A Costly Anticipated Call?

[ChuckElias]

I just finished watching this very game replayed on ESPN this afternoon. Good game for 39 minutes and 58 seconds. Fox originally wrote that:

The call after watching a slow motion relay showed that the proper call was a block on the Illinois second defender who moved into position after the UA guard was already airborn.

I don't necessarily agree with that. On the replay, I could see that the dribbler did make contact with the original defender. The question, I think, was which happened first, A1 running into B1, or B2 bumping A1?

But let's just assume for a second that the official was correct in calling the offensive foul. (That's not a given, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt.) Even if he was right that the foul was on the offensive player, the replay clearly (no question at all) shows that the shot left the dribbler's hand before the contact. So by NCAA rules, this should not have been a PC foul. The basket should have counted and Illinois should have been allowed to shoot 1-and-1.

Additionally, the replay clearly shows that the contact occured with 1.5 seconds left in the period. But the officials put 5.5 seconds back up on the clock after the foul was assessed. I have no idea how they came up with that.

If Bob should read this, I don't have my NCAA book handy. Is either of these 2 situations reviewable on the replay? My guess is that the first situation (was the ball released before the contact?) is NOT reviewable. But I think that they could have gone to the replay to put the correct time back on the clock.

Boy, when the Big 10 Director of Officials sits down with this crew, it's not going to be a pleasant experience.

Chuck