As college basketball moves into the pressure-packed months of the postseason, there is little margin for error. An unlucky bounce of the ball, an untimely foul or a questionable call could be all it takes to bring a devastating end to the season. But the 2007 season has introduced a very different sort of game-changing blunder that rests on the index finger of a seemingly irrelevant character: the clock operator.
The Clemson Tigers, a team that started the year 17-0 and seemed bound for post-season glory, saw their season take a critical turn for the worst at the hands of some incompetent ACC employee. An ill-advised in-bounds pass from Duke’s Josh McRoberts was stolen by Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton, who hit a three-pointer to tie the game with 1.8 seconds to go. There was just one problem: someone forgot to start the clock.
There should have been just under two seconds left in the game, but confused officials restored the clock to 4.4 seconds, giving Duke just enough time to travel the length of the court and score the game-winner at the buzzer.
The loss was devastating for Clemson, and sadly it would not be the last of the 2007 clock mishaps.
In a Big East Tournament quarterfinal game between West Virginia and Louisville, an eerily similar mistake cost the Mountaineers the game. After crawling back from a 17-point deficit, West Virginia found themselves up by two points with just over three seconds left. Not nearly enough time to drive the entire length of the court—unless the clock operator fails to start the clock. Sosa was almost at half court by the time the clock began to wind down, and he too was able to convert a game-tying lay-up just as the buzzer sounded.
It happened again the very next night, as an inattentive timer soiled an incredible MAC Tournament-winning shot in controversy. This trend is not just outrageous, it is insulting to the athletes who give their all in every single game.
Referees often get a bad wrap for being the deciding factor in games, but imagine all your hopes and dreams shattered by someone whose lone job is to press a button to start and stop the game clock.
This season needs to be a wake-up call for the NCAA. With new rules in place to bring all of the best high school talent into college basketball, the quality of players is likely to improve every year. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that this new influx of talent be accompanied by a wave of competent button-pushers.
