Worst. Basketball. Call. Ever.

Controversy has exploded at Madison Square Garden, where the Big East Tournament is underway.  The end of the St. John's - Rutgers featured one of the worst moments in officiating. Ever.

Rutgers got hosed, and hosed hard.  Down two, Rutgers in bounded the ball with five seconds left.  The long inbound pass was intercepted by St. John's' Justin Brownlee.  Thinking the game was over, Brownlee ran to the sideline, picked up the ball, stepped out of bounds and launched the ball into the air.  65-63, St. John's wins.

One problem.  The game wasn't over, or shouldn't have been.  Brownlee clearly steps on the line with 1.7 seconds left on the clock.  There was no replay.  There weren't even officials - they'd already run up the tunnel.  No one even seemed to notice, except the five Rutgers players on the court who were incensed that such a clear call was missed.  With good cause, it's as clear as day!  Replays show Brownlee well out of bounds with time still on the clock. The end of the game raised several questions.  Where were the officials? Why no replay? Where were the Big East bosses to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen? And, What the hell just happened?!

The original call is egregious enough.  How is that missed?  There's an official standing right there - and not just any official. Jim Burr and Tim Higgins, two of the three on the court, are two of the most respected officials in the country.  How is it possible that those two men and another official could miss the out of bounds.  I can almost understand missing the travel (nobody calls it anyway - why should they?), but can we at least get the 'is he in the field of play' calls right?!  Call me crazy but officials should be able to tell if a guy is standing on the court or not - especially because THEY CAN USE REPLAY!

Which brings me to my next point, why wasn't replay used?  College basketball officials are at the scorers table several times a game now.  Why not today? The Big East released a statement saying that because the officials didn't call the traveling or the out of bounds, they can not go to replay.  So, because there was horrendous officiating, they are not allowed to use replay and get the call right?  What kind of horrific logic is that?

Big East management.  Nothing?  You mean to tell me that three guys couldn't have put their heads together after seeing the tape and put the teams back on the court for 1.7 seconds?  What a complete sham.  They hid behind some poorly written rule so that they didn't have to make a call.  Unacceptable.

This was certainly the most unique and one of the worst displays of poor officiating I've ever seen.  Let's recap: Missed a travel (I'm shocked - traveling didn't get called), missed a ball carrier taking several steps well out of bounds, let the clock run out when it should have stopped and walked off the court without reviewing any of the ridiculous errors.

I don't mean to demonize the referees.  Look, we all make mistakes and I want to re-iterate that these are officials with sparkling records.  We all make mistakes and its unfortunate that these guys made theirs in a big spot.  Rutgers are the ones who should be angry.  They got hosed.  Would they have won the game if given those 1.7 seconds back?  Probably not.  But it's March and crazier things have happened.  They should have been given the chance.