I have been a scholastic basketball official — no, not college ball, but high school. I know what it is like to be worked by a coach. I know what it is like to have angry fans screaming at me. No, I have never feared for my safety in a high school gymnasium, and I have read and seen enough to know that once in a while, situations can become truly worrisome.
I would be lying to you if I said I have never been influenced by a home crowd or a home-court coach when officiating a game. Officials are just as human — no more, no less — than the players, coaches and fans. Emotional beings have emotional responses to events, even though the official’s job, on paper, is to be as neutral and emotionally detached as possible. Theoretically, it sounds great to have emotionless officials, and to be sure, they DO need to keep a level head in the midst of a heated competition. Yet, there is no such thing as an emotion-free official.
This is what gives rise to the perception that home-court officiating is a real thing… and in some cases, the reality of home-court officiating.
This isn’t always an ironclad truth of sports. Officiating isn’t guaranteed to favor home teams. Yet, if you were to pick any 100 games or any 10 seasons or any individual conference, you would be more inclined to think that home teams — in those various sample sizes — would come out better than road teams in terms of free throws attempted.
In the 2020 Big Ten, it is very hard to deny the notion that the home-versus-road dynamic in the conference — home teams with 57 wins, road teams with 18, entering Monday, Feb. 3 — is at least somewhat connected to the home-road officiating lottery.
Not convinced?
Start here:
After getting called for 28 fouls on the road at Iowa, Wisconsin gets called for 9 fouls at home vs Michigan St.
— Jeff (BPredict) (@BPredict) February 1, 2020
The Wisconsin Badgers definitely lived on both sides of the free-throw divide this past week. UW allowed only four foul shots to Michigan State, a big part of its victory. Against Iowa, Wisconsin couldn’t catch a break. So it goes.
Is Wisconsin alone in experiencing such home-and-road disparities? Nope. Michigan had 24 free throw attempts this past weekend, while Rutgers had only five. Two weeks earlier, on Jan. 17, Michigan was the team which attempted only five free throws. Iowa shot 30.
Iowa got lots of friendly whistles against Wisconsin and Michigan, as you have seen. In the Hawkeyes’ most recent road game at Maryland, they were minus-9 in free throw attempts, with the Terrapins earning 26 to the Hawks’ 17.
Is it a big deal that Wisconsin plays most of its next eight games at home? We report. You decide.