ND vs UNC game last night - bad call in the final seconds??

[UConNation]

I was watching the ND - UNC game last night with my wife and found myself pulling for ND for the first time in my life. Regardless of how you feel about either team, it was a great game to watch. I'll sum it up for those that didn't watch, and then get to my question. ND is up by 13 in the 2H, with around 2 minutes to go UNC goes up 1. ND then regains the lead by 1, gets the ball back and is on the line with the possibility of going up 3. ND player (can't remember his name) misses the front end and before anyone even remotely had possesion of the ball, the ref on the baseline blows his whistle with his fist in the air (like he was about to call a foul) and then inexplicably points to the UNC bench signalling a time out. It definitely looked like he was calling a foul (even the commentators thought that's what he was doing). After I got my initial complaining done (because you can't call a ticky-tac foul in that situation AND UNC didn't have control of the ball), I thought about it again, and it looked like the ref was going to call a foul, and then a split second after he blew his whistle he realized that he didn't want to end the game that way, so he gave UNC the timeout. That's the only thing that makes sense to me, because when he blew his whistle NO ONE had control of the ball. Of course it could have been a complete homer call or any other form of collusion you wish to suggest, but I'm interested to get someone's opinion that watched the game. What were your thoughts?

 

[scrappy2.0]

I watched that. That was not a bad call--that was call after the whistle where Auguste had a ticky tack touch--that was nothing.

 

[donyell34]

Wish they would both lose.

 

[CTGoonie]

I used to love watching Big Monday. Now, not so much. Good thing Kemba was playing the Celtics. Thanks ESPN!

 

[imno1]

I also thought he called a foul. The whistle was blown before Carolina had control of the ball so a time out should not have be rewarded. After watching the replay I would have been ok with either a foul call or a play on.

 

[UConNation]

I watched that. That was not a bad call--that was call after the whistle where Auguste had a ticky tack touch--that was nothing.

I'm in 100% agreement that there should have been no foul called. What was wierd though is that it seemed he was calling the foul (which I think would've been a bad decision) and then gave UNC a time out when it was VERY clear that no one had control of the ball yet. Just seemed strange is all.

 

[whaler11]

Agreed looked like he called a foul.

Notre Dame played with fire on that last shot. Great defense but the ACC refs in Chapel Hill....

 

[mcs333]

No foul. It was the right call. The player yelled time out. UNC missed it's last 6 shots. They had plenty of chances to win. UNCteam plays with a low Basketball IQ.
Talent wise UNC has way more than ND but ND played much harder and hit 10 3pt shots.

 

[gtcam]

Maybe it was the officiating crew from the Detroit-Cowboys game

 

[Mots010]

No foul. It was the right call. The player yelled time out. UNC missed it's last 6 shots. They had plenty of chances to win. UNCteam plays with a low Basketball IQ.
Talent wise UNC has way more than ND but ND played much harder and hit 10 3pt shots.

I think the point of contention here is the UNC player didnt really have possession of the ball when the timeout was given. There was a foul with the swipe across the arm, but its not a call that usually made, unless its the Pitt/Butler NCAA tournament game from a few years ago. It did look like the ref was calling the foul then changed his mind.