Should Gonzaga blame the refs for another early March Madness exit?
The Arkansas Razorbacks knocked the Gonzaga Bulldogs out of March Madness in the Sweet 16 but they may have had help from the refs to do it.
No. 1-seed Gonzaga came into the 2022 NCAA Tournament with hopes of securing their first ever national championship.
They’ll leave on Thursday night disappointed once again thanks to an upset by No. 4 Arkansas.
Fans of college basketball are used to watching the Bulldogs bow out ahead of schedule but this time there were many who felt the playing field wasn’t exactly level.
Should Gonzaga blame the refs for another early March Madness exit?
Did the refs do the Bulldogs dirty?
One of the key moments of the game involved Gonzaga star center Chet Holmgren fouling out on a questionable call.
I'M SORRY, NCAA BASKETBALL WITH ITS ONLY FIVE FOULS AND AMATEURISH REFS IS A JOKE. SO IF CHET HOLMGREN JUMPS BACKWARD AND THE ARKANSAS PLAYER DRIVES THE BALL UP INTO HIS CHEST, THAT'S A FOUL ON HOLMGREN??? CLOWN COLLEGE CALL - AS WERE 3 OTHERS ON FOULED-OUT HOLMGREN.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) March 25, 2022
"I would have passed on this foul." @GeneSteratore weighs in on Chet Holmgren's fifth foul. pic.twitter.com/HUvyrHlspm
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 25, 2022
How the refs on Chet Holmgren pic.twitter.com/yaYjYNIxwR
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) March 25, 2022
They really should have let Gonzaga and Arkansas play without refs tonight.
— Patrick Schmidt (@PatrickASchmidt) March 25, 2022
The referees in Arkansas // Gonzaga driving home pic.twitter.com/5ollQnR0UV
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) March 25, 2022
this game is the perfect combination of poor officiating hurting Gonzaga and Arkansas chucking up YOLO threes with no regard for human life to balance it out
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) March 25, 2022
FINAL: Arkansas 74, Gonzaga 68.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 25, 2022
The Razorbacks have made the Elite Eight in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1994/1995. The officials were awful — again. But the Hogs were clearly the better team tonight. Impressive stuff from Eric Musselman and his players.
Not everyone agreed that the refs screwed Gonzaga though. Plenty of people on Twitter pointed out the areas that the Bulldogs struggled to match up with the Razorbacks.
They're gonna talk all week about how the refs hosed Gonzaga like Timme doesn't get away with 10 of those every night.
— Rock Chalk Blog (@RockChalkBlog) March 25, 2022
The refs were awful for both teams. They're awful for both teams in every game. But don't act like they were pro-Arkansas in this game. They certainly weren't.
You can blame the refs all you want.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 25, 2022
If Gonzaga loses this game, this is 100% on this team. Shooting 37%, 11-20 on layups, and 4-20 on threes.
Gonzaga has nobody to blame but themselves for this game.
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) March 25, 2022
The refs dont force you to shoot 4 of 20 from deep
Whether you think Gonzaga was dealt a tough hand or Arkansas imposed their will, the result is final.
The Razorbacks are heading to the Elite Eight and the Bulldogs are heading home.
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman has now taken his team to their second-straight Elite Eight appearance. They’ll now way for the outcome of the game between No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Texas Tech to learn their opponent.
Next. Whatever happened to these forgotten college stars?. dark
For more NCAA basketball news, analysis, opinion and features, check out more from the FanSided college basketball section to stay on top of the latest action.