Tramel's ScissorTales: Oklahoma HS basketball referees scramble without a scoreboard

Darrell Monroe walked into State Fair Arena at 7 a.m. Thursday. The first thing he did was check the scoreboard. Was it working?

Don’t laugh. Some things you shouldn’t take for granted.

Tom Seng did the same, only with skepticism. He wasn’t a believer until after the opening tip of the Fort Cobb-Goodwell game, when Seng took a peek and made sure the time was ticking.

Funny how you come to rely on technology. Even wearing a striped shirt on hallowed hardwood.

Monroe, Seng and Ric Meshew called the Cyril-Okarche girls game in the Class A State Tournament on Wednesday, and they did so without the benefit of the scoreboard.

The State Fair Arena scoreboard went out after the fifth of eight games played Wednesday, and after a 20-minute delay, tournament officials said play on.

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Monroe was making his state-tournament debut, but Seng and Meshew are long-time state-tournament referees, upwards of 20-25 years each. And they were no less fazed.

“We found out how much we rely on the scoreboard,” said Seng, from Enid.

With five minutes left in the game, Cyril coach Shane McLemore asked Seng, “Tom, do you happen to know what the score is?”

Seng had no idea. “I said, ‘I’m trying to keep up with the fouls.’”

A couple of players asked Meshew the score.

“Well, I think this is what it is, but don’t hold me to that,” Meshew told them.

Public-address announcer Steve Daniels kept the arena abreast of the score, but when you’re playing and coaching and calling, hearing the PA is hit and miss. Keeping count of the score is not part of the job description.

“Kind of felt like flying a plane in a thick fog,” said Meshew, of Edmond. “You know you’re flying, but you don’t have all that information that you’re used to having, you take for granted.”

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Without the scoreboard, the officials were unsure of the foul count. The horn blew when one of the teams was in the double-bonus but the refs didn’t know and were about to let the teams play on.

“I have a whole lot more respect for the scoreboard now,” Meshew said Thursday. “I never considered it too much until last night. It’ll be one of the first things I look for going forward. Make sure the scoreboard is working.”

Monroe is not a young official. He began working games in 1987 but took off 21 years, to run a ranch and raise a family.

He’s back now and got emotional talking about his reverence for basketball. Same with most of these guys in striped shirts.

For all the revelry around teams and players and coaches and fans enjoying the experience be it their first or 40^th trip, the referees are the same.

This is their dream. Calling games at the State Fair Arena.

“I can remember my first (state-tournament) game, 25 years ago,” Meshew said. “I’m pretty sure when they started playing ‘Oklahoma,’ I peed my pants a little bit.”

These games, this experience, is important to these referees. They consider it a blessing to get to call state-tournament games. They are serious about their craft.

The refs don’t get every call right, but they get most of them right, and they are as dedicated as anyone else who makes high school basketball what it is.

But calling games without a scoreboard was not on their bucket list.

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“The two veteran officials, the communication between the crew, I think that was probably the lifesaver,” Monroe said. “Keep everybody kind of in the game.

“We might not know the score, might not know the foul count. But as far as the officiating part, we were never away from where we needed to be at.”

The State Fair Arena scoreboard is roughly 20 years old. It was a big addition a generation ago. It almost surely will be sold off in a year or two, when State Fair Arena is razed and a new fairgrounds coliseum opens as the citadel of high school basketball.

Between the Wednesday night and Thursday morning sessions, a loose connection was fixed, and repairs were made that should keep the scoreboard functioning through next week. Heck, maybe through next season, when State Fair Arena figures to host the tournament for the final time.

But either way, the teams and coaches and referees can push through. We saw them do it Wednesday night.

“Don’t take anything for granted,” said Monroe, who by Thursday noon had called two state-tournament games. One with a scoreboard, one without.

“There’s always something else that can come up in a game. You just gotta handle it, use your experience. Rely on the guys that are with you and go out there and do the best job you can. You can get through it.”

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Bedlam is big Saturday in Stillwater

Bedlam caps the Big 12 women’s basketball regular season. The Cowgirls host the Sooners at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the game is big, with regular-season, Big 12 Tournament and March Madness ramifications.

∎ First, the regular season. With a victory, OU captures a share of the Big 12 title, which would be its first in 13 years.

The Sooners and Texas each are 13-4 in conference. The Longhorns swept OU – both games in decisive fashion – which matters for Big 12 Tournament seedings but not for the regular-season championship. Win Bedlam, and OU gets a trophy. For all I know, the Sooners could be handed the hardware in their Stillwater locker room after the game.

The Longhorns play at Kansas State on Saturday, and the Wildcats have been playing well. They took OU to overtime on Wednesday night in Norman – K-State should have won, in all honesty. Texas-KSU is at 4 p.m. Saturday, so if the Sooners win, they will have to wait to find out if the title is shared or not.

∎ OU will be the No. 1 or 2 seed in Kansas City next week for the Big 12 Tournament. No big deal either way; the Sooners might get an easier draw at No. 1, but we don’t know that yet.

OSU will be the No. 3, 4 or 5 seed, depending on how the logjam plays out in the conference standings.

The Cowgirls are in a three-way tie for third with Baylor and Iowa State, all at 10-7, and West Virginia looms a game back, at 9-8.

If OSU wins Bedlam, the Cowgirls are the No. 3 seed. If OSU loses, it could finish anywhere from third to fifth, depending on the results of Iowa State-Texas Tech and Baylor-West Virginia.

The seed doesn’t much matter. Kansas is in sixth place, and the Jayhawks are 8-9 in the league and no less dangerous than the teams just above them in the standings. KU swept OSU in the regular season.

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∎ NCAA Tournament seedings. OU needs all the victories – and plaudits, like a Big 12 title – it can muster for the selection committee.

The Sooners are ranked 16^th by The Associated Press poll, but OU is 39^th in the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings. That’s troublesome.

OU would like to secure a No. 4 seed in the bracket and the home site that goes along with it. But ESPN’s bracketology has the Sooners a No. 5. A Bedlam win, plus a deep Big 12 Tournament run (or title) would enhance the Sooners’ chances of hosting an NCAA sub-regional.

Meanwhile, OSU would like to build a résumé that elevates the Cowgirls above a No. 8 seed. That’s where ESPN bracketology now has OSU.

The Cowgirls aren’t going to be picky – from being picked No. 9 in the preseason Big 12 poll to an 8-seed in March bracket projections, this has been a magical OSU season.

But since you asked, if OSU could avoid an 8-seed, that would be good. That would be very, very good.

An 8-seed would be paired with a No. 1 seed in the second round, and if that No. 1 seed is unbeaten South Carolina, the season has a ceiling. The 30-0 Gamecocks are the defending NCAA champions.

The other projected No. 1 seeds – Louisiana State, Stanford and Indiana – are no breeze. Neither are projected No. 2 seeds Connecticut, Notre Dame, Iowa and Utah. But the 8-9 seeds might have a fighting chance against those squads. South Carolina? No.

A Bedlam victory, especially coupled with at least one win in the Big 12 Tournament, could lift the Cowgirls above an 8-seed.

Bedlam is big for a variety of reasons.

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Will 'Pistol' Pete Maravich's NCAA scoring record fall?

With only a few seconds left in the game Thursday night, Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis launched a 3-pointer that would have made history.

Davis was three points shy of Pete Maravich’s once-thought-unbreakable record of 3,667 NCAA Division I points. But Davis’ shot bounced off the rim, Youngstown State won 71-66 in the Horizon League quarterfinals, and Davis’ five-year Detroit Mercy career was over.

Or was it?

I wrote about Davis earlier in the week, how he needed at least two games to score the 63 points needed to catch Maravich. Two games is exactly what Davis got in the Horizon Tournament, and despite 38 points in a rout of Purdue-Fort Wayne on Tuesday night, Davis totaled just 22 against Youngstown State.

But I didn’t factor in the Collegiate Basketball Invitational or The Basketball Classic, postseason tournaments that are mere moneymakers for marketing groups.

Detroit Mercy finished with a 14-19 record, but there are no criteria on winning for teams in those tournaments.

In the case of the Collegiate Basketball Invitational, schools pony up $27,500 to be included.

Both Davis and his coach (and father, Mike) said they would welcome the opportunity to play more games. Needing just three points to match Maravich’s total and four points to break it, Davis would sail past Maravich. The games would count in Davis’ official scoring.

But it’s a bogus way to get a record.

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Davis already had five seasons to Maravich’s three. Already had longer seasons; Davis has averaged 28.8 games a year, to Maravich’s 27.7. Already had a 3-point line and a shot clock, neither of which was used during Maravich’s era at LSU, 1967-70.

Now Davis might get to extend his season with some nonsensical tournament that is mere exhibition.

That doesn’t seem right.

The tournaments absolutely should want Detroit Mercy, since Davis would shine a light on either The Basketball Classic or the Collegiate Basketball Invitational.

Both pick from the pool of teams that don’t make the NCAA or National Invitation Tournament. One hundred teams total comprise those two events.

According to ESPN, only one hurdle remains. Mike Davis said he would poll his team, to see if it has interest in a post-season tournament.

Antione Davis said he believes his teammates would like to play, but Mike Davis said, “If they want to play, we’ll play. If they don’t want to play and it’s time to move on, we won’t play.”

Maybe it doesn’t matter. No one is claiming that Mike Davis, averaging 25.4 points a game over five Detroit Mercy seasons, is a better scorer than is Maravich, who averaged 44.2 points a game over three LSU seasons.

If circumstances and changes in the game elevate Antione Davis ahead of Pistol Pete on a list, so be it. Henry Aaron caught Babe Ruth. Changes in the game and circumstances.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, life goes on.

But Barry Bonds caught Hammerin’ Hank, and we all know why. It just doesn’t seem right, and it wasn’t right.

And if Davis catches Maravich courtesy of an artificial tournament that you enter like a 3-on-3 streetball event – pay your money, here’s your t-shirt – it just won’t seem right, and it won’t be right.

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Mailbag: OU transfer portal

My recent ScissorTale on the long-time dedication to OU by Sooner women’s basketball players Madi Williams, Taylor Robertson and Ana Llanusa drew some interesting response.

Keith: “Great article on the OU women’s basketball team and the group of super seniors. Got me thinking. Not too long ago, there was an article in The Oklahoman about De’Vion Harmon’s return to Norman. In it, referring to Harmon’s transfer after Lon Kruger left, it quoted Porter Moser as saying something like he talked to him (Harmon) only briefly. Hmm. Now I totally understand that circumstances are as different as night and day always! Still, in light of the fact that Baranczyk kept the women’s team together and Moser did not keep the men’s team together, that is a quote that raises eyebrows, I would say. Just one more thing that caught my attention in a negative way about Moser.”

Tramel: I wouldn't read too much into it. It sounds like Harmon already was out the door by the time Moser was hired. Sort of like Brent Venables and Austin Stogner.

The women’s basketball players never entered the portal. They were always around. Harmon was not around.

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The List: NBA active scoring leaders

Thunder alumni dominates the list of the NBA’s active scoring leaders, with five of the top six having played for Oklahoma City:

1. LeBron James 38,450: Maybe the Thunder will draft Bronny James in 2024 and lure LeBron to play a year in OKC.

2. Carmelo Anthony 28,289: Anthony is not officially retired, though I don’t see anyone clamoring for him.

3. Kevin Durant 26,707: Almost 12,000 points behind LeBron. So if Durant can average 70 games a year at 30 points a game, he’ll have to outlast LeBron by six years to catch. Unlikely.

4. James Harden 24,477: Harden came to the NBA two years after Durant and seems destined to leave the league before Durant.

5. Russell Westbrook 24,181: The end is in sight for Westbrook.

6. Chris Paul 21,505: Paul had three Oklahoma City seasons; two with the Hornets, one with the Thunder.

7. DeMar DeRozan 21,293: When your mind started chronicling the top 10, bet you didn’t zero in on DeRozan.

8. Steph Curry 21,183: No reason Curry can’t keep going for quite awhile. His movement will slow down, but his shot will hold up.

9. Damian Lillard 19,092: The man is on a mission, with three 50-plus scoring games since New Year’s Day, including totals of 71 and 60.

10. Rudy Gay 17,577: No. 11 Paul George figures to catch Gay next season, so the Thunder would have six of the top 10.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma high school basketball referees scramble without a scoreboard