The tale of the tape:
Bad calls (upon review):
#1-Opening kickoff. Cromartie was popped, the ball clearly came loose before his knee hit the ground. Should have been UF ball @ the FSU 30. Instead, it's 1 and 10 FSU at their own 32. Drive ends in a punt, should have been at least 3 points for UF.
#2-Same drive. Guss Scott forces the ball out, then Matt Farrior dives in and it pops out in our favor to Guss before the officials blew the play dead. Scott would have had a return for a TD. Instead they say he was down, again, the drive ended in a punt.
#3-The kickoff after the UF FG. Leon Washington has a case of the Butterfingers and can't hold on to the ball, Billy Latsko makes the play of his career and runs the ball into the endzone for an apparent UF TD. Officials call UF offsides on the kick, results in rekick and FSU 1st down. You've all seen the pics, there was no offsides.
#4-Same drive. FSU WR clearly has firm possession of the ball and 2 feet down right before getting completely leveled and losing the ball which UF recovered. However, refs rule it an incompletion. FSU keeps the ball.
#5-Very next play. Booker loses the ball before the officials rule the play dead again, which once again would have resulted in a UF TD, this time Darryl Dixon. However, Booker was ruled down, and FSU scores on the very next play.
That was just the 1st half. Here's the 2nd.
#6-The no call on Keiwan's catch in the end zone. After watching it in super slow mo, I waited til he had the ball in his hands, then once he did I looked at his feet, his left foot was clearly in bounds. I remember seeing it live and seeing him throw the ball down in frustration, now I know why. That was an INT taken away. However, it worked out cuz he returned the Rix fumble for a TD. That one actually stood. But would be made up for a few plays later...
#7-Fason was tackled by Dockett, on his way down, Fason ran into to Show's big ole ass and the ball came out of his hands a little, however he clearly regained possession before hitting the ground because he was on the ground for a good half second to a second before you even see the ball squirt out. A missed call by the officials, leads to an FSU TD and a make up for Keiwan's TD.
#8-The goal line stand. Leon Washington clearly fumbles the ball, that's not in question. The officials acknowledged that, however they said the "fumbler re-established possession." I would love to know how. After watching the replay, Washington lands on the ball with his knee while Channing Crowder is simultaneously falling to the ground. While down there, Crowder beats Washington to the ball, and takes it from him, perfectly legal and should have been awarded to Crowder. However, the refs bitch about him not getting the ball and then taking his frustration out on the ball. Result, FSU TD.
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Florida A.D. wants changes in deal
Gators’ Foley upset with officiating after loss to Florida State
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 30 - When he renews the contract with Florida State, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley will look into changing a long-standing agreement that calls for officiating crews from the conference of the road team to work the game.
FOLEY SAID HE CALLED Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive shortly after Florida’s 38-34 loss to Florida State to vent about several calls that went against the Gators. Slive told Foley there was nothing he could do because the crew was from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I have no recourse,” Foley told The Associated Press on Sunday. “I will be interested to see their evaluation.”
The end of the game was marred by a melee at midfield that started when Florida players took offense at Florida State players who came to midfield to jump on their logo. Foley and coach Ron Zook said they would look at the tape and take appropriate action later in the week.
“I saw what was happening,” said Foley, who was in the middle trying to break it up. “I have no idea how it began. Obviously, emotions run high. But it’s not what our program wants to be about.”
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Sunday he was still trying to sort through what happened.
“You got 160 guys dressed out there and it didn’t get any worse than it did. I guess there was some good to it, too,” he said.
Bowden said he’d take disciplinary action if he determined any of his players were out of line in the fracas.
Bowden said neutral officials could be an option, and he understood why the home crowd was in such an uproar over so many controversial calls.
Meanwhile, Tommy Hunt, the director of ACC officials, told the AP he hadn’t watched the tape as of Sunday morning, so he couldn’t comment specifically on the game.
“When I see the game, if our officials make mistakes, they’re held accountable for them,” Hunt said. “We’ve got the best officials in the country, or some of the best, and I stand by that.”
Normally, tough calls even out over the course of a game. In this case, however, there were no fewer than six key calls, ranging from questionable to downright awful, all of which went against the Gators (8-4).
“I can’t say a thing,” Zook said. “The only thing I’m going to say is there were enough plays in the game that if we’d have made them, we still would have been all right.”
Among the worst of the calls came on the opening kickoff, when Florida State’s Antonio Cromartie fumbled and the Gators recovered. Officials ruled the play over before the fumble, even though Cromartie’s knee clearly hadn’t touched the ground.
In the third quarter, Florida State’s Pat Watkins scooped up a fumble and returned it for a score, even though Florida tailback Ciatrick Fason appeared to be flat on the ground before the ball popped out.
In the fourth quarter, Chris Rix ran for a touchdown and a 31-27 lead four plays after officials awarded the ball to the Seminoles, even though Gators linebacker Channing Crowder came out of the pile with the ball. Leon Washington, who fumbled, appeared to be sitting on the ball when officials made the call.
Hunt defended the crew, led by referee Jack Childress.
“People sit in the stands, they watch the replay four or five times, in slow motion, backward, forward, then they make the call,” Hunt said. “We’re not in that business. We’re in the instantaneous-decision business.”
It is common for crews from the visiting team’s conference to work interconference games, but there’s no steadfast rule calling for it, Foley said.
InsertArt(2082121)The Florida-Florida State contract is up for renewal after next year, and Foley said he will look into bringing in a crew from a neutral conference.
But this game is over, and both Foley and Zook know there’s nothing they can do.
“It hurts really, really, really bad,” Zook said. “It was a heck of football game.”
Foley said Peach Bowl officials told him they would like to invite the Gators if they lost. Those invitations, however, won’t go out until after Georgia and LSU play next Saturday in the Southeastern Conference title game.
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 30 - When he renews the contract with Florida State, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley will look into changing a long-standing agreement that calls for officiating crews from the conference of the road team to work the game.
FOLEY SAID HE CALLED Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive shortly after Florida’s 38-34 loss to Florida State to vent about several calls that went against the Gators. Slive told Foley there was nothing he could do because the crew was from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I have no recourse,” Foley told The Associated Press on Sunday. “I will be interested to see their evaluation.”
The end of the game was marred by a melee at midfield that started when Florida players took offense at Florida State players who came to midfield to jump on their logo. Foley and coach Ron Zook said they would look at the tape and take appropriate action later in the week.
“I saw what was happening,” said Foley, who was in the middle trying to break it up. “I have no idea how it began. Obviously, emotions run high. But it’s not what our program wants to be about.”
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Sunday he was still trying to sort through what happened.
“You got 160 guys dressed out there and it didn’t get any worse than it did. I guess there was some good to it, too,” he said.
Bowden said he’d take disciplinary action if he determined any of his players were out of line in the fracas.
Bowden said neutral officials could be an option, and he understood why the home crowd was in such an uproar over so many controversial calls.
Meanwhile, Tommy Hunt, the director of ACC officials, told the AP he hadn’t watched the tape as of Sunday morning, so he couldn’t comment specifically on the game.
“When I see the game, if our officials make mistakes, they’re held accountable for them,” Hunt said. “We’ve got the best officials in the country, or some of the best, and I stand by that.”
Normally, tough calls even out over the course of a game. In this case, however, there were no fewer than six key calls, ranging from questionable to downright awful, all of which went against the Gators (8-4).
“I can’t say a thing,” Zook said. “The only thing I’m going to say is there were enough plays in the game that if we’d have made them, we still would have been all right.”
Among the worst of the calls came on the opening kickoff, when Florida State’s Antonio Cromartie fumbled and the Gators recovered. Officials ruled the play over before the fumble, even though Cromartie’s knee clearly hadn’t touched the ground.
In the third quarter, Florida State’s Pat Watkins scooped up a fumble and returned it for a score, even though Florida tailback Ciatrick Fason appeared to be flat on the ground before the ball popped out.
In the fourth quarter, Chris Rix ran for a touchdown and a 31-27 lead four plays after officials awarded the ball to the Seminoles, even though Gators linebacker Channing Crowder came out of the pile with the ball. Leon Washington, who fumbled, appeared to be sitting on the ball when officials made the call.
Hunt defended the crew, led by referee Jack Childress.
“People sit in the stands, they watch the replay four or five times, in slow motion, backward, forward, then they make the call,” Hunt said. “We’re not in that business. We’re in the instantaneous-decision business.”
It is common for crews from the visiting team’s conference to work interconference games, but there’s no steadfast rule calling for it, Foley said.
InsertArt(2082121)The Florida-Florida State contract is up for renewal after next year, and Foley said he will look into bringing in a crew from a neutral conference.
But this game is over, and both Foley and Zook know there’s nothing they can do.
“It hurts really, really, really bad,” Zook said. “It was a heck of football game.”
Foley said Peach Bowl officials told him they would like to invite the Gators if they lost. Those invitations, however, won’t go out until after Georgia and LSU play next Saturday in the Southeastern Conference title game.
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Thursday, January 29, 1998
Maryland Falls to No. 1 Duke
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Gary Williams heard that things did not go well for his team.
The excitable Maryland coach spent exactly 5 minutes and 51 seconds pacing the sideline as No. 1 Duke beat the No. 23 Terrapins 86-59 Thursday night.
Williams spent the rest of the evening listening to the loss on the radio in the locker room after being thrown out of the game.
Maryland has lost its share of games in a variety of ways to the Blue Devils (19-1, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but none quite like this one as officials played a major factor in an ACC game for the second straight night.
One day after Clemson was called for an ACC-record 41 fouls in a nine-point loss at No. 2 North Carolina, Maryland was whistled for four technicals in the game's opening stages, including a pair that led to Williams' early ejection.
"I feel that you are responsible to be with your team during the game and I didn't do that. It's a shame things happened like they did," Williams said. "It probably wouldn't have made a difference if I was there or not."
The technicals led to 13 points and helped the Blue Devils win their 10th straight. Duke is also off to the second-best start in school history, just off the pace of the 1991-92 national championship team that began 21-1.
Trajan Langdon scored 12 of his 16 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes to pace the surging Blue Devils.
Meanwhile, the Terrapins (12-7, 5-4) had won five of six ACC games since losing to the Blue Devils by 32 points in College Park, Md., on Jan. 3. But Maryland was blown out again after losing its head coach and its composure.
"It's really a bad feeling because you ask your players to work really hard and do a lot of things for the good of the team and obviously what I did wasn't for the good of the team," Williams said. "I feel bad but I also feel frustrated because of the situation."
Rodney Elliott paced Maryland with 13 points.
The ACC office in Greensboro had sent a letter to schools this week warning teams about recent unacceptable bench and court behavior. Officials Larry Rose, Sam Croft and Zelton Steed took it seriously. Croft was the only one of the three to work Wednesday night's game in Chapel Hill.
"(The officials) are definitely trying to clean it up," said Duke's Ricky Price. "There were no warnings, they were just throwing T's. Fortunately, the coaches and the captains told us to keep our mouths shut and just play and if there was a bad call, just suck it up and run down the court.
"I saw that Clemson-Carolina game and all those fouls called, but I have never seen anything like this in my life, I'm just glad I'm on the team that capitalized on all the points."
The first Maryland technicals were called by Rose against Sarunas Jasikevicius for arguing a non-foul call on a screen and against Williams for taking up for his guard.
Langdon sank the four free throws and less than a minute later Williams was taking a walk to the locker room after Croft threw him out for arguing again. Williams, one of the game's more demonstrative coaches, was also thrown out last January at Florida State.
Williams said there was no cursing used by himself or any of his players during arguments with the officials. Rose said otherwise.
"I warned Gary three times about cursing and he continued," Rose said. "(The first technical) was the result of excessive language and being out of the coaching box."
Rose said the officiating crew received no special instructions from ACC supervisor of officials Fred Barakat following the Clemson-North Carolina game.
"Absolutely not," Rose said. "I have not talked to Fred since Monday."
Assistant Billy Hahn, who won here in 1995 when Williams had pneumonia, took over for his boss 5:51 into the game but didn't fare as well as three seasons ago as Duke went on a 19-2 run to take control of the game.
During that four-minute span, Langdon, William Avery and Steve Wojciechowski each sank 3-pointers and Maryland's Laron Profit was called for his team's fourth technical.
The Blue Devils led 37-12 before the Terrapins made a small run, but Duke took a 57-30 halftime lead and cruised to its 17th straight home victory.
Duke has led all 20 games at halftime by an average of 20.5 points
The excitable Maryland coach spent exactly 5 minutes and 51 seconds pacing the sideline as No. 1 Duke beat the No. 23 Terrapins 86-59 Thursday night.
Williams spent the rest of the evening listening to the loss on the radio in the locker room after being thrown out of the game.
Maryland has lost its share of games in a variety of ways to the Blue Devils (19-1, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but none quite like this one as officials played a major factor in an ACC game for the second straight night.
One day after Clemson was called for an ACC-record 41 fouls in a nine-point loss at No. 2 North Carolina, Maryland was whistled for four technicals in the game's opening stages, including a pair that led to Williams' early ejection.
"I feel that you are responsible to be with your team during the game and I didn't do that. It's a shame things happened like they did," Williams said. "It probably wouldn't have made a difference if I was there or not."
The technicals led to 13 points and helped the Blue Devils win their 10th straight. Duke is also off to the second-best start in school history, just off the pace of the 1991-92 national championship team that began 21-1.
Trajan Langdon scored 12 of his 16 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes to pace the surging Blue Devils.
Meanwhile, the Terrapins (12-7, 5-4) had won five of six ACC games since losing to the Blue Devils by 32 points in College Park, Md., on Jan. 3. But Maryland was blown out again after losing its head coach and its composure.
"It's really a bad feeling because you ask your players to work really hard and do a lot of things for the good of the team and obviously what I did wasn't for the good of the team," Williams said. "I feel bad but I also feel frustrated because of the situation."
Rodney Elliott paced Maryland with 13 points.
The ACC office in Greensboro had sent a letter to schools this week warning teams about recent unacceptable bench and court behavior. Officials Larry Rose, Sam Croft and Zelton Steed took it seriously. Croft was the only one of the three to work Wednesday night's game in Chapel Hill.
"(The officials) are definitely trying to clean it up," said Duke's Ricky Price. "There were no warnings, they were just throwing T's. Fortunately, the coaches and the captains told us to keep our mouths shut and just play and if there was a bad call, just suck it up and run down the court.
"I saw that Clemson-Carolina game and all those fouls called, but I have never seen anything like this in my life, I'm just glad I'm on the team that capitalized on all the points."
The first Maryland technicals were called by Rose against Sarunas Jasikevicius for arguing a non-foul call on a screen and against Williams for taking up for his guard.
Langdon sank the four free throws and less than a minute later Williams was taking a walk to the locker room after Croft threw him out for arguing again. Williams, one of the game's more demonstrative coaches, was also thrown out last January at Florida State.
Williams said there was no cursing used by himself or any of his players during arguments with the officials. Rose said otherwise.
"I warned Gary three times about cursing and he continued," Rose said. "(The first technical) was the result of excessive language and being out of the coaching box."
Rose said the officiating crew received no special instructions from ACC supervisor of officials Fred Barakat following the Clemson-North Carolina game.
"Absolutely not," Rose said. "I have not talked to Fred since Monday."
Assistant Billy Hahn, who won here in 1995 when Williams had pneumonia, took over for his boss 5:51 into the game but didn't fare as well as three seasons ago as Duke went on a 19-2 run to take control of the game.
During that four-minute span, Langdon, William Avery and Steve Wojciechowski each sank 3-pointers and Maryland's Laron Profit was called for his team's fourth technical.
The Blue Devils led 37-12 before the Terrapins made a small run, but Duke took a 57-30 halftime lead and cruised to its 17th straight home victory.
Duke has led all 20 games at halftime by an average of 20.5 points
Tuesday, February 18, 1997
Errors Cast a Cloud Over A.C.C. Referees
By BARRY JACOBS
New York Times
The fierce competition in Atlantic Coast Conference basketball has been compromised by a pair of officiating gaffes that have given Duke an edge in the battle for first place and top seeding in next month's conference tournament.
The most recent error occurred on Sunday at Wake Forest, when Referee Mike Wood ruled that a shot by North Carolina State's C. C. Harrison was a 3-pointer, giving the last-place Wolfpack a 60-59 overtime victory. Replays clearly showed that Harrison's foot was on the 3-point line when he launched his leaning jump shot, which banked in at the buzzer.
''What can you do?'' Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom asked. ''What do you say? I'm not happy about it. You have a tendency when it happens to somebody else to say it's too bad. When it happens to you, it's really too bad.''
The loss dropped the Demon Deacons, who were then ranked second nationally, to 20-3 over all, 9-3 in the A.C.C., and out of first place in the conference for the first time this season. Surprising Duke, 21-5 and 10-3, can solidify its lead Tuesday night when it plays host to third-place Clemson (20-5, 8-4).
''If I allow my team to hang on that or hide behind that, then they have no chance to get better,'' Odom said, referring to the 3-point ruling.
But that does not lessen the impact of a mistake that was so obvious on replays, said Fred Barakat, the A.C.C.'s associate commissioner and for 16 years its supervisor of men's basketball officials.
''It's a judgment call,'' Barakat said. ''It happens a lot during the course of every game. It's unfortunate and I feel terrible for the Wake Forest fans because I know they feel it was unjust. It was unjust, in retrospect.''
The missed call came on the heels of another incident, at Virginia last Tuesday, in which Duke was also the beneficiary and which led to an unprecedented public censure of an A.C.C. officiating crew.
Barakat, who holds monthly telephone conferences with his top referees, had one scheduled right after the Wake Forest-North Carolina State game. He devoted the entire 45-minute session to reassurance.
''I put aside all my notes on traveling, palming, verticality, hand-checking and post play, and I just strictly talked about life, adversity and teamwork, and coming together when everybody's going to be out there criticizing and pointing fingers and knocking us,'' Barakat said. ''Now is the time for us to not bow our heads because we have a season to finish.''
The incidents have cast a cloud over the conference's referees, who earn from $550 to $650 per game plus expenses and whose full-time occupations range from school official to salesman to psychologist. Most of them apprenticed in smaller leagues before landing jobs with the A.C.C. This season, no fewer than three questionable last-second calls have affected outcomes of A.C.C. games.
Two cost Wake Forest dearly, the first a game-winning 3-pointer actually launched one-thirtieth of a second after the final buzzer in a 54-51 Maryland victory. ''That last shot in the Maryland game, God may have had trouble calling it,'' said Barakat, who analyzed videotape to determine that the shot came late. ''I think the danger here is to put everything into the same pot.''
The most disturbing error took place a week ago when Duke was playing at Charlottesville, Va. This time, no judgment call was involved as the referees failed to allow a simple but crucial substitution.
With the score 60-60, forward Norman Nolan went to the foul line for Virginia with five seconds left. Before Nolan released his shot, Virginia Coach Jeff Jones sent Willie Dersch to the scorer's table to check in. Dersch, a 6-foot-5-inch freshman from Floral Park, L.I., was being sent in to replace Nolan after the second free throw, a substitution the officials signaled among themselves.
Nolan missed the first free throw. His second almost popped out, then settled into the basket. But Referee Rick Hartzell, the athletic director at Bucknell University and a 14-year A.C.C. official, forgot about the substitution and raced upcourt in anticipation of a rush by Duke.
The scorekeeper, expecting the substitution, kept sounding the horn as the Blue Devils inbounded the ball to guard Steve Wojciechowski, who hurried toward the offensive end. But it was not until Wojciechowski had nearly reached the 3-point line that the game clock resumed ticking.
Meanwhile, several Virginia players had paused in confusion, letting Wojciechowski penetrate almost to the basket, where Nolan fouled him.
The foul call stood. After consulting a television monitor, the three officials, Hartzell, Tim Higgins and Zelton Steed, decided to put seven-tenths of a second on the game clock. Wojciechowski sank both free throws to give Duke a 62-61 victory.
Henry Nichols, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's national coordinator for men's basketball officiating, said he had ''never, ever'' seen anything like it.
Two days later Gene Corrigan, the A.C.C. commissioner, released a statement acknowledging ''that a serious officiating mechanics mistake was made by not allowing the Virginia substitute into the game.'' Corrigan announced that the crew would lose a league assignment and be subject to other internal action.
''This is as fundamental as it gets; basic game management procedures for our officials,'' Corrigan said.
Conferences have not wanted to use replays to rectify officiating errors because of the delays involved, uneven TV coverage and difficulty in defining the circumstances meriting such consultation.
As for the notion that the game is too fast for three officials to keep track of, Nichols said: ''That's a no-brainer. The game is too fast to be officiated by Moses, so we do the best we can.''
New York Times
The fierce competition in Atlantic Coast Conference basketball has been compromised by a pair of officiating gaffes that have given Duke an edge in the battle for first place and top seeding in next month's conference tournament.
The most recent error occurred on Sunday at Wake Forest, when Referee Mike Wood ruled that a shot by North Carolina State's C. C. Harrison was a 3-pointer, giving the last-place Wolfpack a 60-59 overtime victory. Replays clearly showed that Harrison's foot was on the 3-point line when he launched his leaning jump shot, which banked in at the buzzer.
''What can you do?'' Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom asked. ''What do you say? I'm not happy about it. You have a tendency when it happens to somebody else to say it's too bad. When it happens to you, it's really too bad.''
The loss dropped the Demon Deacons, who were then ranked second nationally, to 20-3 over all, 9-3 in the A.C.C., and out of first place in the conference for the first time this season. Surprising Duke, 21-5 and 10-3, can solidify its lead Tuesday night when it plays host to third-place Clemson (20-5, 8-4).
''If I allow my team to hang on that or hide behind that, then they have no chance to get better,'' Odom said, referring to the 3-point ruling.
But that does not lessen the impact of a mistake that was so obvious on replays, said Fred Barakat, the A.C.C.'s associate commissioner and for 16 years its supervisor of men's basketball officials.
''It's a judgment call,'' Barakat said. ''It happens a lot during the course of every game. It's unfortunate and I feel terrible for the Wake Forest fans because I know they feel it was unjust. It was unjust, in retrospect.''
The missed call came on the heels of another incident, at Virginia last Tuesday, in which Duke was also the beneficiary and which led to an unprecedented public censure of an A.C.C. officiating crew.
Barakat, who holds monthly telephone conferences with his top referees, had one scheduled right after the Wake Forest-North Carolina State game. He devoted the entire 45-minute session to reassurance.
''I put aside all my notes on traveling, palming, verticality, hand-checking and post play, and I just strictly talked about life, adversity and teamwork, and coming together when everybody's going to be out there criticizing and pointing fingers and knocking us,'' Barakat said. ''Now is the time for us to not bow our heads because we have a season to finish.''
The incidents have cast a cloud over the conference's referees, who earn from $550 to $650 per game plus expenses and whose full-time occupations range from school official to salesman to psychologist. Most of them apprenticed in smaller leagues before landing jobs with the A.C.C. This season, no fewer than three questionable last-second calls have affected outcomes of A.C.C. games.
Two cost Wake Forest dearly, the first a game-winning 3-pointer actually launched one-thirtieth of a second after the final buzzer in a 54-51 Maryland victory. ''That last shot in the Maryland game, God may have had trouble calling it,'' said Barakat, who analyzed videotape to determine that the shot came late. ''I think the danger here is to put everything into the same pot.''
The most disturbing error took place a week ago when Duke was playing at Charlottesville, Va. This time, no judgment call was involved as the referees failed to allow a simple but crucial substitution.
With the score 60-60, forward Norman Nolan went to the foul line for Virginia with five seconds left. Before Nolan released his shot, Virginia Coach Jeff Jones sent Willie Dersch to the scorer's table to check in. Dersch, a 6-foot-5-inch freshman from Floral Park, L.I., was being sent in to replace Nolan after the second free throw, a substitution the officials signaled among themselves.
Nolan missed the first free throw. His second almost popped out, then settled into the basket. But Referee Rick Hartzell, the athletic director at Bucknell University and a 14-year A.C.C. official, forgot about the substitution and raced upcourt in anticipation of a rush by Duke.
The scorekeeper, expecting the substitution, kept sounding the horn as the Blue Devils inbounded the ball to guard Steve Wojciechowski, who hurried toward the offensive end. But it was not until Wojciechowski had nearly reached the 3-point line that the game clock resumed ticking.
Meanwhile, several Virginia players had paused in confusion, letting Wojciechowski penetrate almost to the basket, where Nolan fouled him.
The foul call stood. After consulting a television monitor, the three officials, Hartzell, Tim Higgins and Zelton Steed, decided to put seven-tenths of a second on the game clock. Wojciechowski sank both free throws to give Duke a 62-61 victory.
Henry Nichols, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's national coordinator for men's basketball officiating, said he had ''never, ever'' seen anything like it.
Two days later Gene Corrigan, the A.C.C. commissioner, released a statement acknowledging ''that a serious officiating mechanics mistake was made by not allowing the Virginia substitute into the game.'' Corrigan announced that the crew would lose a league assignment and be subject to other internal action.
''This is as fundamental as it gets; basic game management procedures for our officials,'' Corrigan said.
Conferences have not wanted to use replays to rectify officiating errors because of the delays involved, uneven TV coverage and difficulty in defining the circumstances meriting such consultation.
As for the notion that the game is too fast for three officials to keep track of, Nichols said: ''That's a no-brainer. The game is too fast to be officiated by Moses, so we do the best we can.''
Thursday, February 1, 1996
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