I am not naive to the fact that some balance should be achieved with respect to using replay in sports to confirm or overturn officiating calls.  On the one hand, if we want the athletes and coaches to determine the outcomes of games, rather than the officials, then the point of replay ought to be to consistently get things right.  On the other hand, is it worth delaying a game 5 minutes or more to determine whether a football team should have a "third and two" or a "third and three"?  Probably not.

Like all sports that use replay, college basketball has its rules which frankly, I am not even sure of (and I do watch  a lot).  Can such and such be reviewed and overturned?  Anytime, or just with less than two minutes remaining  in a game?   To overturn, does the video evidence need to be obvious or irrefutable, and if so, why does this only seem to be applied only some of the time?

With about a minute left in last night's Wisconsin-Indiana game, Wisconsin's Steven Crowl and an Indiana basketball player were both going for a loose ball.  The IU player may have touched the ball but it was obvious to all that Crowl had touched it last as the ball presumably went out of bounds.  Calling the game, Jay Bilas astutely pointed out that something else must be going on here as the refs asked for a video review.  Bilas went on to say that the refs could review this if it was a question of who the ball went out on.  But, this was an easy determination.  On replay, we saw that Crowl actually made a fantastic play saving the ball before it went out of bounds.  But in this situation, the refs are not allowed to check and see if a ball went out of bounds or was saved.

So, one of two things happened.  Either the refs forgot the rule about whether a ball going out or being saved can be reviewed, and reviewed it.  Or, the refs, I would have to say, pretended that they were unsure who the ball went out on which is what prompted their review.  They reviewed on the basis they were allowed to review, but made a call based on something that they were technically not allowed to review, because they discovered it in their review.

In the end, Wisconsin got the ball back and it was the video review that helped make this right.  However, one can easily conclude that the review should never have been allowed to occur in the first place due to a very silly rule regarding replay. I wish all sports would start doing what should be the obvious.

Use replay to get things right.  Anything.  Any time.

Put away this "it must be irrefutable" nonsense.  Two people can easily disagree on what's considered irrefutable.  The ref should make the right call in their judgment. 

Do not take more than a minute to review anything that should have a very minor impact on the game.  If you can't decide in a minute, the original call should stand.

Take more time, but no more than 3 minutes, to decide on crucial calls.  Same thing, the call stands if it can't be decided within 3 minutes.

Follow these simple steps and nobody will ever have to worry again about what can or can not be reviewed, or how much time on the clock there was when the call in question took place.

Thoughts about replay in college basketball?