St. John vs Rutgers - 1.7 Seconds

St. John's win over Rutgers 65-63 last night was not a classic.
38 minutes of pretty good college hoops, 1 minute 59 seconds worth of excitement, and 1 second of infamy may make it newsworthy -- but it's not enough to make it as memorable as a true classic should be.



The final moments of this game were no different than the final moments of most organized basketball games:

1. The refs tried letting the players decide the game by calling fewer calls in the final minutes.
2. Physical play and intense competition ensued.
3. Some players and refs made good decisions, some players and refs made bad decisions.

Despite their best efforts, the officiating team of Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton wound up impacting the ending far more than any player did.
But, let's stop short of saying they "decided" the game.
The refs certainly impacted how the game ended, but it's very unlikely they decided who won....VERY unlikely.

While 1.7 seconds is a long time when inbounding the ball from about mid-court, Rutgers had not made many smart basketball decisions in the final minutes of the game and Rutgers Coach Mike Rice admitted as much in his post-game conference.

Thus, if given the opportunity, what would Rutgers have likely done with the final 1.7 seconds of the game?
Chances are, they would have failed to get a good shot off and lost the game by the exact same 65-63 score.

Still Rutgers fans and referee-haters are incensed by the officials having apparently gotten too caught up in the emotion of the final seconds to do their job properly.

We should forgive the officials.
Despite what many claim, officials are human.
The call they missed at the 1.7 second mark last night possibly (but  not likely) cost Rutgers a basket.
But that missed call didn't cost Rutgers any more points than any other call the refs missed in the previous 39+ minutes of the game.



You can't front on the BC Mafia, Foo!