Michigan State - Wisconsin

[Bluedog]

Anybody see the end of Michigan State - Wisconsin?! Wow. MSU pulls out the victory in OT by three after a prayer three-pointer by Wisconsin was called off. It was clearly in time if you went by the clock on the facade of the upper deck (which is what the TV audience sees), but was a bit late if you went by the clock above the rim. They were different by about 0.2 seconds. Refs reviewed it for quite some time (his toe was also very very close to the line), and eventually called it off. Draymond Green could have sealed the win at the line with about 10 seconds left, but missed both free throws. I recall the clocks also being off in the national championship game when Hayward got the shot off on both clocks, but they were clearly different. I guess the official clock is always the one above the basket, which makes sense to me. I'm glad Sparty got the victory, though, to help our SOS. MSU always seems to be a better team when expectations are lower - when they were super high, like last season, they can't live up to the hype. The score, incidentally, was 22-21 at the half. The MSU-Wisconsin football game had more points in the first half than that. Big road victory for MSU - the Kohl Center is a tough place to win.

[hurleyfor3]

I saw that too. Here's the relevant rule:

Section 7. Beginning and End of Period
Art. 1. Each period shall begin when the ball becomes live.
Art. 2. Each period shall end when the red light or LED lights have become
activated. When the light fails to operate or is not visible, each period shall end
with the sounding of the game-clock horn.
a. In games when the red light is not present, the game-clock horn shall
terminate players’ activity.
b. In games with a 10th-of-a-second game clock display and where an official
courtside monitor is used, the reading of zeros on the game clock is to be
used to determine whether a try for goal occurred before or after the
expiration of time in any period. When the game clock is not visible, the
officials shall verify the original call with the use of the red/LED light(s).
When the red/LED light(s) are not visible, the sounding of the game-clock
horn shall be used. When definitive information is unattainable with the
use of the monitor, the original call stands.

The lights around the backboard and above the shot clock went on at the same time the clock above the backboard went to zero, which was before the clock on the facade did. So the call of "no shot" was correct.

[orrnot]

Typically, the fascia mounted displays are custom shaped video boards. Processing and rendering scoreboard data on them introduces an element of latency, which I'd credit for the discrepancy. For similar reasons, the officials' feed that is consulted courtside includes an old-fashioned inset video image of an actual game clock, rather than the more common graphics product that we usually see at the bottom of our screens.

[SCMatt33]

I don't have much of a problem with with the lag between the actual game clock above the rim and the stadium/TV clock. It happens all the time, and almost no one ever notices. It's been going on for years though, and that's why I'm appalled that the TV commentators seemed to be oblivious to the rules. All they did was get a bunch of people pissed off at something that was handled in the correct manner and was in reality a clear cut call. I have generally knowledgeable friends posting about how Wisconsin got robbed until I explained the actual rule. ESPNU had a special this fall before the season with several veteran refs. The main purpose was to introduce the restricted area, but one of the other questions was about being criticized by TV commentators. They generally didn't have a problem with it, accepting it as part of the territory, but were extremely upset with commentators who criticize without knowing the rules, and often rip them for calls that were actually right. They generally don't know about nuances and exceptions in rules. It's ridiculous that they could not know about the LED lights, and deduce that the clock on the court that syncs up with the lights is probably correct over the ribbon board way in the back.