The Controversial Shot

Over the weekend, a controversy took place at Pauley Pavilion. To those non-college basketball fans, that's UCLA's home basketball court. They were playing in their final regular season game versus the Golden Bears of California. With just a few seconds remaining on the clock, Josh Shipp put up a desperation shot on the baseline that went over the corner of the backboard and dropped in from the sky to put the Bruins up and eventually give them the win. Here's the video, watch carefully:



Maybe this should clear things up for all those out there that are in awe that the game was won with this circus shot from Josh Shipp:

NCAA Rules, Rule 7
Out of Bounds and the Throw-in
Section 1, Article 3
The ball shall be out of bounds when it passes over the backboard from any direction.

So, ladies and gentlemen, UCLA won the game on an illegal shot. The dispute lies with the officials. The official claims that it "was to close to call" and that he didn't call it because of that specific reason. Or was it because the Pac-10 has had a bad history when it comes to close games and making the correct calls? It is the responsibility of the official to blow his whistle in this situation. If people want to argue that the shot was good, I'll just refer you to the above rule. Was it an amazing shot? Yes, it was, for a game of H-O-R-S-E on a sunny afternoon with your buddies. But in an NCAA setting where the #2 team ranked in the country has the chance to lose it's last game of the season, you have got to blow the whistle. Poor call on the officials. Very poor call. But the question with this post is, because it was too close to call, did the officials make the correct decision by not blowing the whistle and calling the ball out of bounds? I'd love to hear your arguments.