Shameful foul call in the Big East 'Nova vs. Georgetown

[WMR]

Who else saw that "bump" called with 0.1 seconds left with the score tied??? The referee that made that call should be suspended for the rest of the Big East season.

[Buckeye33]

That was a horrible call. No way can you end a game on that call. Simply horrible.

A call that was almost as bad was the one in the Rutgers-Tennessee women's game. The clock mysteriously stopped with .2 seconds left and in that time Rutgers was called for a foul and Tennessee hit both free throws to win. If the clock had not stopped it would have run out before the foul was called. Then on the inbounds pass, the Tennessee girl ran into the Rutgers player trying to catch the ball and got no call.

Oh yeah, Tennessee was the home team. Imagine that.

[Danny Serafini]

The real funny thing is the national director of officials said Georgetown should've been called for a bump at the end of the Syracuse game and wasn't. Apparently the bumps go Georgetown's way. That's OK, teams that keep squeaking out crap victories tend to not last long when the games become win or go home.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...T2008020902690

"You see some people will say, 'Why call a foul 30 feet from the basket?' " he said. "But the kid with the ball [Campbell] got bounced backwards and had to go backwards and reset the entire play. That's an advantage for the defense. You call that foul. When Syracuse played Georgetown a few weeks ago, Syracuse was holding for the last shot, and the same thing happened and my guys no-called it. They should have called it."

[Razor Shines]

Yeah that was awful. There was some slight incidental contact but it didn't make much of a difference the guy had no chance of getting a shot off.

I'm all for the players deciding the games and refs eating their whistles with seconds remaining, unless it's an obvious foul.

For instance the other night in the IU - Illinois game Shaun Pruitt of Illinois missed a free throw with a couple seconds remaining in a tie game (after a cheap foul call on Gordon) and IU's DJ White got the rebound and attempted a 3/4 court shot and Pruitt blatantly slapped him across both arms. He was obviously angry with himself for missing the free throw and made a stupid foul, well what should have been a foul, but the refs decided not to blow the whistle. IMO in a situation like that the referees are obligated to make him pay for a stupid foul out of frustration. And there is a difference between that and what happened in the Gtown - Nova game.

[Hollcat]

I only saw one view of the bump on espn but if the bump caused the offensive player to step on the sideline then I agree with the foul call instead of giving the other team the ball on their own end of the floor. Like I said I didn't see another view and don't know if it caused him to step out of bounds but when I saw the highlight that was my first thought, that the ref was forced to make a call because the offensive player steped out due to the bump.

[traderumor]

Either its a foul or it isn't. If its a foul, it should have been called regardless of game situation. Coaches yell "don't foul" for a reason...because refs are supposed to call fouls when they see them, not change the rules because of the time and score on the clock. It is a fallacious argument to say "referees should let the players decide the game" since calling a foul that is a foul (please define "obvious foul"--brings blood, you can hear the slap, get my drift?) is their job while the player that fouled and got fouled are playing the game. The referees do not commit the fouls or make free throws, they simply are called to officiate the game from the time the clock starts until the last click. All this subjective "don't call fouls in these situations" is simply sentimentalism.

[TeamSelig]

That was definitely a foul. The ball handler almost stumbled. What if the guy on D grabs a steal there? It would be even worse to allow him to take it, or call a foul after he takes it IMO. Bad play for the defensive player.

[bucksfan2]

Originally Posted by TeamSelig

That was definitely a foul. The ball handler almost stumbled. What if the guy on D grabs a steal there? It would be even worse to allow him to take it, or call a foul after he takes it IMO. Bad play for the defensive player.

That was a ticky tacky foul call no matter how you spin it. It was hard to determine who the bump was innitiated by and IIRC the offensive player had his shoulder lowered like he was driving. In that situation the official has to be aware of the clock. He has to swallow his whistle or atleast make a delayed call. There were only .1 seconds left on the clock which ment only a tip in no catch or shoot. These officials are payed well to do their job and in a situation like that they need to do a better job at ending the game fairly.

[TeamSelig]

I just caught a glimpse of it, but it looked like a pretty significant bump to me. Sucks to end the game that way though.

[Jack Burton]

Horrible call and that particular ref should be put on suspension if not fired. That's a definite no call, anybody who knows anything knows that.

[TeamSelig]

Suspension or fired? No way. Watch it in slow motion and you can see it better. The regular time makes it appear to be just a slight bump, but it's not. He tries to basically push the other guy out of bounds. That is a foul. There is .1 seconds left because he has to stumble and regain his footing. Why the guy pressed him too hard is beyond me, it would have been pretty much a 3/4th of a court shot.

[RedsManRick]

I really dislike the whole "let them play" mantra. Call fouls as they occur. If you don't want foul calls to affect the outcome of the game, then stop fouling your opponent so much.

[Roy Tucker]

If there hadn't been .1 seconds left on the clock, it would have been just another foul call and I don't think there would have been too much of a beef. The guy got knocked out of bounds.

It was a brain cramp by the defender and definitely a lousy way to lose a game, but I thought it a fair call.

That clock malfunction of the Rutgers-Tennessee women's game was particularly egregious. I can't believe the refs didn't overturn that one.

[Razor Shines]

The more I watch I think the offensive guy initiated the contact to keep from going out of bounds. Honestly I think that's a no-call no matter how much time is left in the game. IMHO.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Razor Shines

The more I watch I think the offensive guy initiated the contact to keep from going out of bounds. Honestly I think that's a no-call no matter how much time is left in the game. IMHO.

Could not agree more.

However:
If you don't think refs call the final 5 seconds of a game differently than the other 39:55 I don't know what to tell you.