In a move that might best be filed under “Other Shoe Drops … Officials Huddle to Debate Charge/Block,”  the Big East applied a bold conference tournament ban on reigning national official of the year (!) Mike Kitts and Jim Haney for their Morgantown malfeasance and the way the crew handled the WVU-Louisville ending.

On the game’s most controversial play, a loose ball sailed out of bounds, directly at Kitts’ face. Kitts, whom three Big East coaches assessed as being a good ref, instinctively turned to avoid contact.

Neither Jones nor Haney had an angle on the play. None of the three signaled which team should have possession. In such a case, the ball is supposed to go to the team that has the possession arrow in its favor. But Haney and Kitts, in a procedural error, checked the replay monitor. The ball was awarded to West Virginia with 6.7 seconds left.

On the game’s most controversial play … I loved that, as in there were other candidates. Your boy Les Jones was also on the whistle that day and probably would have also been banned from the Garden party, but he’s already signed up to officiate the ACC Tournament. Figure the other two will do something similar. Kitts has done 82 games entering the weekend and just 16 were in the Big East. Haney had called 67 and 11 were in the Big East. 

Ready, set, open post!