Livingston: Last two seconds of game overshadows classic NCAA Tournament contest

The first 38 minutes and 58 seconds of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament matchup between Pitt and… The first 38 minutes and 58 seconds of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament matchup between Pitt and Butler were pure basketball bliss. The game was a living example of everything that makes March Madness great.

It was a beautiful contest filled with runs, lead changes, a downpour of 3-pointers and a late go-ahead shot. The game seemed to reach a perfect climax when Butler’s Andrew Smith hit a layup with 2.2 seconds remaining to put the Bulldogs up 70-69.

It was a story that was nearly impossible to sour, but somehow one of the greatest games in each program’s history turned into an unmitigated disaster.

Two unintentional fouls were called in the final 1.4 seconds of the game, both on the floor and far away from the defensive team’s basket. That is something that should never happen in the sport of basketball, but it did.

And even though it would be eloquent to just pretend neither foul was called, doing so is impossible. There was no poetic justice in the way the game ended.

When it was all said and done, Pitt got the short end of the stick.

The first call — a blocking foul on Butler’s Shelvin Mack — was unequivocally necessary. Pitt’s Gilbert Brown was attempting to find space and set up a halfcourt prayer of a shot. The two clearly bumped into each other, and Mack’s feet were not set. Had Mack not established this contact, Brown would have had the chance to attempt a shot from halfcourt before time expired.

While this would hardly have been a high-percentage shot, it would absolutely have been possible to make. Even a run-of-the-mill pickup basketball player has the ability to make that shot. Heck, Pitt’s Brad Wanamaker almost made an even longer shot at one point during the night.

Yet Mack clearly prevented Brown from getting off a shot, and because of that, the whistle absolutely had to be blown.

Brown made the first free throw to tie the game at 70, but he missed the second. The shot rimmed out and flew up in the air.

As the ball came down, Pitt’s Nasir Robinson and Butler’s Matt Howard battled for rebounding position. Both Howard and Robinson reached for the ball, but Howard pulled it in.

As he did, Robinson’s extended arm wrapped around Howard’s. Robinson quickly realized that he needed to move his arms, and he immediately raised them in the air.

Less than a second remained in the game, and overtime appeared inevitable. Yet for some reason, referee Antonio Petty blew his whistle with 0.8 seconds left. It was a foul call against Robinson, and it allowed Howard to sink a game-winning free-throw.

When the contact was made, Howard was standing sideways, with the ball held well below shoulder level. Meanwhile, Robinson was standing between Howard and Pitt’s basket. It is simply unreasonable to think that Howard could have scored in that situation, as well as to think that Robinson could pry the ball from Howard’s hands and complete a layup before time expired.

The score was 70-70 when Robinson was called for the foul, and once the ball entered Howard’s arms, there was no chance of either team completing a buzzer-beater. Considering that Robinson did not tackle Howard, tear his arm off or stick a harpoon in him, there was absolutely no reason for that call to be made.

This is the reason that this sort of thing never happens — not because “smart” teams do not try to rebound late foul shots. When Brown squared up his second shot, 1.4 seconds remained. That is absolutely enough time for a rebound attempt.

Just ask Howard, who needed half that long to square up Butler’s game-winner against Old Dominion in its tournament opener.

When Pitt decided to have Robinson and Gary McGhee in place to get the rebound off a possible Brown miss, the team made the right decision. It was the nation’s eighth-best rebounding team this season. Butler ranked just 177th. The Panthers were leading the rebound battle 30-20.

It would have been insane for Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon to have McGhee and Robinson play back behind the foul line.

Once Howard had the ball, Robinson probably should have backed off. Perhaps being a little less zealous might have prevented the call.

But it is ludicrous to claim that Robinson’s actions indicate a lack of basketball IQ. Robinson reached for the ball, and he kept his arms going for a split-second. It was a poor decision for him to put his arm on Howard’s, but the whole sequence took place in well under a second.

This is not “Clockstoppers.” Robinson did not have the opportunity to slow time down, or evaluate a situation with continued slow-motion looks. He made a very slight mistake in a very rapid sequence of events. To call him “stupid” for doing so is simply ignorant.

Neither Robinson nor Pitt “deserved” to lose this game. There is no such thing as “deserving” to win or lose. A team’s resume, 3-point shooting, clock management, coaching and past are sexy things to look back on, but they do not make the team any more or less deserving of a victory. The only thing that determines a winner is the number of points a team scores compared to its opponent.

Rules are a vital part of sports, but they are there for a reason. They allow for games to be structured, fair and safe. But they are simply not meant to be enforced in the manner that they were on Saturday.

There are a number of officiating conventions in sports that are unwritten, yet obvious. Hockey referees give leeway on icing calls, football and basketball coaches can step a foot or two in bounds during play and basketball players are not whistled for fouls on the floor 90 feet from the basket with less than a second left.

Pitt vs. Butler was a beautiful game and it should have gone to overtime. There was no reason for Petty to call a foul on Robinson, other than to enforce a hypothetical zero-tolerance policy that sports has never embraced.

The call was completely unnecessary, and it robbed college basketball of a truly great game.

So do not blame Dixon or any Pitt player for losing this game. Dixon could have run less clock, Brown could have made the second free throw and Robinson could have rebounded differently. It is a sign of class and maturity that each takes the blame for his shortcoming, but this is not on them.

If Pitt really deserved to lose this game and Butler deserved to win it, then that would have become clear in overtime. But now, because of overzealous officiating, we will never know. And as players, coaches, students and fans, we deserved better.