It doesn’t matter what sport it is, replay reviews never fix everything.
On Saturday night, it was Georgetown that found it out, as the Hoyas lost a heartbreaker to TCU, 84-83, thanks to a last-second, bank-shot 3-pointer by TCU’s Emanuel Miller.
Although replays showed Miller got the shot off before the buzzer, they also showed he stepped on the right sideline before he took the shot, meaning the Horned Frogs should have lost possession.
But since the officials missed that call during live action, they weren’t able to reverse it following the review since they were limited to only reviewing whether time had expired.
Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley, though, didn’t blame the officiating mistake for the loss.
“We had three of the best officials in America on our game today,” Cooley said after the game. “High-level officials. Final Four officials. Regional final officials. The game is not defined by one play, all right, and that’s what everybody is going to talk about.”
He’s right about that.
It all came after Georgetown’s Jayden Epps hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds to go in regulation, giving the Hoyas an 83-81 lead.
TCU’s Micah Peavy then made a long inbounds pass to Miller, who got the ball, turned, dribbled and took the final shot, which proved to be the game-winner.
“We had opportunities throughout the game,’’ Cooley said. “We missed a lot of free throws, missed a couple of blockouts. Everybody’s always going to think of the last play, ‘What could’ve, should’ve [been].’ Give them credit. They had to throw the pass, the kid caught it and made the shot.”
Despite Cooley’s diplomatic answer, the coach acknowledged the replay rule should be addressed in the future.
“If they can review it to see if he was out-of-bounds and it could be reversed, then I think we do have to take a look at that,” Cooley said. “Not because we’re on the other side, what’s in the best interest of the game. Not so much what’s in the best interest of Georgetown at this point. What’s in the best interest of the game to keep the game fair, equitable and even across the board.
“If he would have called him out-of-bounds and the ball went in, you can take a look at it and say, ‘Well, no basket.’ You look at it the other way, you can’t make the call because there was no call on the floor. Maybe it’s an opportunity for us to open that [up] and take a hard look at it to see if we can do that.”
Read more
