Tru Washington's attempted dunk against Boise State, stopped by the rim, led to a controversial foul call. Tru Washington’s attempted dunk against Boise State, stopped by the rim, led to a controversial foul call. (Awful Announcing on X.)
By Andrew Bucholtz on

The NCAA men’s basketball conference tournaments thus far have seen a lot of questionable officiating decisions, and a lot of announcers going in on those. The latest example of that came during a Mountain West Tournament semifinal clash Friday. There, the Boise State Broncos’ Emmanuel Ugbo was called for a foul on a missed dunk by New Mexico’s Tru Washington, which seemed to be stopped just by the rim.

Waltz immediately expresses some skepticism there with “They’re going to call a foul. That’s a late whistle.” Dickau then really goes in on it with “Oh, that is…that is not a good call from the official. …He missed that before there was any kind of contact with Ugbo. Ugbo was trying to get out of the way.”

The announcers then discuss the complaints to an official from Broncos’ coach Leon Rice, with Waltz noting “I think the official’s giving Leon a little more rope than he normally would” and Dickau adding “Normally he’s not that animated with the officials, but I think he’s got every right to be after that call.” A further replay then reinforces the limited-at-most contact from Ugbo on the play, with Dickau saying “That’s a no-call.”

The free throw Washington made (he hit one of two) is didn’t wind up mattering too much in the end, as Boise State won this game 72-69 to advance to the tournament final. But it might have; this extended the Lobos’ lead to five points, and had them in good shape.

It’s understandable why Rice got worked up about this call. And it’s notable how much the announcers agreed with him and how they went in on this decision. And that adds to what hasn’t been a great March for NCAA men’s basketball officiating so far.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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