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Human Error At Fault In Clock Flap?

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The Associated Press

Published: February 13, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The inventor of the timing device used in No. 1 Tennessee's 59-58 win against No. 5 Rutgers suspects human error led to the disputed ending of Monday night's game.

The game clock appeared to pause for more than a second just before reaching zero, and Tennessee made a pair of foul shots with two-tenths of a second remaining.

"I can only conclude that we won the game in regulation and ask that the NCAA basketball committee take this into consideration when they seed the teams," Rutgers athletic director Robert Mulcahy said.
Precision Time Systems inventor and president Michael Costabile said there is plenty of room for human error in running the game clock. At issue is whether or not Rutgers' Kia Vaughn fouled Nicky Anosike before time expired.

"The system works really, really well," said Costabile, who watched the game on TV. "Have we had somebody hit the wrong button? Yes."

The Southeastern Conference and Big East said Tuesday both leagues' coordinators of officials spoke with the game officials and clock operator.

"The officials discharged their duties properly and there is no indication that anything improperly was done by anyone involved," the SEC's statement said. "There will be no further comment on this issue as the leagues, institutions, coaches and teams look to move forward."

Television replays showed the game clock seemed to pause at two-tenths of a second for about 1.3 seconds before running to zero as Anosike came down with an offensive rebound and was grabbed from behind by Vaughn.

Officials replayed the video and ruled the foul came before the buzzer. Anosike calmly stepped up and hit the two free throws to take the victory.

The Precision Time device, which keeps time for all NBA games and many at the college level, uses small microphones attached to the referees' whistles that communicate wirelessly to devices worn on the referees' belts that stop the game clock. When the device picks up sound from the whistle, the clock stops.

The official must hit a button on his belt pack to restart the clock. At the same time, the official timekeeper manually controls the clock. Whichever signal is picked up first - the sound of the referee's whistle, the click of the belt pack button or the pressing of the timekeeper's button - officially controls the clock.

Costabile said the clock seeming to pause before reaching zero indicates to him that either an official or the timekeeper may have stopped the clock, anticipating Anosike would be fouled, and then restarted it when that wasn't immediately the case.

"That can take as much as 0.8 seconds to 1.5 seconds," he said. "That's telling me people froze up. It's only as good as someone pushing the button."

Barbara Jacobs, assistant commissioner in charge of Big East women's basketball officiating, said officials were not aware the clock had stopped.

"I believe that they thought they reviewed it and got it right," she said. "In other words, they were not aware that the clock had stopped."

The Southeastern Conference assigned Bob Trammell, Tina Napier and Bonita Spence as the game's officials because they work several conferences, including the SEC and Big East.

Mulcahy said his concerns were that the officiating crew neither asked the timekeeper to review the clock nor used a stopwatch while watching the replay monitor to check for inconsistencies.

"It's one thing for human error to occur. That happens, we accept that," he said. "It's entirely another thing when the appropriate steps aren't taken to correct it."

Tim Reese, the manager of Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena, said new batteries are put in the Precision Time devices before every game and the unit was tested before and after the game to ensure it was working properly.

"How long does it take the signal to get to the base unit?" he asked rhetorically after the game.

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said she was saddened that the controversy has overshadowed the game.

"The controversy at the end of the game last night at Tennessee was an unfortunate incident and Rutgers deserved to win," she said in a statement.

"The one thing I have learned over my 36 years of coaching is in the waning moments of a game you can never allow officials or others to determine the outcome."

Tuesday's Games

UCONN 80, GEORGETOWN 48: Freshman Maya Moore scored 25 points to lead No. 2 Connecticut (23-1, 10-1 Big East) to a rout of visiting Georgetown (18-6, 8-3).

OKLAHOMA 68, TEXAS A&M 55: Courtney Paris had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 10 Oklahoma (18-4, 8-2 Big 12) past No. 20 and visiting Texas A&M (17-7, 5-5). It was the 83rd double-double in a row for Paris.

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