Rarely do I leave a game and say, “Man, the officiating was terrible.” Oh, it’ s happened. There have been a couple of outwardly awful crews and games and some dubious calls and no-calls. More often than not, though, I find the officiating to be fairly even, which is all you can ask for really. It might stink, but if it stinks consistently, that really has to qualify as acceptable.

Transition now to WVU v. ND and the 24-4 edge the Irish had in free throws. Harangody disdain aside — I saw the flops and one happened literally right in front of me … not sure what I can tell you — I thought it was acceptable.

To begin, just watching that game, I thought Notre Dame deserved to have an edge in free throws based on how both teams played. Was such an edge deserved? Probably not, but the Irish played in a way where I can accept them shooting more than WVU.

For starters, Notre Dame plays a zone defense — ie, not aggressive — and doesn’t commit a lot of fouls. In fact, it’s a skill — fourth-fewest fouls per game in the country … which might also explain their bad field-goal percentage defense, too. It’s actually the worst in the Big East.

Anyhow, Notre Dame doesn’t foul you and therefore doesn’t put you on the foul line. Combine that with a home game and — wait, officials would never be swayed by such a thing.

But WVU was also guilty. The Mountaineers took 37 3-point shots, the most since a Beilein team pushed 41 up in 2007, but also the evolution of Huggins’ third team, which is taking a lot of 3s.

To that, just about everyone said the Mountaineers didn’t “pressure the rim” as much as they needed and Huggins said, “Individually we’re not very good.” They don’t have off-the-bounce or throw-it-inside scorers. You’re far more likely to draw a foul two feet from the basket as opposed to 20. And if you’re not showing any inclination to  try to get to the rim the refs aren’t — wait, an official would never be swayed by such a thing.

The third part of this the way the Mountaineers played their defense in the second half. They had to play with a ferocity to get back the way they did and while it worked, it also backfired somewhat. They played with such energy and with such purpose that it was bound to draw fouls, which is what happened.