Caitlin Clark and Iowa advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Women's NCAA Tournament on Monday night, beating West Virginia 64-54.
Fans on Twitter think they had some help.
As the No. 8 seed Mountaineers gave the No. 1 seed Hawkeyes everything they could hand, many noticed a massive disparity in foul calls.
Even Bucks star Damian Lillard questioned the officiating, and he wasn't alone.
Damian Lillard, fans question Iowa-West Virginia refs
I feel like West Virginia women’s team getting did bad by these refs.
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) March 26, 2024
West Virginia is getting jobbed by these refs
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 26, 2024
This is absurd. Absolutely infuriating. I feel for the West Virginia team. They’ve played a better game than Iowa and they’re not going to get rewarded at all. Hope these refs don’t advance.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 26, 2024
west virginia:
— locked on big 12, lost in conference tournament. (@LOBig12) March 26, 2024
you may win this game against iowa, but ESPN will not let you win this game. the refs will not let you win this game. the sport will not let you win this game.
it’s rigged against you. we all see it.
Refs in the Iowa locker room after making sure Caitlin clark beat West Virginia pic.twitter.com/gq4cmOmsXc
— John (@iam_johnw) March 26, 2024
*WVU breathes*
— Barflaan Tedoe 🇱🇷 (@The_Barftender) March 26, 2024
Refs calling a foul for Iowa: pic.twitter.com/11PDElCe5x
Refs when they have to call an obvious foul on Iowa: pic.twitter.com/qBDfqXgehY
— FEDICAL🏔️ (@fedical) March 26, 2024
West Virginia you tried your best. you just didn’t have enough to go up against both the refs and Iowa pic.twitter.com/gZM2A0yaz1
— womensbasketballfan (@womensbasketb12) March 26, 2024
Refs making sure Caitlin Clark and Iowa don’t get upset. Laughably obvious. West Virginia deserves this win.
— Don Junior (@DonJuniorMusic) March 26, 2024
This refs are doing their best to bury West Virginia and they keep battling. It won't be enough for UWV to win but it's a nice attitude to have .
— 5'4 Queen Latifah (@c0mplexchick) March 26, 2024
The refs called 27 fouls on West Virginia. Iowa had just 11. The Hawkeyes attempted 30 free throws. The Mountaineers attempted just five.
The imbalance in the box score doesn't always tell the whole story. Some teams naturally get more fouls because of the style of basketball they play. In this case, though, it wasn't just the box score. It was the way Iowa got soft whistles and West Virginia couldn't seem to draw a foul. It was a knockdown-drag-out battle. The fouls should have been more equal.
I'm not a full-blown conspiracy theorist. As much as ESPN and the NCAA want Caitlin Clark to remain in the tournament as long as possible, the idea that the refs actually rigged the game is too extreme.
Of course, you don't have to rig a game on purpose to impact it as an official. Refs get caught up by home crowds. It's part of why home-court advantage is so powerful.
It's still frustrating when it feels like one team has an uphill battle against a higher seed and the refs.
Clark was as immense as you'd expect. She doubled up any other scorer in the game with 32 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds and dished three assists.
West Virginia valiantly made it a game despite trailing by 10 going into the fourth quarter. They had it tied up at 52 with three minutes to play. There were seven fouls called against the Mountaineers after that point (only a couple of those to stop the clock). Zero were called on Iowa.