Joke! Refs rob Seton Hall with ridiculous flagrant call on routine late-game foul

Published Mar. 17, 2017 5:08 p.m. ET

Chris Chase

It happens in every close college basketball game. A team, behind late in the game, fouls its opponent to put it on the free-throw line, stopping the clock and hoping for missed shots that'll keep the game within reach. They foul to get back the ball. They foul to get the opportunity to score again. These fouls are always intentional, but in the wink-wink variety. It's known to all that the act is deliberate but there exists a tacit understanding that the intentional foul will not be regarded as an "intentional foul," as known in basketball lexicon, and just a regular old foul. It's an unwritten rule.

The refs in Seton Hall-Arkansas inexplicably rewrote the book. With the Pirates trailing Arkansas 72-71 with 18 seconds in their first-round game, Desi Rodriguez grabbed Razorback guard Jaylen Barford to commit a foul that would put him on the line and, worst-case, give Seton Hall the ball back down three points with 18 seconds left. There was nothing unusual about the Rodriguez foul. He clearly was trying to foul in a situation in which everybody expected him to foul. Routine.

But officials went to the monitor to look at the replay and after a few confusing minutes, declared it a Flagrant 1 foul on Rodriguez, which meant Arkansas would get two free throws and the ball back. Barford made both to put Arkansas up three. Seton Hall, of course, was then forced to foul again after the Razorbacks inbounded. Daryl Macon made one of those two free throws to push the lead to 75-71. Making this call was like sentencing the Pirates to walk the plank.

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Referee Doug Sirmons told the television crew — who were as baffled as the rest of us — that they made the call because there was "no play on the ball."

Is there ever? Yes, replays showed Rodriguez grabbed Barford's shoulder instead of making a play for the ball, but he did it cleanly, running into his opponent and holding him up as he committed the foul. There was intent, of course, but it was to commit a foul that was hard enough to be called but not so hard that it injured an opponent.

Flagrants are for cheap shots, not for getting a guy to the free-throw line. The rule is written to protect athletes. In a late-game situation, the power of flagrants ensure players don't take advantage of their free hack on an opponent. None of those applied here. Officials are supposed to give latitude in such situations and it's almost impossible to recall a situation in which they didn't. This is like calling a technical when the bench empties during the final seconds of a blowout. It's basketball jaywalking.

Rodriguez was classy in his postgame presser, far more than he needed to be: "I didn't realize how hard I pushed him, but I thought it was a basketball play," he said. "It wasn't intentional."

That was clear to everybody watching, except for the three guys wearing stripes. Seton Hall couldn't score on its next trip, and a few seconds later it was all over, thanks to some whistle-happy refs intent on controlling a game instead of letting the madness play out on its own terms.