UCLA luckiest team in the country
 

Thursday night a call goes their way at the end of regulation to allow them to force OT.
Today they get the benefit of the doubt on a shot that may have passed over the top of the backboard (from back to front) that wins the game by one with 1.5 seconds left.

Someone is looking out for this team right now.

Watching the replay, it certainly looked to pass over the backboard to me.

Very, very difficult play to call live.

Certainly none of the replays showed anything other than over the backboard. Which ref should have caught this? And then since no one did, is it reviewable?

It isn't reviewable. I believe the lead was on the side the shot came from, and the only official who would have had the angle would have been the C. I don't remember where he was when the shot was taken.

Arguing about this with a friend now. Can someone provide both NFHS and NCAA rules references?

Lead was on the other side from the shot, I"m pretty sure, since that's where the ball was inbounded, and there wasn't time to rotate? Shooter was close enough to the endline, that I can't think C would have missed it if he'd been looking. Perhaps everyone was just watching for contact. I mean, shooting from behind the backboard must be incredibly rare, not the sort of thing you automatically watch for, eh?

The shot was legal.

The ball must pass completely over from front to back or back to front, the shot went across the corner.

I sure hope you all aren't calling OOB violations for balls going across the corner of the back board.

I don't have my books handy but I'm "sure" that in both cases it's in rule 7-1 (talking about being OOB)

NCAA - 7-1-3...The ball shall be out of bounds when it passes over the backboard from any direction.

Don't have my NFHS books at the moment.

You may be right. You may not. It looked to me like the entire ball was started behind the backboard and passed over it.

Bottom line here, this is one of those calls where you've gotta err on the side of counting the basket and not making a call unless there is an obvious and clear violation, especially if it's not reviewable, which it isn't. So I think they did the right thing by counting the basket. Dave Libbey was the C on that play BTW.

NFHS
7-1-2d NOTE: When the rectangular backboard is used, the ball is out of bounds if it passes over the backboard.

NCAA was posted by jdw.

Larry Bird ...
 

Larry Bird made a similar over the backboard from almost out of bounds shot at the Hartford (CT) Civic Center back when the Celtics would play a few home games every season in Hartford, kind of their home away from home.

The rule says "any direction." Your statement is false.

In FIBA, it is legal, as long as it does not touch any of the supports of the backboard.