Verne Harris popped a calf mid-way in the 2nd half and is hobbled. The crew is keeping him at C, and L is adjusting back in transition.

They have only messed up once where there was a turnover as Bill Kennedy was moving ball side and we had trail and center side by side.

They missed an obvious basket interference during a sloppy period and I'd say that the new mechanics on the fly caused it.

Foul on a 3 point shot with 2 tenths left in a 3 point game, kid sank all 3 for OT.

...and of course with a hobbled official, the game goes to overtime. What are the chances of that???

And he called the foul sending the game to overtime, too.

Lead had it as well, it was one of several double whistles.

I thought it was a really good effort of adjusting on the fly in a very close and important game.

By games end it was interesting to see who was moving worse Harris, or Bill Kennedy who has two bad knees and did a game the night before in Wyoming.:)

ESPN is claiming that the refs missed a backcourt violation and a travel on the final regulation play. Watching the replay, it didn't look like a bc violation to me because it was a throwin. The travel, maybe, but not something you necessarily see called the rest of the game either.

ESPN are idiots.

I watched the 2nd half and the OT.

Verne Harris became injured just prior to the media TO under 16:00 in the 2nd half. So the crew went a long way with him hobbled. They did the best they could. Verne stayed at C opposite the table the rest of the game including the extra period. They actually messed up only twice as the Lead rotated and then forget to go back due to Verne's condition. Both times the Trail was running up Verne's back and he waved that official over. The Trail official then crossed over in the frontcourt.

The BI may or may not have been missed because of the concern over how to handle Verne. On the play Bill Kennedy had rotated to L opposite the table. I believe that Verne had shifted his focus to him and was making sure that he was going to go back, Chris Rastatter was tableside and probably was concerned with flying down to Lead on the other end. A Stanford player then blocked a shot by putting his hand up through the net and ring and reaching outside the cylinder to contact the ball that the Washington player was just releasing. The crew missed it. The replay clearly shows it. Unfortunate.


I did not care for the position on the final play of regulation with 2.1 seconds remaining. Verne was of course C opposite the table. He started near the top of the key and moved down to the division line while the pass was thrown to midcourt. Bill Kennedy chose to be Trail OPPOSITE the table for the throw-in in the backcourt on the end line! WHY? He knows that he has Verne over there on that side of the court. He should have stayed tableside as Stanford had running privileges anyway. I don't understand this choice after 2 time-outs. It's not like the crew didn't have time to talk about where they would start on the play. Chris Rastatter was the new Lead and he was all the way down on the opposite end line. He did have a double whistle on the foul with Verne. This positioning made it difficult for the crew to cover the court, but they did and got the obvious foul on the 3pt shot at the buzzer. (Actually .2 was put back up after consulting the monitor.) I believe that the crew did get this play right with some difficulty.

BTW there was no backcourt violation on the play as some of the sports broadcasters are saying after the fact. The Stanford player jumped from his frontcourt caught the inbounds pass while airborne and then landed with his first foot down on the division line and his second foot in the backcourt. We all know that the exception allows this. He may have traveled before he passed the ball to Hernandez though. It was close.

I don't know what else this crew could have done with Verne as hurt as he certainly was. He gutted it out. The only other choice was to have him leave the court and finish the game with only two officials. Not a wonderful option either.

Watching it live, I also thought it was a backcourt violation, but on replay it was clear that the player who caught the throw-in pass was airborne when he caught it; therefore, he's allowed a "normal" landing. No violation. Good no-call by the officials.

I only saw the last minute of regulation, so I didn't realize that one of the guys was injured. Hope he's ok.

And imagine the thoughts going through Verne's head -- knowing that his season is likely over.

Depending on the injury, he could be back to make it three championships in a row!

Good Ol Verne from COLORADO!!! WOO HOO! Going to his camp this summer! Should be a good time!

Good analysis Nevadaref. I watched the game and thought they should've moved Verne to lead by switching him with Rastatter underneath the Stanford basket for those final 2.1 seconds. You knew Stanford needed a 3 point basket and you knew that most of the action would take place from the division line to around the 3 point arc. They could've minimized Verne's lack of mobility at that point by placing him in the spot least likely to see any meaningful action. Fortunately, the call was so obvious Verne could see it from the division line and Rastatter had a double whistle from lead, obviously reaching because of the injury.

[Edited by ShadowStripes on Jan 30th, 2006 at 03:23 PM]