Arizona State head basketball coach Bobby Hurley was fined $20,000 and suspended one game by the Pac 12 Conference after publicly criticizing officials after the Sun Devils’ 79-76 loss to Stanford on Saturday. Stanford was up 15 at one point, squandered the entire lead away, then rallied late for the win.
Hurley’s outburst brings to light the pattern that officials have taken in all sports the last few years…the game is not about them.
The Sun Devils shot only one free throw in the first half.
One.
By the final buzzer, Stanford had visited the charity stripe 41 times, to Arizona State’s paltry nine. Now the Sun Devils shot 77.8%, converting seven of theirs, but the Cardinal drained 32 of their free throws, for 78.0% themselves.
Now you see why Hurley’s check will be lighter next time around?!
The Sun Devils were better overall, shooting 52.5% from the floor (31-59), while Stanford was at 38.0% (19-50). Right there, Stanford made 12 more shots from the floor, sank two fewer three pointers (seven to Stanford’s nine), and were very tight in just about every other category you could think of.
Well, unless you count their 29 fouls to Stanford’s 16.
Arizona State had two players foul out, while three more finished with four fouls. Stanford had just one player with more than two fouls, forward Spencer Jones, who finished with four.
Hurley was called for a technical foul just 30 seconds into the second half, with Stanford up 42-32. Certainly one to hold a grudge, Hurley also confronted the officials as they were leaving the court after the game. The final straw was Stanford’s Brandon Angel being fouled with 1.1 seconds left in regulation while shooting a three. Angel converted all three free throws to give the game the final outcome.
Hurley has every right to be critical. Until officials start addressing the media directly like coaches and players do, the offending party will have no issue sitting games out and paying fines. Hurley makes $2.1 million a year at Arizona State, so $20K is nothing to him over the course of a season. The loss dropping his squad to 6-10 instead of improving to 7-9 is the more pressing matter. The Sun Devils sit ninth in the Pac 12 and March Madness is just six weeks away. For a school like Arizona State, banners are hung for Sweet 16 appearances, unlike Arizona and UCLA, who have Final Four and National Championship banners testing the structural integrity of the beams in their respective arenas.
There is a reason why they only put numbers on the backs of the uniform for officials, because no one honestly gives a damn who they are until they blow a call against your team. Now we all know some of the greats in various sports over the years, but the primarily reason is their consistency. Some like Tim Donaghy in the NBA and Angel Hernandez in the MLB are known for the other side of that coin. At least Hernandez had the decency to address the media after costing the Chicago White Sox’ pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010, when he blew the call at first base on what should have been the final out.
There is one thing we all can agree on through all of this…
The NHL’s Wes McCauley is an absolute legend and a national treasure!
-JC24