Basketball fans watching the Notre Dame against California game had a surreal experience at the Haas Pavilion as they watched the final seconds unfold. Notre Dame was leading by 4 points with 11 seconds on the clock, and it looked like they would hold through, but fate had other plans. Four unanswered points by Notre Dame ultimately meant the Golden Bears surpassed Micah Shrewsberry’s team (72-71), but not without its fair share of controversy, with some of the referee’s calls being questionable.

What followed was a visibly livid coach chasing after ref Adam Flore and crew and shouting his disapproval over the whole matter. The call was decisive, but the entire decision-making process wasn’t, which created chaos during the final hours.

First, Flore called a foul, then proceeded to reverse the decision, and then yet again called it an impeachment as California was in the action of a 3-point shot.

This, in turn, led to a four-point play after it was decided that Golden Bears guard Dai Dai Ames’ 3-point shot was good during the closing seconds. But a closer inspection of the matter showed that Ames had clearly made the shot without any Dame defender making contact, which meant the foul play had occurred before.

Despite that, the crew came together and, after reversing the initial call, decided the foul call stood, and the 3-point shot was good.

Obviously, that didn’t sit right with Micah Shrewsberry, who found no other way to stifle his emotions but to make a straight-up confrontation with the referee assigned to handle the integrity of the game.

Things were about to take a turn for the worse, but the staffers and his players subdued him before matters further imploded.

Though coach Micah Shrewsberry’s behavior might land him in suspension books, does that absolve the “crimes” of the referee who single-handedly botched the game and took away the victory from Notre Dame’s hands? Fans certainly don’t think so.

Questionable refereeing in the Notre Dame and California game gets heavily criticized

Wrong calls can change the course of the game in a matter of seconds, and who would know it better than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? Just when it seemed that they had done enough to seal the game, some questionable calls ruined their hopes, and from Fighting Irish, the team went straight to “Fighting Referees” who had done them wrong.

“Micah Shrewsberry needs to be suspended for this. You can’t go after a ref even when the ref costs you a road win like this. That said, the ref needs to be suspended as well. This is atrocious, unacceptable, and changed the outcome of a game unfairly. It’s obvious they’re trying to foul intentionally up by three. You don’t give them the first tw,o then call *THAT*?!?,” said Rob Dauster from the Field of 68 podcast at the mayhem that had transpired.

Sure, Coach Shrewsberry might have crossed the line, but wasn’t he justified in doing so? How could one make such a critical blunder when there is clear evidence that suggests otherwise?

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It kills momentum and breaks down a team’s spirit completely, and that has to be answered for. Also, this wasn’t Flore’s first time messing things up in court either.

“Oh my goodness. The official who botched the end of the Notre Dame-Cal game was Adam Flore – the same official who was HORRENDOUS on Tuesday night in the Louisville-Cal game. Micah Shrewsberry – rightly so – lost his mind at the end of the game. Yikes!” recalled sports commentator Jody Demling, who touched upon Flore’s recent erroneous refereeing in the Louisville vs California game.

Inconsistent foul calls, momentum-shifting decisions, breaking down game flow, and showing bias towards ranked Louisville were the charges labeled against him. Ironically Golden Bears were involved in both games with contrasting results.

“Called it, reversed it, then called it again… how does that even happen? Micah Shrewsberry was about ready to explode,” came another comment, and that was true because memory fails to gather the last time Notre Dame head coach acted in this fashion. Yes, we have seen him angry, swatting away a local TV station’s wireless microphone stand and calling out his own fans for not being there when his team needed their support after a loss against Louisville. But this was clearly unprecedented.

Hopefully, the NCAA makes a note about the happenings and takes into record everything that is going on because this is a downright travesty for any team. As for Michah Shrewsberry and Notre Dame, they would like to forget that this game ever happened and would also hope and pray that they don’t get another game under Adam Flore.