Off the cuff: Despite shooting only 35 percent, it looked as if the Tar Heels might grind out a tough home win against No. 4 Virginia. The Heels had seemingly overcome an injury to Nassir Little in the first half to erase a 36-27 deficit to go up 53-46 with under nine minutes to play. Carolina had gone on a 17-3 run but the Heels committed a couple of shot clock violations, Cam Johnson got hurt and Kyle Guy hit three three-pointers to do in the Heels. They say football is a game of inches but, on this night, basketball was a game of inches. Coby White was inches away from securing a loose ball late in the half that would have ended in a layup but the shot clock expired on Virginia before he had possession. Late in the game, it appeared that White had gotten off a wild three at the end of a shot clock but officials ruled that the ball wasn't out of his hands when clock expired, negating a key basket. No one seemed to argue the call and TV announcers agreed that the clock had gone to zero before it was off White's fingertips. But I believe the basket should have counted. The clock not only has to go to zero but the horn has to sound. In other words, there could have been 0.9 seconds, 0.8 seconds, 0.7 seconds, 0.6 seconds, 0.5 seconds, 0.4 seconds, 0.3 seconds, 0.2 seconds or 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Everyone seemed to be going by a single digit zero on the clock, rather than listening for the horn. If they aren't going to listen for the horn, the shot clocks really should have four digits - or at least three - on them rather than just two. |
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