[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by Texas Aggie
Couple of things:

They had to run the clock down from 1:00 several times (that was really annoying) to just under 4. The best they could do on the SECOND reset was 3.24. The first one went to 3.18 easily, but we now know it was 3:18, not 3.18.

Anyway, this was a Texas 5A (largest class) playoff game with a packed house and two officials. I think the officials lost control of the game earlier by letting Team A's coach get on them on every call and talk to them on every timeout. Team A's players were whiners as well. By the time this happened, virtually anything they did was going to be a problem due to their, in my view, lack of control. That's a lesson to us all: keep control of your game at all times.

I disagree with the interpretation of putting the ball at the designated spot nearest the point where the original play ended. If its done that way, there must be some time elapsed, but either way, this gives Team A way too much of an advantage, because when A-3 received the pass, he and only one other player were even in the front court. Almost no chance at a 3 point shot since he was well inside the arc. I doubt he would have gotten a shot off. A throw in gives them a perfect position. At most, there were about 1.75 seconds left. From what I remember about Fed rules, I don't think that justifies any sort of clock reset; game over.

If you do reset, you have to play it from the baseline, and the second time, the game should have been declared over. I know over 3 seconds elapsed for a pass catch, two passes, then a ball thrown into the air.

The game is being replayed as we speak on cable. I'll time it and get back here.

According your play, A3 received an inbounds pass from A2. That means the clock was not supposed to start until the ball was touchded by A3. Team A did nothing wrong in this play. The only mistake made was that the game clock started too soon. The fact that the game clock started too soon does not negate Team A's throw-in play. Under both NFHS and NCAA rules. The clock must be reset to the time that the officials definitely knew was on the clock and this is 3.18 seconds. There are a few of us in this group that believe that the NFHS and NCAA should adopt the NBA/WNBA rule where 0.3 seconds would be reduced on the game clock for a play like this but the current rules do not allow us to do such a thing.

MTD, Sr.