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Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News
Both Purdue and Butler are working their way toward the Final Four in Indianapolis. But when teams compete on the court, can they count on the referees being fair?
A recent study looked at patterns in officiating college basketball games. It found when it comes to the timing and number of fouls, refs are not always objective.
Bad calls can have players and fans crying foul, especially when they have a stake in the team.
"During the game, I often think that my team is getting the short end of the stick," said Butler University Finance professor Bill Templeton.
"When it's their team, they're always going to argue every call that goes against them," agreed Butler Education Counselor Tom Keller.
But what's the referee reality?
Kyle Anderson, a Business Economics professor with Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, contends officials are not always objective.
"The home team does get fewer fouls than the visiting team and all those things do go on," Anderson said.
Anderson co-authored a study, published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, about college basketball officiating. He looked at 365 games, both regular season and tournament play, and tracked the sequence of foul calls in the first half.
The study found that statistically, refs are more likely to call fouls on the visiting team, on the team that is leading and on the team with fewer fouls.
"It's almost two to one more likely that the team with fewer fouls will get the next one," Anderson said. "The referee might say, 'Wow, I've called only two fouls on this team and six on the other one. I'd better even it out, or people might think I'm not being fair or think I'm biased'."
So considering those results, are officials really fair on the court?
Anderson says it depends on your definition of fair.
"Referees tend to call about the same number of fouls on each team. So in that way, it is kind of fair, but it's almost artificially fair. That tends to happen even if one team tends to foul more than another," Anderson explained. "The team that's more aggressive, the one that kind of reaches in and grabs a little more or pushes a little harder, is going to gain some advantage."
Foul calls can be game-changers. But now when crowds take a shot at the referee, they may have the stats to back them up.
"So if everyone knows that, then it's more fair. The answer is to play more aggressively," Templeton said.
Professor Anderson did get feedback from referees and coaches on this study.
The refs, he said, were mixed on the findings.
Some agreed. Some didn't.
Most coaches told him it proves why teams need to play aggressively.
Fans can judge for themselves when the Final Four comes to town next week.
