Well, it’s been a hectic week for college basketball.
Let’s start with “The Call” on Thursday night.
Ohio State beat Rugers on a pointer 3 by Holden tanner at the whistle. The problem, however, was that Holden stepped out of bounds, returned to the touchline, caught a pass from Bruce Thornton and press 3 pointers on the whistle in one win 67-66.
The Big Ten issued a statement saying the call was false. Baskets should not have been counted because NCAA Rule 9, Section 3, Rule 1, states that a player who voluntarily goes out of bounds must not be the first to touch the ball when he returns to the field.
All right.
But the play won’t matter if Rutgers’ Caleb McConnell hit the second of his two free throws, or maybe if Paul Mulcahy closed faster on Holden. It’s on Rutgers.
Officials may have missed Thornton stepping out of bounds. And they certainly don’t see Holden going out of bounds and back playing in a split second.
Should they catch Holden walking in? Probably. But it happened too quickly, and officials weren’t focused on that side game. A senior official told me on Sunday that the rule was in place for players who would enter from the baseline, not the touchline.
What should happen is an evaluation. I talked to several coaches who wanted to see every late-game basket revisited. The game is too important to not get it right. Yes, there is human error and some plays are happening too fast for the human eye. I got it. But the winning crates in the game should be reconsidered. This is not. If the question is whether the shot was 2 pointers or 3 pointers, or whether the shot was hit at the right time, it can be replayed. But whether a player comes from out of bounds is not. Officials were right to leave the field without checking the screens, even though Rutgers wanted to see the play again.
But if there is a change coming from this event, it is necessary to ensure that the winning baskets in the game – no matter how they play out – are checked. This must be addressed during the season.
Week for…
Alabama: Tide won at Houston and have now beaten two of this season’s #1 teams — Houston and North Carolina. Love the way Nate Oats makes his team play with purpose and passion in every possession. This is a win back in Houston and proves Tide is chasing the SEC title.
Illinois: Well, what a tumultuous week for Illini. They are back to defeat Texas in OT in the Jimmy V Classic in New York, only to then completely collapse on the ground first Penn State. Brad Underwood had an epic showdown on Saturday – even making farts to describe his leadership. Terrence Shannon Jr.. Yes, I had to type that. Look, Underwood is a great coach and motivator. My only concern/comment about ripping your team off in this new era is that the transfer won’t have any built-in fairness and loyalty with the school and coach in few months from now. This kind of thing can be counterproductive. Let’s see how Illini responded.
Orange Whitmore: First-year students are notified in advance Villanova went out with a thumb injury. He’s been back in the last three games – all won Oklahoma State, Penn and Boston College. Whitmore is averaging 15.7 points over the past three games.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes had to play without their best player Kris Murray against an opponent Iowa State and Wisconsin. They almost won both. Hawkeyes defeated Cyclones and lost to Badgers in OT. That’s pretty good for an Iowa team still looking for its spin.
Memphis: SMU transfer Kendric Davis scored 27 points in the win golden brown to send a strong signal that Memphis is not going anywhere in the AAC. Memphis needed a big transfer and there was one in Davis.
UConn: The Huskies are in the position of the No. 1 seed. That says something under Dan Hurley, who has made it clear that he will build a national contender. Kevin Ollie won the national title in 2014. But Hurley is the closest coach to Jim Calhoun UConn has ever met. Hurley has the intensity with which Huskies loyalists have been familiar for decades. He is yet to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, but I would be shocked if they didn’t go deep this season – especially as a high seed.
Is UConn the best team in college basketball?
Mark Titus and Tate Frazier discuss UConn’s impressive win over Florida and whether the Huskies should be ranked #1 nationally.
Creighton: Bluejays have completely slipped with 4 losses in a row, culminating in a loss on neutral ground first BYU. Creighton needs to be healthy (Ryan Kalkbrenner was absent). The Jays still have the potential to be one of the top three teams in Big Eastbut the preseason conference favorites are probably behind UConn, Xavier, Marquetteand maybe even Saint John right now in rating order.
arizona: Wildcats’ loss first Wyoming clearly an anomaly. They are something remarkable in defeating India in Las Vegas behind the spirit Kerr Krisagreat Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar . balland great protection Pelle Larsson and Courtney Ramey. This team keeps coming to you.
A-10: Fordham (11-1) is the best team in the A-10. And it’s not like the Rams are a big team at this point. The A-10 is the mid-December one-bid tournament. There’s still time to change that story, but the chances are fading.
Louisville and Cal: The Cardinals are 0-9. The Bears are 0-11. Not much can be said here. This shouldn’t be the case, especially since both have bought home games.
SWAC: State of grambling beat Vanderbilt. That means SWAC has four wins against Power 5 schools.
West Mountain: The three teams in this conference are unbeaten, and none of them have been named State of San Diego. UNLV (10-0), New Mexico (9-0) and Wyoming (8-0) is a 27-0 total and all could be on track to join the Aztec team with an NCAA bid.
KJ Williams: The Murray State The transfer has been a huge hit for LSUincluding 35 point win Awaken the forest. Keep tabs on his progress.
Antoine Davis: The Detroit the starting defender has passed the 3,000 point mark. He did it on the game’s 10th 3-pointer in the previous OT loss Charlotte. Davis is the 11th player in NCAA history in Division I to score more than 3000 points.
Syracuse–Georgetown: The game is on ABC, but I don’t remember a time when it didn’t have any buzz. Crazy time.
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Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst, and host. He can be seen on the platforms of FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast “March Madness 365.” Katz has worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and before that nine years at newspapers.
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