LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's a scene that plays out almost every game. Someone comes down with a rebound, another player gets a hand on the ball, and before either player can rip the ball away to complete the action, a whistle blows, and a held ball is called.
As an official passed Louisville coach Jeff Walz during the Cardinals' victory over Florida State last week, Walz remarked, "You know, these players lift weights, too."
In recent weeks, Walz has been campaigning for an overhaul of officiating points of emphasis to allow for fewer stoppages in the women's game. He's careful to note that it's not the officiating itself that he is taking issue with. In most cases, it's the instructions officials are being given in the women's game.
After his team's Wake Forest victory, he said that the 10 players on the court for the two teams played well, but the three officials became the game's focal point in the fourth quarter. After Liz Dixon was whistled for a foul on what appeared to be from replays a clean blocked shot, Walz said to an official, "You guys never admit when your wrong. I mean, there's a jumbotron up there. The picture is beautiful."
"It's OK if a woman blocks a shot," Walz said. "God forbid, you know, it's OK. I just watch these men's games, and I just wish we could get a little bit better at letting these kids play."
He said the fourth quarter of a competitive game was ruined by too many stoppages.
"There was no flow," Did you see a flow?" he said. "No, no, we needed some Drain-o. It was clogged up, all right. The entire fourth quarter was constipated. We needed some Maalox, right?"
After Sunday's 77-65 win over No. 21 Duke, Walz was even more frustrated. The teams were whistled for 24 second-half fouls and 37 in the game. And while the women's game is superior to the men's in that it plays quarters, which allows for fewer free-throws in general, Walz still feels the game is stopped too often for insignificant reason.
Van Lith scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter, Kianna Smith added five in the period and Louisville held off No. 21 Duke 77-65 on Sunday for its third consecutive victory.
"I mean, you can't blame the officials. They're just told what to call," he said. "But God almighty, it's got to change. Our game is brutal. I mean, I don't even know why people come and watch it. There's no flow to it. There's stuff they call that has no impact on anything. Both sides. It's not just us. It's both sides. And it's just like, Lordy. But that's what they're being told to call. We have to change some rules. You know, I really don't think they — I'm going to try and get on that rules committee to try to help get some things changed, but I really doubt that they want me on that. It's just brutal. It's God awful. I mean, you all watch it. I mean, we have 9,000 people show up to watch a women's basketball game, and we're doing everything we possibly can to get them to not come back."
Now it should be said, Walz has one of the best defensive teams in the nation, and the more pressure it is allowed to apply, the better off it is.
But having watched many games, officials will call a light hand check on the perimeter, but let excessive contact go around the basket. They'll also officiate to the score.
One problem Walz has is that the regular season will be called closely, then the whistles will ease up in the NCAA Tournament.
"The stuff at half court, they're calling double-hand checks or whatever they want," Walz said. "... OK, but it's people that have no bearing on the play at all. And then we stop the game. It's not their fault. I mean, don't sit here and say I'm bashing the officials. They're just calling what they're told to call. But it's got to change, because see as soon as we start up in the NCAA Tournament, all this ----storm is thrown straight out the window. It is gone. And we play ball and people seem to like it. I don't know why we just don't officiate the regular season like we do in the NCAA Tournament. And they can tell me, 'Oh, no, we officiate the same.' No, we don't, either. I've been head coach for 15 years. And I've watched it for 15 years. But it's much better in the NCAA Tournament, much better."
Whatever the case, Walz's team continues to prosper. The Cardinals are 18-2 and No. 4 in the most recent NET rankings. They've won 17 of their past 18 games and beat Duke in front of one of their larger home crowds of the season, 9,001 on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center despite being played at the same time as a Cincinnati Bengals playoff game.
Walz is urging his players to more consistency, and he'd like to see it from the people calling the games, too. And he's a rare coach that is willing to speak candidly about it.
"I don't think we changed how we guarded from the first half to the second half," Walz said Sunday. "And then the problem is, it's one game to the next. It's I mean, I don't know. It is what it is. I'm sure someone's going to call (interim athletics director) Josh (Hierd) or me and say I can't say those things. The problem is, that's what's wrong with our game. Nobody ever wants to be held accountable and how are we going to change things? How can we make it better? Maybe some of the rules we have aren't good. So let's change them."
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