The absolute last thing any fan wants to see is a national championship settled — or at least impacted — by officials. Unfortunately, the 2023 NCAA women’s national title game won’t be a game we remember for the right reasons.
What was supposed to be a must-see matchup between Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark and a deep LSU team turned into one of the worst officiated games we’ve seen this tournament. And no sequence topped what happened at the end of the third quarter.
Shortly after the officials missed a clear over-the-back on LSU, Iowa’s Monika Czinano was called for a foul on the other end. Then, as the Iowa players were huddling up, the officials called a technical foul on Clark. In college basketball, a technical also counts as a personal foul, so the T would end up being Clark’s fourth foul.
When you make a game-changing call such as that, it better be blatant. But no, this was what happened.
Caitlin Clark got a technical foul for … this pic.twitter.com/inXeaY84Wx
— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) April 2, 2023
"Here's the T on Caitlin Clark… I mean… you have GOT to be kidding me." – @RyanRuocco
"No player in this game should get a technical foul for that." – @RebeccaLobo pic.twitter.com/qQuJD6bUTz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 2, 2023
Clark tossed the ball backwards towards the baseline. Under some circumstances, it could be seen as a delay of game. But this was the national championship. You have to have the awareness as an official to not let something like that drastically impact a title game.
These officials, though, just didn’t care. LSU got four free throws from those calls, making two of them.
The entire sequence justifiably had fans furious. It was shameful officiating across the board.