Whistleblower

First blog post of the New Year comes on the final day of January ... fitting, I say.

SDSU met USD in men's basketball tonight and the Jackrabbits made it 27 straight wins at home. More on that later.

What I found even more interesting was the three referees that were assigned to Thursday's game. Mike Sanzere, who is my favorite college referee because he chewed out Reggie Hamilton in a Summit League tournament two years ago. (Yes, he's the Tim Kurkjan look-alike.) He was officiating along with Hal Lusk and Johnny Wilkins.

I found it very interesting because I've rarely seen him do games aside from the Big 10 and the Summit League tournament. A more through analysis of statsheet.com's officiating database shows Sanzere commonly makes his tracks in Summit League country. Thursday was his fourth Summit League conference game and his first trip to SDSU for a game. He's been in Sioux Falls for the last three tournaments.

The whole deal might not mean much but it feeds an idea I've had for a while: The Summit League conference gets better officials for games that might be considered "bigger" or "rivalry" or "more important."

Just know this: I'm spitballing here. I have no inside knowledge on this.

I've felt the NDSU-SDSU games have some of the better refs too. But it could have more to do with certain officials having free schedules to do the game. 

The same can be seen for Hal Lusk, who usually runs through arenas in warmer locales than Brookings. I'm not nearly as cynical as most SDSU fans and I thought they did a pretty decent job Thursday.

In fact, I'm sure Summit League reps would say its just a coincidence but people like to complain so much about the refs, I thought I would look it up.

Now, if Ted Valentine ever is in Brookings to officiate a game, that will be a fun time.

---

I thought the crowd was pretty fun tonight and it helps when you make it feel like a big game. So, hats off to the big wigs at SDSU for handing out shirts and balloons. That helped quite a bit. I'm curious to see if any of the other games this season get a boost because of the fun time.

---

I would like it if local pundits would stop getting so butthurt over who certain NCAA bracket experts have pegged for the Summit League's spot. This is a one-bid league, in case you forgot. Nothing matters for another six weeks and once the ticket is punched, then we can worry about the seed of the Summit rep. Let's enjoy the ride because this will be fun.

---

I refuse to call these SDSU-USD games by their corporate name. It doesn't matter to me and it doesn't to anyone else either. 

---

Selfishly, I will be in San Francisco in four weeks. The average high for February in San Francisco is 61 degrees. That's just nice to look at.