The Big East conference could make an argument for sending as many as 11 teams to the NCAA tournament, which starts next week. Rutgers (5-13 in conference, 15-17 overall) was not one of those, and desperately needed to make a run through the arguably the toughest conference tournament in the country to find a spot in the big dance. Last night, in the Big East tournament’s quarterfinal round, Rutgers ran into St. Johns–and an incompetent officiating crew.
Rutgers would lose, but not before having their last gasp stolen out from under them. Watch after the jump as St. Johns player Justin Brownlee travels AND steps out of bounds AND throws the ball in the stands with more a second remaining. Whether St. Johns was handed a break by the timekeeper because they play their home games at Madison Square Garden–the tournament site–or one of the referees really had to pee is up for debate, but it’s ugly. No one in the St. Johns basketball program should ever ridicule the WWE ever again.
Big ups to Mocksession for the great video capture. Those guys are doing the Lord’s work. Img via.
Update: Looks like those guys won’t be hosing any other teams for the rest of the season.
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That’s just fucking awful.
Basketball in general has a huge officiating problem, and I’m not really sure what can be done to fix it.
@Chad, players should start calling their own fouls. This never would have happened on blacktop.
Just horrible officiating.
/pushed the over at 128 due to this …. and due to three missed free throws in the last minute
The officiating in the Big East is terrible, in general.
For years I had to watch Eric Devendorf get mercilessly fouled while chucking up shots. THERE IS NO JUSTICE.
That chick announcer could have became a legend if she would have just responded.. “No, you’re not wrong [name]. You’re just an asshole.”
Don’t question whether or not this is strictly a Big East officiating issue. This is a Tim Higgins issue. He officiates games for a number of conferences and I am certain that his line of sight during those final seconds was optimal. I don’t even like Rutgers but I think it’s horribly unfair that replay can’t at least be considered when a travesty like this takes place.