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Review finds considerable errors in officiating from LSU-Iowa national title game
By Paul Harvey
Published:
It does not feel that long ago that LSU’s women’s basketball team was rolling to a 102-85 win over Iowa in the national championship game.
That game was dominated by the Tigers as Hawkeye star Caitlin Clark was limited to a 9-for-22 shooting effort and battled foul trouble all game long. On the flip side, Angel Reese delivered a double-double for LSU and Jasmine Carson poured in a team-high 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting off the bench.
However, a recent review into the officiating during the national title game did not yield positive results. According to ESPN, the NCAA had planned a review of the tournament officiating following the 2024 championship but that review process sped up after criticism of officiating in the LSU-Iowa national title game.
Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, confirmed the overall accuracy of the calls from that game graded out below average.
“In the championship game itself, for example, we typically have a performance that, I think, is 91% historically,” she said. “In that game, the percentage of correct calls was below that, around 88%.”
ESPN went on to say the NCAA did not provide the review or the details to the AP, but an independent review found the actual percentage of correct calls was much lower than 88%. Out-of-bounds violations were not a part of that independent review but it is unclear if they were used in the NCAA’s review.
The independent review specifically cited a foul called against Angel Reese and a pair of offensive fouls missed (one on each team) as some of the mistakes from that game. A technical called on Caitlin Clark for a delay of game violation was among the calls that fans had a particular problem with, and the NCAA updated the rulebook over the summer so that players will not receive technicals for similar delay of game situations.
“Our committee is going to get a specific education about how we evaluate officials, and this is what we’re looking at,” Holzman said. “The committee is going to be trained up.”
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
