Rutgers/UConn throw-in

[Nevadaref]

Did anyone else believe that a throw-in violation should have been called against Rutgers with 19.4 seconds remaining when the teammate of the thrower ran OOB?


RULE 9 Violations and Penalties
...
Section 5. Throw-in
...
Art. 2. No player other than the thrower-in shall:
a. Perform the throw-in or be out of bounds after a designated-spot throw-in begins.

[Camron Rust]

Sure. I haven't seen the play but it sounds fun!!

Care to describe the play for those that haven't seen it?

[nukewhistle]

I thought the tv broadcaster stated the ref gave a time out to the Rutger player requesting one while going OOB otherwise it appeared a five second count should have been called.

[Nevadaref]

I was hoping to find a news article which described the play, but all I was able to find was this:


"With 19.4 seconds left, UConn's Charde Houston dribbled the ball out of bounds, and Rutgers held on from there." --David Picker, The New York Times


Anyway, following this turnover, the ball was to be inbounded from the end line about twelve feet from the corner. Obviously, this is a designated-spot throw-in.

Now the wierdness begins. The score is 45-42 in favor of Rutgers at this time.

The officials were Angie Lewis, Bill Titus, and Lisa Mattingly.

For some reason Bill Titus chose to administer the throw-in to Rutgers by standing under the basket and then backing out to the opposite side. I have no idea why.

During the five second count, a teammate of the thrower runs OOB right next to him, but on the opposite side of him from the throw-in location. This player may have actually bumped into him. He turned and immediately blew the whistle. It seems that he mistakenly believed that this player was requesting a time-out. Replays indicate that she was not. It really looks as if she was expecting to receive a pass on the OOB side of the boundary. The common play many teams run when the right to run the end line is in effect.

Bill is then shown tapping his chest in the manner used to indicate "My fault."

UConn's coach Geno Auriemma is confused by why there was a whistle and is unhappy. He is asking for an explanation. Lisa Mattingly comes running in from down the court and they have a chat. Following this discussion, she has one with Bill. The result is that Rutgers is charged with their final time-out and when play is resumed afterwards, Rutgers is once again given a throw-in from the same location.


I'm expecting to see a press release from the Big East conference on the play later in the week.

[wfd21]

If they were now going to give the ball to Rutgers and go the "long way down" there would be no switch by the officials, and Bill could/should bounce the ball accross to the player for the throw-in and back out. If they were staying in the offense end for a throw-in he should have steped over to sideline side of thrower.

[Nu1]

I saw this (on tv) as it happened. I don't know if I think a violation should have been called or not. It depends on what actually happened between the Rutgers player and the official administering. Although I definitely agree with Nevada that the official was doing the "my fault" tap.

So...if there was no timeout request...I wonder if some of those conversations went like... OFFICIAL: Hey coach (Rutgers), either your player just called a timeout or it's a violation and UConn's ball. RUTGER'S COACH: She called timeout. I would be a little upset if I was on UConn's side, though.

Sidenote: I know most of the time the announcers are clueless, and I did only watch the last 6 minutes of this game, but these announcers seemed to be using good terms (and understanding them) like "displacement." But, they had a lapse on this play as they were both saying the Rutger's player was trying to receive the pass and the official was in the way...as if it were a legal play. I don't recall them saying anything about it being a spot throw-in and therefore illegal for the other Rutger's player to be OOB. Of course I could have missed it because my 11 year old son was talking in my ear..."She can't do that!"

[TriggerMN]

I think the more important factor in this game was that UConn scored a grand total of one point in the last 11:30 of the game.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Nevadaref
I was hoping to find a news article which described the play, but all I was able to find was this:


"With 19.4 seconds left, UConn's Charde Houston dribbled the ball out of bounds, and Rutgers held on from there." --David Picker, The New York Times


Anyway, following this turnover, the ball was to be inbounded from the end line about twelve feet from the corner. Obviously, this is a designated-spot throw-in.

Now the wierdness begins. The score is 45-42 in favor of Rutgers at this time.

The officials were Angie Lewis, Bill Titus, and Lisa Mattingly.

For some reason Bill Titus chose to administer the throw-in to Rutgers by standing under the basket and then backing out to the opposite side. I have no idea why.

During the five second count, a teammate of the thrower runs OOB right next to him, but on the opposite side of him from the throw-in location. This player may have actually bumped into him. He turned and immediately blew the whistle. It seems that he mistakenly believed that this player was requesting a time-out. Replays indicate that she was not. It really looks as if she was expecting to receive a pass on the OOB side of the boundary. The common play many teams run when the right to run the end line is in effect.

Bill is then shown tapping his chest in the manner used to indicate "My fault."

UConn's coach Geno Auriemma is confused by why there was a whistle and is unhappy. He is asking for an explanation. Lisa Mattingly comes running in from down the court and they have a chat. Following this discussion, she has one with Bill. The result is that Rutgers is charged with their final time-out and when play is resumed afterwards, Rutgers is once again given a throw-in from the same location.


I'm expecting to see a press release from the Big East conference on the play later in the week.

Bouncing across in this situation was the proper women's mechanic.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Originally posted by TriggerMN
I think the more important factor in this game was that UConn scored a grand total of one point in the last 11:30 of the game.

But I'm sure that it was this one missed call that cost this team the game, right?

Sounds similar to a girls game I had on friday night, where a call was gacked at the end of the game, and the team that got screwed on the call lost the game. The next day I was at the visiting school's gym, and overheard the boy's coach commenting on the previous night's gack, and saying, "And in this instance, it just so happened to cost them the game." I wanted to go up to him and say, "Yeah, either that, or the fact that your team got outscored 9-0 in the final 2 minutes of the game, and the girls from your school missed layupS, free throwS, and turned the ball over 3 times in that period." And yes, those are capital Ss on purpose to emphasis that there were multiple of these things missed in the last 2 minutes by the losing team.

[All_Heart]

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser

Bouncing across in this situation was the proper women's mechanic.

Question, if there is back court pressure is the official still supposed to bounce across?

[Red_Killian]

This was not a normal bounce across scenario if I remember correctly. The throwin spot was not on the edge of the lane, it was probably closer to the sideline than the lane or at least around the midpoint. The official was inside the player but around the lane area extended, definitely not on the opposite side of the lane. He backed into the lane area extended and that is where the 2nd Rutgers player went OB. There was pressure, so no bounce in Fed, not sure on NCAAW. My old mechanics book says hand or bounce in the backcourt, no mention of pressure, so it's probably OK.

[Nevadaref]

Originally posted by All_Heart

Question, if there is back court pressure is the official still supposed to bounce across?

Rich,
I don't doubt that you are right about what the current NCAAW mechanic is, but I have to say that in my opinion this is silly.

This placement does not put the official in the best location to observe the game action. Certainly when there is backcourt pressure, the official ought to be strong side.

I would hope that the NCAAW committee would look at this play from this particular game and change the mechanic.


FWIW, I also don't care for bouncing across in the backcourt when there is no defensive pressure. I think that it looks lazy.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Nevadaref

Rich,
I don't doubt that you are right about what the current NCAAW mechanic is, but I have to say that in my opinion this is silly.

This placement does not put the official in the best location to observe the game action. Certainly when there is backcourt pressure, the official ought to be strong side.

I would hope that the NCAAW committee would look at this play from this particular game and change the mechanic.


FWIW, I also don't care for bouncing across in the backcourt when there is no defensive pressure. I think that it looks lazy.

It puts the center in a great position, though.

I think in 3-person it doesn't matter a great deal.

[womens_hoops]

Two related questions about this case:

1. Suppose a player steps out of bounds in order to get a refs attention to call a timeout. Would you count that as a violation of 9-5-2 also?

2. Putting aside the question of stepping out of bounds, what is a ref supposed to do if he blows the whistle after mistakenly believing that a player called a timeout?

Thanks in advance for responses...

I emailed the Big East director of women's officiating yesterday to see if they were going to make any statement about this. No response yet.