Cincinnati men's basketball coach Mick Cronin doesn't just think the officials were wrong for ejecting him out of his team's Tuesday night win over American Athletic Conference foe South Florida.

He wants the officials to receive punishment for getting it wrong.

"What they did, they almost penalized a group of kids," Cronin told reporters Tuesday of NCAA referees Mark Schnur, William Covington, and Lee Cassell. "And they should be suspended."

The 13-year Bearcats coach aired out his frustration in his postgame news conference, taking aim at what he deemed to be a lack of accountability by NCAA officials hired by major conferences.

Describing how his technical foul and subsequent ejection unfolded, Cronin said: “I said, ‘What?’ And I got T’d. Now, I’ve tried to get T’d (in prior games). So then when I went to find out why I got a T — when other people are cursing every play and chasing guys around — and you say ‘What?’ and get a T? And the guy said it was because I put my hands up. So when he said that, I obviously was upset. Then when I showed I was upset about that, his tough-guy buddy (referee) threw me out.

"Let me tell you what’s happening: The league office is monitoring my press conference right now, to see if I say anything wrong. And that’s the problem with our sport. There’s no accountability, and it’s never going to change because they’re (NCAA officials) independent contractors. So if one guy decides he wants to be a certain way, nothing will happen. They just go about their business and do what they do.”

While the Bearcats (15-3, 4-1) were able to hold on for an 82-74 victory with assistant Darren Savino taking over midway through the second half following the ejection, Cronin vented about the possibility of the referees costing his team a win.

”To have other people take a win away from our players because they all of a sudden want to be a tough guy, for no reason — it’s a joke — it would have been sad,” Cronin said. “It would have been really sad.”

Cronin was asked if he could file a protest to the AAC regarding the officials. The 47-year-old coach felt it would be pointless.

“Yeah, I could file a protest,” he quipped. “You can also complain about your taxes (too). We’ll both get the same response."