X-tremely Unfair

I'm not sure Sportcenter will do it justice, but one of the worst officiating calls (within the rules...I know, kind of a conundrum of logic) I have ever witnessed in college hoops just took place in the Xavier - Butler game.

In no circumstance should time be taken OFF the clock, bringing a game that is NOT over to 0:00. Regardless of what the time should have been there is an undeniable principle that the game would have been played differently. To say a shot taken with 2 seconds ends the game because 2 less seconds should have been on the clock is patently absurd.

If there are thirty seconds on the clock and you are down one, you likely play for the final shot.

The same strategy holds true with twenty seconds on the clock. Or ten.

To retroactively subtract time and take away a team's final possession is a terrible terrible rule. If they had decided to take a full two seconds away and waive off Hayward's game winning basket, the travesty would have been even greater. At least Xavier was not guaranteed a win with the last possession.

Anyone else watch this game in real time? I think you had to to get a real feel for how badly the situation was mismanaged, or at least how absurd a rule that allows for seconds to be evaporated retroactively in an end-game situation.

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