As the game ended and the refs started trotting swiftly to the exit (at the end of the NAU bench), the NAU coach charged out on the court (in a south by southeast direction) at the Black ref (who was probably just the closest ref to him). The ref veered wider out on the court by a step or so and kept moving--to try to avoid the coach. The NAU coach may have brushed or bumped him slightly, or perhaps the ref veered wide enough to avoid any contact. The NAU coach continued moving towards the area where the coaches shake hands in front of the scorers table. The 2 coaches were immediately (or relatively quickly) very close to each other. Couldn't tell if they were in each others faces, but that's the way it looked to me. People behind the coaches, or at least behind DeCuire seemed to be crowding behind the coaches (or just DeCuire) perhaps moving him forward. I heard from a UM official that the NAU coach pushed DeCuire, but I couldn't or didn't see that. I heard an NAU athletic department person say that the coach was irked by the ending of the game, and in particular the failure to call a technical on UM--because after Gregory's bucket, the UM player (not in uniform) was way out on the court). I was told that DeCuire pulled or pushed the kid back to the bench.
I can't wait to see the video. I talked to several people who watched or were trying to watch the video after the game at the main ref monitor, but they seemed to have differing views of what occurred. None of what I said above was based on anything that any of those people told me, unless the one UM official had seen the monitor and the push.
That short bald ref is so bad, and always is bad, that he goofs up games by making so many bad, wrong or marginal calls. He was horrible tonight, and horrible last night. The Big Sky needs to get rid of him. He's an equal "employer" bad ref, not discriminating against either team. Both teams have every right to be irked at about 12 or 15 of his calls tonight. The other 2 guys were fine, or even good tonight, and my impression is that the Black ref is consistently a good ref.
