We'll get to the Texas Longhorns-Arizona Wildcats official recap over on the NCAA Tournament storystream in a minute, but first let's discuss the wild and controversial ending to the game. So with Texas nursing a two point lead, Rick Barnes quizzically decided to call a timeout after Derrick Williams missed a shot close to the rim and Texas grabbed the rebound. It was all the more puzzling because Arizona was out of timeouts and the Wildcats would have had to foul them. WHY DO YOU CALL A TIMEOUT and just not get fouled?
So anyway, Cory Joseph was left with the responsibility to inbound the ball, and it appeared only four seconds went off the clock when he decided to call timeout, and the refs made a very questionable call. Video after the jump.
Official counts to four then calls a five second violation - Texas vs. Arizona (via TheScoresReport)
The explanation after the fact was that Texas tried to call timeout after four seconds, but you're not allowed to call for a timeout after four seconds. Unfortunately for the refs and Texas, I can't find any such rule in the NCAA rulebook. Go download it here (inbound rules are on pages 110 & 118) and try and find the rule. I certainly couldn't.
Arizona went onto win the game on a Williams AND-1 layup. It's one of those situations that'll be debated for years, and will be sure to leave Texas fans bitter for months on end.
One thing I think we can all agree on...that timeout by Barnes was stupid. He put his players in a very bad position here, and left his team's fate at the mercy of the officials.