NCAA speaks out on refs that called the T on Wazzu

Last week, we talked a little bit about the Washington State-Oregon game in Pullman. If you remember, the refs had called a technical on the Cougars bench with 0.3 seconds left on the clock because the Wazzu bench spilled to far onto the court after DeAngelo Casto scored what would have been the game-winner. TaJuan Porter hit two free throws to tie the game and force a second overtime that Oregon eventually took control of.

On Tuesday, the Pac-10 backed their official's decision.

The NCAA?

Not so much.

Check out this excerpt from the Seattle Times interview with Ed Bilik, secretary editor of the rules committee:

Ed Bilik, secretary-editor of the rules committee, told The Times from his office in Georgia that "interference" by fans or players off the bench must impact play directly to warrant a technical.

Referring to the end-of-overtime chaos that turned an apparent WSU victory into an Oregon win, Bilik said, "The ball was never even taken out of bounds. So how could it interfere with continuous play? Basically, there was no interference in terms of the ball being put into play."
Bilik's comments came in the wake of an "end of the game reminder" he issued this week to NCAA officials and published on the NCAA Web site as a result of the WSU-Oregon controversy.

The first part of that advisory says, "When a delay by a jubilant follower(s) or bench personnel before player activity has been terminated does not prevent the ball from being put in play promptly or does not interfere with continuous play, the delay shall be ignored, order shall be restored and play shall be resumed."

The words "ignored," "restored" and "resumed" were underscored.

In other words, what Bilik is saying is that there better be a damn good reason for a ref to call a technical foul with 0.3 seconds left in a game when said technical will effect the outcome of the game.

Could this open up the door for a Wazzu appeal?

The issue seems to be whether or not this was a judgement call. Are the refs allowed to determine themselves whether or not a technical is deserved in this situation? Or is there a rule in the rulebook that must be broken (i.e. coming on the court while the ball is in play)?

Personally, I doubt the last 0.3 seconds will be replayed, but if it does, it almost assuredly changes the result.

Judging by how jumbled the Pac-10 is, this decision may have a larger than intended effect on the league standings.