 
I agree with Bengal, that Chris is one of the better refs in our league this year. We have a lot of rookie refs who are struggling to understand the rules let alone keep up with a fast pace game. Some of them are really quite bad. Jimmie Casas is simply corrupt. He must have some dirt on the Comish, or he wouldn't be allowed to ref anywhere. What I really don't like to see is when they pair Jimmie with a couple of rookies. When that happens, the game will go to what ever team Casas has his money on. :coffee:
 
I've watched several dance games, and have thought that they were, mostly, well officiated. The two worst of the bunch were games worked by Mr. R. He is arguably the best ref in the BSC and yet he seems to be the worst at the big dance.

I've made this observation before, but it is just as germane this year as in the past. For all of the hoopla about how they were going to call a tighter game and put a stop to all of the hand checking and pushing that goes on, at the big dance, and in the power conferences, they seem to be letting it go, like they always do. That is one of the reasons why BSC teams have such a culture shock when they play these other teams. Our refs need to get in line with the way that the rest of the world plays basketball. They think they know what is right, but if the rest of the world doesn't think so, then you are not right. What makes them think that our 2% is right and the other 98% should just get in line.

Oh, wait a minute..... we do live in a region where that kind of thinking prevails. :wall: :wall: :wall:
 
The Big Sky doesn't compete well in physical games because the Big Sky is largely a guards league. There are very few legitimate bigs in the Big Sky and I don't care how the officials call the regular season. I talked to Chris before the Big Sky started this year and he didn't see the new emphasis on away from the ball contact as any big deal. I think he knew things would normalize by the time conference season came around. The Big Sky will always have mediocre officiating because it is a developmental league. But that is not why the league always loses in the NCAA. There are a lot of reasons for that, starting with a lack of talent and a league wide lack of commitment to basketball.
 
I agree that the BSC is a guards league and that we struggle against teams with quality bigs. But that is not the only thing handicapping us at the dance. I'm OK with the BSC being a developmental league for refs as long as we are keeping them an a short leash. There are a few that should have been fires after just a few games and quite a few more who shouldn't be invited back, although I'm sure that won't happen. Understanding the rules can be fixed, poor judgment is genetic.

Looking at this past year, I would want about half of those guys back next year. The other half have some genetic problems with judgment.
 
Agreed the league has to do some weeding out every year. But if you don't give guys a chance to grow you will never have experienced officals.
 
As a league, what do you do? The BSC can burry their heads in the sand, and pretend that there is no problem, or they can begin planning to do something about it. I'm not convinced that the league will do anything about it. There are some coaches in our league that may get fired and I would hate to think that the BSC's lack of action on poor officiating would have contributed, in some way, to their demise. Our league has a problem and the NCAA has a problem. Who is better equipped to handle it? Personally, I think it is a Nationwide problem of fairness in competition. I don't think that conferences are equipped to handle it. :twocents:
 
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