decide "to let the teams play" instead of enforcing the rules? There have been quite a few of those types of games where both teams could have end up with 30 or 40 fouls by the end of the game. Instead, the refs kept their whistles in their pockets and both teams ended up with only half or maybe a third of the fouls called even factoring in the intentional fouls at the end of the game.

I don't disagree that the style of play can have influence how refs officiate a game. However, I believe each conference has some sort of grading system to determine which officials will get to work the conference tournament and represent the conference in any postseason games. I would think at some level, even is subconscious, each ref wants to make sure he/she gets the best grade possible for each game. Since officials already know the grading style for each conference, it isn't unreasonable to think that they would tailor their officiating to maximize their benefit. Even though this post was posted on the basketball board, I was also taking into consideration the other sports too.