Kevin Love has a 30-30 Night

Kevin Love grabbed a franchise-record 31 rebounds and scored 31 points, the NBA’s first 30-30 game in 28 years, and the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit to stun the New York Knicks 112-103 on Friday night.

Love grabbed 15 boards in the third quarter alone to will the Timberwolves to victory. Moses Malone was the last player to do it with 38 points and 32 rebounds for Houston against Seattle in 1982.

Michael Beasley had 35 points and six rebounds for the Timberwolves, who won their second game in a row in dramatic style.

"Thirty years from now I can say I was on the floor while history was being made," Beasley said. "It's great. And we got the win. Just an amazing thing to watch and be a part of."

The Life of a College Basketball Ref: 26 Games in 27 Nights

The quality of officiating in sports is always under scrutiny, but in the age of instant replay and a rogue NBA referee, I think we need to take a look at the schedule of those officiating major college basketball, and are they working too much. 

In the 2007-08 season official Steve Welmer worked an astounding 106 games.  last season David Hall worked 104 games.  Keep in mind that teams play somewhere around 35-37 games at the most.  So that means workhorse officials are working almost everyday, and every game is a road game for these refs.

Let's look at David Hall so far this season.  The college basketball season isn't even a month old and Hall has worked 26 games in 12 states.  Hall even worked 2 games in one day in two different states; on November 13, his schedule shows he worked the UTEP/Texas Southern game in El paso, TX and then worked the BYU/Bradley game in Provo, UT.  How is this possible? 

The only day Hall has not worked a game this season is November 26, Thanksgiving.  I guess he took the day off to reintroduce himself to his wife and grab aturkey sandwich before heading out the door to Richmond, VA.  Hall mainly works Missouri Valley and Pac 10 games, but before conference play starts he works games all over the country. 

These referees are human and sooner or later these schedules have to catch up with them.  And that could happen come the end of the year, when it is most critical these officials are on top of their game.

In one five day stretch from 11/19 to11/23 Hall worked consecutively in California, Hawaii, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Oregon.  Where did he sleep, on planes?    How fresh and alert could he have been in Laramie, Wyoming after taking a red eye from Honolulu?

These refs are independent contractors so no one can tell them how much or little to work, but something needs to be done out of fairness to the players, coaches, and fans of these colleges and universities. 

I say these refs should be limited to a 5 game limit per week.  A regular work week to you and I.  They would be fresher in conference play and at the end of the year.

Here is David Hall's schedule for the first 27 days of 2009.

I see where top refs like Ed Hightower, John Higgins, and Ted Valentine work about 20% less games than the busiest refs.  I would trust these refs in big games because of that.  Let me know how you feel about this issue.  rclimpert003@yahoo.com