Sports

CBS Rules Analyst Gene Steratore Refuses To Disagree With Clemson’s Egregious Technical Foul

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Gene Steratore Technical Foul Clemson Viktor Lahkin
CBS Sports

Clemson came two points short of a come-from-behind victory during the first round of March Madness and fell victim to the first upset of the year at the hands of McNeese State. However, the Tigers played the final six minutes without their center, Viktor Lahkin, because of a ridiculous technical foul.

As could be expected, Gene Steratore agreed with the call.

The 62-year-old rules analyst for CBS Sports never goes against the officials. He loves when questionable foul calls impact the entire flow of a college basketball game!

Steratore served as an official in the National Football League for 16 years, beginning in 2003. He retired in 2018 and joined CBS as an analyst shortly after hanging up the stripes. His loyalty to the referees is so well-documented that it has become a meme over the last few years. Gene Steratore rarely criticizes the officiating— matter the sport, no matter the controversy. Whatever was ruled on the field/court is right.

Gene Steratore Meme

That was true again on Thursday afternoon.

There are three things in life you cannot ask another person. One of them involves Steratore.

This latest occurrence took place during the second half of the Cowboys’ upset win over the Tigers. Lahkin was called for a foul after he tried to block a shot at the rim. It was a common foul, his fourth.

Just moments later, the officials decided to slap Lahkin with a technical foul for chirping at his opponent after the attempted block and subsequent common foul. There is no doubt that he was talking smack but he did not cross the line. And yet, his fairly harmless trash talk got him T’d up. Ridiculous.

The terrible technical foul call was crucial for two reasons. Not only did it give McNeese two shots and the ball (which ultimately proved to be the difference in the final score) while Clemson was on an 8-0 run, Viktor Lahkin fouled out.

Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas were on the broadcast for CBS. They disagreed with the call. I disagreed with the call. Pretty much everybody disagreed with the call. It was a bad call in a huge spot!

You know who didn’t disagree? Gene Steratore.

I don’t know if this guy is getting paid by the NCAA to support the officials or what because what are we doing here?! There was no reason to hit Lahkin with a technical foul and to do so in such an important moment of an NCAA Tournament game made it even worse.

Gene Steratore doesn’t think so. He is in full support of the ultra-soft, completely unnecessary technical foul that might’ve cost the Tigers a chance at victory in the closing moments. Of course he is.