Connecticut Huskies men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie was ejected from Saturday's game against Louisville when he freaked out after a horrendous missed foul call by the officials.
It happened in the second half with 13:02 remaining as UConn guard Niels Giffey pump faked and drew contact from the Louisville defender who jumped up in the air and bumped Giffey as he came down. Inexplicably, however, no foul was called, sending Ollie sprinting down the sidelines screaming at the officials. The officials called two technicals on Ollie within three seconds and he was gone, but not without having to be restrained by his assistant coaches and one of his players while he continued to try to make his case.
Even ESPN analyst Dick Vitale was on Ollie's side:
"Right there - look at the contact. You're gonna tell me you don't have a right...to fight for your player there? I mean, come on now. And then you're gonna compound it by nailing him (with a technical)...He's fighting for what's right."
Normally we don't condone temper tantrums on the part of head coaches, but what we really can't stand is horrible officiating. It's a bit unfair that Ollie has no recourse for the terrible no-call other than to send a note to the NCAA and wait for them to respond by saying "We're sorry. Our bad."
Maybe the officials in this game (Mike Stuart, Brian O'Connell, Ted Valentine) can explain to the NCAA exactly how all three of them missed this one.
H/T LBS.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
