Interesting NCAA Replay Case

[Mark Dexter]

It took three days, but it's final: Olivet 70, Kalamazoo 69

January 24, 2001


HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) -- Talk about a long game. It took three days for Olivet to beat Kalamazoo.

The game was Saturday. But the win wasn't announced by the NCAA until Tuesday, when the official score of 70-69 was recorded.

The ruling gave the win back to the Comets after an official used a video from a camcorder located in the bleachers to determine whether Kevin Bairds' shot at the end of the game had been released before the final horn.

Originally, Bairds' shot was waved off. But after a review, referee Dante Favors ruled the shot beat the buzzer and Kalamazoo won 71-70.

Olivet protested the ruling on Sunday through Sheila Wallace-Kovalchik, commissioner of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

On Monday, information about the game was forwarded to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis. A ruling came back on Tuesday recommending the decision be given to Olivet, as the on-court referee had originally ruled. League officials and Wallace-Kovalchik agreed.

Favors' decision to overrule his original call that Bairds' basket was no good came under the auspices of NCAA Rule 2, Section 5, that replay equipment or TV monitoring equipment can be used to determine the outcome of a game in such a situation.

A key, however, was the clause about TV equipment being within approximately 3 to 12 feet of the court.

Favors had to go to a camcorder that was set up high in the bleachers to view the end of the game.

``This is a situation where the official did what he thought was right and in the best interests of the kids playing the game,'' Wallace-Kovalchik told The Holland Sentinel. ``I applaud all the officials. They went out of their way to do what was right.''