The officials in Sunday’s Atlantic Sun title game did a great service for the battle against flopping.
It was glorious.
As top-seeded Lipscomb took on Liberty for a trip to the NCAA tournament, Liberty’s Scottie James finished a put-back and fell to the floor. James felt like he was fouled on the play, and while he was on the floor, he caught an elbow from Lipscomb’s Rob Marberry.
But look how James reacted to the minimal contact — the flop was SO bad that the officials opted to ignore a potential flagrant foul. James went flying and grabbed his head in pain.
The officials reviewed the play, and the broadcast was certain that Marberry deserved a flagrant 1 foul at minimum (and a possible ejection). To the ESPN crew’s surprise, the officials came up to the table and explained that they felt James’ reaction to the contact was too exaggerated. The refs acknowledged that contact indeed took place and Marberry even looked at James. But that flop!
They could not reward that flop. More officials should follow that crew’s example.
Despite the flop, Liberty pulled the upset to reach the NCAA tournament.
