Jao expands referee pool for NCAA Season 92

NCAA Commissioner Andy Jao speaks at the pre-season press conference of Season 92. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Andy Jao has expanded the pool of referees in the hopes of fixing the problems in officiating as he assumes the role of commissioner for the NCAA Season 92 basketball tournaments.

“My dream was able to have a good pool of officials, to have more diversity in the staff so you don’t have to see the same faces of referees as much as possible,” he said on Wednesday during the preseason press conference at Mall of Asia Coral Way Lobby.

Jao said that aside from the 11 officials from Basketball Referees Association for Schools, Colleges, and Universities (Brascu) who have been whistling for the NCAA in the past three years, he also included referees from Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and National Amateur Basketball Referees’ Association (Nabro) to complete the 62-man pool which he expects to be trimmed down as the season goes.

“We’re working for two months now. We’re very happy with their performance and sanay na sila with each other,” the soft-spoken official said.

The referees will be under the supervision of Jao and SBP technical commission chairman Levi Valenzuela.

Jao also said that he will try to take away deliberate fouling down the stretch which he feels “disturbs the flow and momentum of the games.”

“The only things we fixed were the ones which were part of controversies last year, like the hack-a-Shaq fouls. You cannot foul away from play in the last few minutes. It will be considered as unsportsmanlike foul and that will result to two free throws and possession,” he said.

Jao made it clear that he wants to see more discipline among the teams.

“Compete with discipline and earnest. Sometimes the tendency is you don’t discipline yourself and the team and you blame the officiating,” he said.

“It’s never been easy to have a perfect officiating. There are fouls that are called and some that are not. We’ll try our best to fix the problems so that in the end, kung sino man ang mag-champion, di nila masasabi na hindi maayos ang officiating. We will try our best that in the end, maayos ang tawagan.”