UCLA wins by 2
The final score of UCLA's win against Texas A&M was changed Sunday to 51-49.
The ruling came after an error was made in the score keeping in which Russell Westbrook's dunk at the end came after the clock expired.
"As the officials were leaving the court, they waived off the basket, ruling the ball was still in Westbrook's hands when the clock expired," national coordinator of men's basketball officiating Hank Nichols said via a release today. "Amidst the activity courtside, there was a misinterpretation of the signal. But the ruling on the court was that the basket should not have counted, making the final score 51-49, not 53-49."
So what WAS the closing line?
So what WAS the closing line?
So what WAS the closing line?
The final score was not the only error made on the court. Really the ref's completely blew a call on the final "clean block" shot of Sloan for A&M. This is not the first time that blown calls have been made at the end of UCLA games. But to happen on the biggest stage and to deprive a team like A&M the chance to play 5 more minutes and contend for a national championship is unexcusable. I hope UCLA Bruin fans realize the gift that they were given. Think I am biased, check out the pictures ... I believe they speak a 1000 words in this case.
http://boards.kusports.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=973705&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1&nt=2
Thanks Hawk Girl for having such an original thought.
The world only cares about the bad calls made against your team when you're the looosing team. Fortunately for us, we haven't been that team very often this year.
There were missed calls favoring both sides. The refs missed Sloan grabbing and literally throwing Darren Collison with 6:11 left in the first half; the TV announcers even said the refs missed that one and it was obvious on the replay. So it's no used whining about one missed call because missed calls happen. And you're more than likely not to draw a foul at the end of the game.
With regards to Westbrook's dunk, the slow-mo replay clearly showed the end-of-game light going on before the ball left Westbrook's hand. And you could clearly see a ref in the background waving off the shot, so I'm surprised there was a question about it at all.
@hawk girl:no one would argue that every game has plenty of missed calls or calls that could have gone the other way... of course, people would say that the one at the end of the game is what's important, but in reality.. why should a missed call at the end be any more important than a missed call in the beginning.
I've been a victim of a bad end-game call myself in high school. I've learned to move on. It's disappointing, yes, but just remember that the refs are as much a part of the game as a half court shot. My coach said it best: had it been the other way around, would you be arguing? If it was really that important, then you should be.
@hawk girl
http://larrybrownsports.com/college-basketball/whining-ucla-noncalls/
They sum it up quite nicely.
Hawk Girl--Aside from the 6 or 7 non-calls throughout the game (going both ways, in my view from our seats behind the A&M basket in the 2d half), you're assuming that Sloan would have hit that shot if not fouled or would have hit two foul shots, if the foul was called. First, Kevin Love had seven official blocks in the second half and 3 or 4 others and was poised behing Josh Shipp to block Sloan's shot--look at the picture closely. Second, can you say with confidence that Sloan, 67% from the line, hits both FTs with 2 seconds left, down by two, with 17,000 people screaming at him in the NCAA tournament? Doubtful on both fronts.