Even though this officiating atrocity occurred on St. Patrick’s Day (on the east coast at least), this was anything but the luck of the Irish. Notre Dame may be a polarizing team, but no one, except the basketball soulless or the most die hard of Xavier fans, wanted to see them lose like this- getting jobbed on a lane violation call.
Yes, a LANE VIOLATION decided the Fighting Irish opening round game with the Xavier Musketeers.
By the strictest letter of the law, it may in fact even be the right call, but why would you not call it the entire game, and then call it at THE MOST clutch segment of the game?
Actually, this is hardly ever called during the college basketball season at all, so to blow the whistle at such a critical juncture boggles the mind.
What is this teaching the rules and fundamentals of the game to 5th graders? People are going to think Tim Donaghy was officiating this game. I’m predicting Irish coach Mike Brey will be too classy to complain about this call to the media, so I’ve done it for him.
Follow the play frame by frame at (SB Nation)
Here’s their explanation:
Watch the guy sprinting from the top-left corner. It’s on him, as he comes in too early.
And now to jump on the soapbox. This rule is stupid. It’s incredibly stupid. You know why it’s stupid? Simply because we will never see something like this. Michael Jordan thinks this rule is moronic, and Michael Jordan knows basketball.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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