Officials Suspended over Phantom Basket
 

I know one of these officials. He is one of the best in our association. I do not know who was responsible. A valuable lesson for all of us: no matter how much experience you may have, mistakes can still be made.

http://www.wbir.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=53677

Yup - anything can happen to anyone. It's unfortunate, but these things do happen. I think someone invented a bumper sticker to remind us of this fact.

Cases like these, imho, are the ones where the officials have a greater impact on the game than intended: it's tough for teams to come back from points that didn't actually happen.

I think this line says it all.
 

Wired.

I read the story and I noticed this comment from the losing coach:

So this leads me to assume that Carson-Newman played a perfect game with no turnovers, no missed shots, and no missed free throws??? :rolleyes:

Yes...the officials screwed up....they were suspended.

I just wonder if Coach Clayton was on the other end of this, would he volunteer to give the two points back?

It's a ridiculous error. All of us know it. They deserve to be suspended and they know it too.

PS The same thing happened in boys D2 State Final in CA last season. Taylor King now playing for Duke was the player awarded the basket that didn't go in.

What I wonder is if there was any video equipment available?

NCAA rules allow the use of video replay to prevent scoring mistakes and correctable errors (incorrectly counting/cancelling a score)

Would have been an easy fix if they did...

The referee, went to the scorer's table and said to count the basket. None of the other officials, the clock operator or either official scorer could verify whether the ball had gone in.

These bolded words are very important to 3-man officiating IMO. Trail or Center should have verified if the basket should have counted or not. Like someone stated they should have been suspended for this gross misuse of judgement.

The problem is the video equipment has to be available for this specific purpose. And if it was not available within specific parameters, it cannot be used. I doubt seriously that many Division 2 games have this kind of equipment available. I could be wrong, but lower level college is such a mixed bag.

Peace

Okay, just for fun, because this would probably never happen. But, what if the coach of the winning team actually does want to teach character to his players and comes over to you, as the calling official, and tells you that the basket you just counted in favor of his team did not actually go in. I know this wouldn't happen, but, if it did, can you use this as an official to change the call and disallow the basket?

I imagine that someone had a videotape of the game to show to the commissioner that the basket had indeed not gone in. I was wondering if the officials would have been allowed to go to the tape themselves to confirm or what protocol applied here. What equipment is made available to officials?

Replay equipment must be located in the vicinity of the scoring table in order to be used by the officials.

I can't understand how everyone - including the clock operator and scorer could all have missed this. IMO - if you suspend the crew you should also suspend clock operator/scorer as well if you are the home school. I understand that clock operator and scorer are not under the jurisdiction of the commissioner - but somewhere along the line you'd think someone might have been actually watching:eek:

Huh?
 

You're kidding, right? Since when did the clock operator or the scorer have the repsonsibility to determine when a shot is made? It would be nice if they could help, but I don't think they can be held responsible.

But I could be wrong. And if I am, I'm sure someone will tell me.

No, you're not wrong. Like you said, it's nice if they can help us out, but we are responsible for our duties and shouldn't expect that a scorekeeper be our backup.

Incorrect!:( The replay equipment has to be located on a designated courtside table within 3 to 12 feet of the playing court. (Anywhere around the playing court)

Section 13. Games with Replay/Television Equipment
Art. 1. Courtside replay equipment, videotape or television monitoring must
be located on a designated courtside table (i.e., within approximately 3 to
12 feet of the playing court), in order to be utilized by game officials. An
on-screen graphic display on the monitor may be used only when the display
is synchronized with the official game clock.