tansbury had his beef with the officiating crew of Mike Kitts, Mike Stuart and Michael Stephens,
so let’s get right into it. In his opening remarks, he mentioned a
no-call on goal-tending with Osby with a little over two minutes to
play: “I thought it was a goal tend call. Don’t get it. That’s the way
it is.” A few questions later, Jerry Tipton of The (Lexington) Herald-Leader asked about foul calls on Jarvis Varnado.
“Jerry, I can’t say what I really think, so I’ll be politically correct
the best I can. Number one, I’m not saying which ones were — Jarvis has
to be more disciplined right there and not pick up four and five. Four
and five for him were nicky-pick fouls. Both of them. … With all that
pushing and shoving going on, and we’re 98 feet from the basket, going
the other way, boy, that’s a tough one to foul your best player out
on.” Tipton asked another question, saying that he didn’t want to
belabor the point on officiating, but… “We won’t belabor them. I know
you want me to say something. We won’t belabor them. Huh? Will you pay
my fine? You pay half of it? We’ll belabor the heck out of them.
(Laughter.) How much is my fine? How much is it? Anybody in here? How
much is it? You pay half? I’ll pay half, and we’ll let them have it.
Y’all gonna pass that cup around?” On the call that prompted the first
cup from the stands, the one that put John Wall on
the line? “Awwww, s—,” he said. There was more laughter. “I mean,
Jerry, you write what you thought about that late whistle, because you
just called it out. On the road. On the road. Damn, you don’t get those
calls. On the road.” Stansbury looks up at athletic director Greg Byrne,
who’s in the back of the room. “Not going to pay my fine? You going to
pay half of it, I get half of it?” Byrne: “You make more money than I
do, coach.” More laughter. “But, I’m not going to, we’re not going to,
fault the referees, guys. We had every opportunity in the world, still.
Y’all know that.”