We love college basketball, we really do. But there is one aspect of the sport that makes it almost not worth watching. You guessed it - the referees. Now, we could probably write this just about any day, but today is particularly appropriate for this post.

Last night, there were two games, both being played at the same time on television, that were without a doubt decided solely by refs and not the players. And that is not what college basketball is all about. That’s not why we watch.

First, on ESPN, Georgetown defeated Villanova 55-53 on a horrendous piece of officiating. With the game tied and Nova ball, Scottie Reynolds drove the baseline with less than 10 seconds to play and lost the ball. After a mad scramble for the ball, Wallace came away with the ball for the Hoyas. He maintained control, then began dribbling down the sidelines with no chance of scoring or even hoisting a last second 80-foot shot.

Enter the idiot referee. Whistle blows. Jackass calls a foul on Villanova’s Cory Stokes 80 feet from the hoop with 0.1 seconds left. o-point-freakin-1. The call would have been questionable with 19:00 to play in the first half. It was down right atrocious at this point of the game.

Wallace, of course, stepped to the line and drained both free throws. The Hoyas were given a win by the ref. No way around it. (As a side note, if one of us was Nova coach Jay Wright, we would have gone Bobby Knight on the refs after Wallace made the first free throw.)

After the game, here’s what Wallace had to say about the play:“At first I thought I stepped out of bounds, because I was trying to make a play with the time running down… a call’s a call.”  This stepping out of bounds theory is a bit absurd by Wallace, as a Hoya clearly stepped out of bounds earlier in the game, but it was not called by the ref three feet away. So we know that was not a consideration by the idiots calling this one.

Then, let’s say you were angry about that but hoping to find another game to make you feel better about college sports. So, you flip over to ESPN2. The mighty Tennessee Lady Volunteers, playing at home, are trailing Rutgers by 1 with about 10 seconds left. The Vols shoot and miss, rebound then shoot and miss, then they gather one last rebound with about 0.5 on the clock. Next thing you know, Tennessee is at the line shooting two free throws with 0.2 on the clock.

What happened? The home clock operator stopped the clock - during play - with 0.2 seconds left to play. The foul had not yet been called. In fact the Volunteer player had just come down with the final rebound. Clearly, the clock should have expired, giving Rutgers the win.

And what do the refs do? Correct the mistake and give Rutgers the win? Hell no. Of course not. They send the Tennessee player to the line, she makes both, home team wins.

If we had any say in the Big East or SEC, there would be a few suspensions handed down this morning.

Back to our initial point - why even cheer for a team? If your team can do everything in its power to win the game or force overtime, only to have the ref give the win to the opponent, then why even care?

If you are a Villanova fan, you realize that ref likely just buried your chances for the NCAA Tournament. A road win over a top 10 team goes a long way. If you are a Rutgers fan, you just had a road victory over a perennial powerhouse stolen from you due to an inexplicable clock stoppage.

In both cases, your team busted their butts for 39:59, only to have a referee step in and change the outcome in those finals 2/10 of a second.

And yes, we did note that these calls seems quite often to favor the home team. Coincidence?

At this point, it’s almost like watching pro wrestling. The WWE refs turns his head just as the bad guy uses the chair to knock out the good guy. Here, the ref blows his whistle 80-feet from the hoop with 0.1 on the clock. What’s the difference? Oh right, pro wrestling is fake and the outcomes are predetermined.

NCAA refs… what’s your excuse?