Ref errors found during LSU title win vs. Iowa

LSU‘s national championship win over Iowa to end last season’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament is remembered in part for its controversial officiating. A review of the game by the NCAA and an independent review provided to The Associated Press concluded the refereeing did not meet expectations.

The NCAA had planned a review of tournament officiating after the 2024 championship concludes in April, but the process was speeded up by a year after criticism of the LSU-Iowa game.

NCAA vice president for women’s basketball Lynn Holzman said the officials were graded on the accuracy of their calls and that the overall accuracy number fell short.

“In the championship game itself, for example, we typically have a performance that, I think, is 91% historically,” she said. “In that game, the percentage of correct calls was below that, around 88%.”

The NCAA did not provide the review or details to the AP, but an independent review by an official who did not participate in the game found the percentage of correct calls was much lower than 88%. (Out-of-bounds violations were not included as part of the independent analysis; it was unclear if they were included in the NCAA figure.)

According to the independent review, mistakes made during the game included a foul called on Angel Reese at the end of the first quarter that was her second of the game. In the third quarter, two offensive fouls were missed, one by each team. Both resulted in video monitor reviews but neither ended up penalizing the offensive player, said the official, who did the review for on condition of anonymity because they feared the criticism could affect their career.

The 88% correct call rate was on par with the rest of the 2023 NCAA tournament, but not ideal for the most important game of the season.

“Officiating across the board is a concern for people,” said North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart, president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, who added that she hoped the findings would be shared with coaches. “Doing that assessment was a good step showing that they are trying to address it.”

The NCAA review was conducted by the Pictor Group. It offered six observations and recommendations that include better education and training for the NCAA women’s basketball committee and subcommittee on officiating, selecting crews and assigning the referee and crew chiefs.

“They felt that the national officiating program is run with integrity and there’s no question around any of that,” Holzman said. “They identified areas we can be better.”

The NCAA updated its rulebook over the summer. One change, had it been in place last season, would have affected the title game.

Players now will no longer be charged with a technical foul for certain delay-of-game violations like the one given to Caitlin Clark late in the third quarter because she didn’t pass the ball to an official after a foul was called. Since it was the second delay-of-game violation for Iowa, Clark was charged with a technical — her fourth foul of the game.

“Our committee is going to get a specific education about how we evaluate officials, and this is what we’re looking at,” Holzman said. “The committee is going to be trained up.”

Holzman noted the review was only about the NCAA tournament and that individual conferences govern their officials during the regular season.

There are 762 Division I officials in women’s basketball this season. For the upcoming NCAA Tournament, there will once again be 116 of them working, along with five alternates — about 16% of the overall total.

An additional 94 officials will be selected for the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. This will allow the opportunity for more officials to gain postseason experience. In the past, some of the NCAA Tournament officials would also work WNIT games. Last year was the first time the NCAA had all-female crews for the Final Four games.

Last year was the first time the NCAA had all-women crews for the semifinals and final.

No. 1 LSU dropped its season opener with a 92-78 loss to No. 20 Colorado on Monday, while No. 3 Iowa opened with a 102-46 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.