Screw Job! Rutgers

Hello,

I didn't care who won the St. Johns-Rutgers game, in fact I wasn't even paying attention to who won their game. However this was a terrible screw job by the refs. It may not have been intentional, but I can't believe how many calls went against Rutgers. There's the over the back call that was missed. But that pales in comparison to St. Johns intercepting the ball with about 2.5 seconds left. The St. Johns player proceeds to travel and then steps out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left. Now I know that doesn't sound like a lot of time, but a lot can happen in 1.7 seconds on a basketball court. Watch the video below:



I want to make it clear that St. Johns did nothing wrong at the end of this game. They played hard to the end of the game. The mistakes are the fault of the refs. Those mistakes are exacerbated by the spineless corporate America bureaucrats that say that there's nothing that can be done. I love the announcers at the end of this game. They were on the ball and noticed right away that things weren't right. Rutgers made some dumb decisions too, but they definitely deserved to have all 40 minutes of play, not 39 minutes, 58.3 seconds.

This is what one of those spineless bureaucrats said about this situation:

"Big East commissioner John Marinatto acknowledged the errors in a statement released after the game.

"Both missed violations should have caused the game clock to stop and a change of possession to occur prior to the end of the game," Marinatto said. "Neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules." (Thanks to espn.go.com)

"Neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules." Well why the hell not? So in what everyone admits was a travesty justice, there's nothing that can be done? Why isn't there a tournament official at the games in case there's an ending like this. The officials denied Rutgers the final 1.7 seconds and there's nothing that can be done? That's one of the most asinine things I've ever heard and a colossal wimp out.

Rules need to be changed immediately to prevent this situation from happening again. Championship Week is a great lead up to the majesty known as the NCAA Tournament. These games should be a good vetting process. Not only for the teams, but also for the coaches, players and refs.

Word comes now that the three blind mice, the alleged officials in this game, have voluntarily withdrawn from the tournament. Too bad that withdrawal started with 1.7 seconds left in last night's game.

themusicaddict