Pass me the rock ... the slightly smaller rock

Sometimes I wonder who is running the college basketball world. I mean, Omar Samhan used to play in Sketchers shoes, Illinois and Wisconsin both wore their home jerseys for a game, no referees showed up for the Appalachian State-Tennessee Tech game, and now Illinois and Oakland played seven minutes of their game using a womens basketball.

I'll say it again.

Two division I basketball teams played eight minutes of a game before realizing they were using a WOMEN'S BASKETBALL.


With just under 12 minutes to play in the first half, with Oakland up 15-6, Illinois' Mike Tisdale realized something was wrong. He notified Bruce Weber who notified officials. With the women’s basketball, Oakland had outscored Illinois, 15-6, and had shot 7-for-16 from the field. Illinois only shot 3-for-13 with the women’s ball.

And in case you care about the actual outcome of the game, Illinois won 74-63

This isn't the result of a just one mental lapse that resulted in the equipment manager packing the wrong uniforms or the assistant AD not scheduling officials.

This is the result of two college basketball teams being completely and utterly stupid.

The official explanation for what happened, according to Paul Klee, is that after a women's game on Dec. 1st, a women's ball was left on the rack.

Still, I just don't understand how that happens when all ten guys on the court have hands the size of honeydew melons. You don't even have to look at the ball to tell the difference in size, even though the ball size is printed right ON THE FRONT of it. That's correct. Women's basketballs all say 28.5 on the front, not to mention the fact that their diameter is an inch less and more than two ounces lighter.

I could take one jump shot during open-gym, and I'd be able to tell the ball was too small. How do ten D-I athletes not notice they are playing with a women's ball?

This seriously boggles my mind.

Seriously, think about it. Two baseball teams wouldn't make it half way through a game before realizing they were using a softball.

I really want to write more about this, but I just realized I am using a women's keyboard.