Rick Barnes defends quality of SEC officials, identifies area for improvement

There are few jobs that are as thankless in sports as officiating. When things are going well, the officials are rarely noticed. When they go poorly, all blame falls on the officials. Still, Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes thinks the SEC has some of the best officials in the country.

After Tennessee’s recent win over Vanderbilt, Barnes was asked about the quality of the SEC. He would use that as a launching pad to praise the conference, including the officials.

“It really is the parity,” Rick Barnes said. “I don’t know if we’ve got quote unquote a lot of NBA players, I just know I’ve never seen a league with the depth that each team can play with. And the quality of that. And I think, obviously, when I look at it, terrific coaches. We haven’t played against a team this year that hasn’t played really hard and competed at a high level?” 

At this point, the SEC has five teams that already have at least 20 wins for the season. That has helped land nine teams from the conference in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. That build-up has, according to Barnes, come down to investment in basketball.

“Once you’ve got in the league play, you expect every game to go down this way regardless of what anybody else thinks, whether you’re home or on the road. You’d like to think if you play your best, you’re going to win. But it’s just, it’s really, and I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. I think it’s going to be good for a long time. Not to rehash it, but 10 years ago we were one of the worst leagues in the country, and you look at the commitment that’s been made from everybody from the universities by facilities. And I think most everybody is there, not everybody, I don’t think, it there yet but we’re getting there.”

Part of that investment has been improved officiating. Now, Rick Barnes is thrilled with the conference’s officials overall.

“Officiating and when you look at it, you’re never going to be totally pleased. I mean, I’m sure after every game that people are going to complain about some officiating. But I think we’ve got the best officials. I do and I really do. I think that what Mike Eads and Garth Glissman are trying to do. Are they perfect? No. I wasn’t perfect today, either. I got upset. And I respect the fact that the communication was good today. Even though that we can beg to disagree, because I still think I’m right, the way they looked at it. And then nothing they can tell me that will change my mind because I know what I saw. But I get the replay behind my head, so I get to go look at it and confirm what I see, you know?”

The latest bracketology from ESPN emphasized just how strong the SEC is this season. They have 13 teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament.

“But again, it’s a great league and it’s going to get better. I just hope our league is really rewarded the way it should at the end of the year. But we got a lot of basketball left to play. There’s a lot left to go. I’d like to see us, our league if there’s 12, 13, whatever, teams that are NCAA worthy, I think they should be there. If they’ve got overall, quality wins they should be there because this has been a historic season for this league and we should be rewarded for it.”

Rick Barnes on consistency of officiating

In Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt, there was a major difference in fouls called from half to half. In the first, only nine were called while 23 were called in the second half. With that in mind, Rick Barnes admitted how difficult it is to officiate games.

“It’s always a difficult game to officiate when shots aren’t going in. But when one team is scoring, the team’s not, but today you had two teams that drove the ball really, really hard. Both teams were really trying to get fouled. Both teams were in pretty much in ball screens a lot.”

When Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington was asked about the same discrepancy in calls from one half to another, he called for more consistency. That’s a sentiment that Barnes would echo.

“My only thing about fouls is I think there’s certain things that have to be called every single time. And the big part of that, I think, is freedom of movement. But I think it’s like that NFL rule, that pass interference rule, where they get it where they get fouled, and the reason that’s such a bad rule is every referee gets to call it the way they see it,” Barnes said.

“And what I love about the NBA officiating, there are certain things that are a foul on the first play for the last play, in the first game or the last game. That’s where I think we got to get to overall, as opposed letting — like I had an official one night say to me, ‘Well if he hadn’t scored a basket, I would’ve called the foul.’ I said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with the old-fashioned three-point play?’ You know? And that I don’t understand because I believe you just officiate the rules of the game.”

Despite all of that, Rick Barnes still made sure to praise the SEC for its officials.

“And again, I don’t think anybody does it better than our league. I don’t. I don’t think there’s a harder league to officiate than this league right now because of the parity and talent. But today’s game, obviously, was I think we knew we had to come out and get aggressive and try to get the foul line, try to score some clock off not running, those type things. They a great job of attacking the lane. And you look at it, it was kind of a tale two halves, where they got the first half, I think they got eight in the second half from driving. And then first half, second half, I think we got 20 or 24 points. And it’s hard. It’s hard,” Barnes said.

Again, I do think the officials are working hard to try to be consistent. What they call there, they call on the other end. That’s all I think coaches look for. But you can disagree on 3-point shooting, I mean, I can talk about that play, and I respect Owen [Shortt] so much. I think he is going to be a great official. He is. I mean he’s a Final Four guy. We see it different sometimes but I know those guys work their butts on, I know. And they know they’re getting evaluated. They’re trying. Just like coaches are trying to win every game, we’re fighting clawing, because as much as we’re trying to do things the right way, that other team’s really trying to mess you up and those referees are trying to officiate the fight and it’s hard. It’s a hard, hard job. But overall you’ve got to believe in the end it evens out and that’s what you hope, anyway.”

Rick Barnes will hope that the good officiating continues through the end of the season. That final run for Tennessee continues on the road on Saturday against Texas A&M.