The Best Worst Call in Tournament History

As time ticked down on Texas A&M's wonderful season, the Aggie faithful were likely yelling expletives at the refs through their TV screen. I was, and I didn't even care about the game. With 3.1 seconds left and the Aggies down 1, they inbounded the ball (carelessly) from under their own hoop. Luckily for them, a Memphis player tipped the errant pass right before it went out of bounds, giving A&M the ball back on the sideline. While the officials checked in at the replay booth, a place where they often spend minutes to debate fractions of seconds, the announcers agreed that at most, two tenths should be taken off the clock. There was a moment of shock, followed quickly by outrage when the refs decided to take 1.1 seconds off, leaving the Aggies with only 2.0 seconds. In situations like these, one second is enough time to make the difference between a great look at the hoop and a hopeless heave. The Aggies, of course, got the latter.

Before I joined the large group of people that will be sending these refs hate-mail, I decided to watch the play closely one last time. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the ball bounced in-bounds by a few inches before bouncing up towards the stands. The ball was never dead until a man behind the table grabbed the ball when it hit him in the chest. The refs got it right.
But remember the infamous Tom Brady tuck rule play that won the Patriots their first Super Bowl? The refs got that one right too. I felt unsatisfied. Had the man reached over and stopped the ball as soon as he could have, or there was a broadcasting TV in front of him, there would have been another half-second on the clock. It just doesn't seem right that a season of work should come down to a random reaction of an audience member, or the placement of sideline televisions. Nonetheless, as unfair as it may seem, there is no better solution. I suppose the best solution is simply to not put yourselves in that position. If Acie Law IV, the "Mr. Clutch", never-misses-an-important-shot, most-valuable-player-to-his-team's-success Naismith nominee hadn't missed a layup with 45 seconds left, they probably would have won.

But that's just the way the ball bounces.