Sorry, I had to break up the small novella.
As for the "dirty" play of Millien. Yes, there were two incidents with Criswell and Martin and both occurred when they were on the floor.
It's almost cliche to seem scuffles break out in that situation, watch any college or NBA game, two guys hit the floor together and there is always a mild confrontation.
Now, Millien is no saint, or angel. He was talking and delivering a few cheap shots, but believe me as someone, who has watched and played pick-up with Criswell, he gives as good as he gets. That's what people love about the gritty, undersized Eastern Montana kid, he simply doesn't back down from anybody or any situation. He and Millien got tangled up, Slim gave him a shove, Kevin delivered a forearm to the chest. It's not thuggery, it's tough competitive basketball in an already tense and charged situation.
The whole problem with that skirmish was that Criswell got fouled and no call was made.
The incident with Martin was less severe, the two players were fighting for a rebound and they both fell to the floor with Millien, as evidenced by the picture landing on Martin. Both players contienud to try and fight for the ball, whether there were punches thrown, I couldn't see. But it started out innocently.
As for the referees in Big Sky Conference, Frontier Conference and refs in general
....Much of the resulting problems in the ISU-UM game could have solved by consistent calls. College basketball has evolved into a physical game, I think it's a reason why Montana is good, look at how much better Strait is because of the added bulk.
However, the game was getting out of hand before the big incident and the Refs did nothing to stop it.
After covering Big Sky, Frontier and High School basketball, my biggest complaint for refs are three things —
1. they want to be part of the show and make the game revolve around them. — You see these guys, they make the controversial call, prance to halfcourt and emphatically make their call — basically the game stops and all eyes are on them, which is what they want. These are the same guys that worry more about whether their shoes have a high polish, their hair is done perfectly and their movements when making calls are tight and refined than if they are making the right call-- just call the damn game, nobody paid to see you ref.
2. some walk out on the floor with a Big sky-sized chip on their shoulder. You can tell which guys those are in the first few minutes, they're confrontational with coaches and players from the opening tip. They act like they're doing everyone a great favor by reffing the games, when they are getting paid for being there.
3. one guy always seems to blow his whistle 85 percent of the time. This is really true in three man crews, it just kills me. There was a ref from Western Montana doing a recent game I covered and of the god-awful 57 fouls called, he whistled at laset 45 of them. While guys are getting gang-beaten in the lane, he's out blowing a handcheck 27 feet from the basket for no apparent reason.
The Big Sky and Frontier are victims of their geographical size. There is no consistency with the refs, particularly from the regions they come from. Ask any coach, it's their biggest complaint. They don't mind having fouls called, but when the intrepation of what is a foul changes from game-to-game it's beyond frustrating