March Madness has reached its final stage and all eyes are on tonight’s Cougars vs Gators championship game. But while most people are focused on who takes home the National title, for some, the on-court action is bringing a different concern to light—refereeing. Yes, there were a lot of inconsistencies in calls during the early minutes, which disrupted the flow of the game. Surprisingly, the NCAA’s questionable officiating led to a rare take about the NBA refs.

Midway during the Kelvin Sampson vs Todd Golden battle, veteran writer Chris Mannix tweeted, “If you ever want to appreciate NBA referees, watch a college game.” Well, the claim is surprising because NBA officials often get criticized by fans and even players for not making the right calls and giving out unnecessary techs.

Moreover, whenever players voice their frustration publicly, they are often fined by the league for badmouthing the officials. Just last night, the refs received a ton of criticism for not calling fouls in Stephen Curry’s favor during the Warriors vs Rockets clash. Although Rockets defenders were constantly using physicality to limit Steph’s offense, he did not go to the charity stripes even once.

When Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler were asked about the questionable officiating on Steph, they tried their best to avoid getting fined. Green said, “You know my view. Fouls and referees and you know my view” with a grin on his face. Meanwhile, Jimmy remained tight-lipped. This is just one of countless such instances. However, tonight’s NCAA Finals has generated a rare emotion among fans–that NBA refs might not be so bad after all.

Calls mount against NCAA officials for “embarrassing” show as NBA refs receive rare praise

Turns out, Mannix was not the only person picking NBA officials over NCAA’s. Many people agreed with his tweet as comments like “Probably your best tweet ever” and “Facts” began flooding in. One netizen even pointed out why it’s more difficult to officiate in Adam Silver’s league than in college games, “IMO the NBA makes it much harder on their officials than the college game does. Too much goofiness and overthinking, not enough consistency in certain calls, good example being the flopping tech.”

As the NCAA finals progressed, more netizens began slamming the officials for their controversial decision making. One wrote, “Embarrassing ref show. NCAA puts this set of refs in this biggest game of the year” while another said, “What an absolute ref show. @NCAA do better. Horrible product for the national title game.” The officials for tonight’s game were Ron Groover, Doug Sirmons and Terry Oglesby, all highly experienced.

While most netizens cut NBA refs some slack amid the controversial officiating during Gators vs Cougars, one claimed, “No they both suck!!”. Yes, recency bias could be the reason behind fans picking NBA refs over NCAA officials. But once something similar happens during one of the upcoming NBA games, calls will again begin mounting against the usual suspects. Thoughts?