Butler Beats Xavier

I suppose the game doesn't need any more controversy, after what happened with the timing, but I was watching and I noticed that Willie Veasley may have traveled. Now, the fact that I can't tell even after watching multiple replays, probably means I shouldn't bother bringing it up, but that's really what this blog is for: us to write about things that interest us. And this interests me.

If you don't know what happened, you can read the recap and then watch this video to see that it seems like they got the timing question right. (Crib notes version: a Butler player made a layup with just over a second left, but the officials determined the clock had stopped at one point and would have run out between when the ball left the player's hands and when it went through the hoop, if not for the malfunction.)

With just about 4 seconds left, there's a loose ball rebound that Willie Veasley and Gordon Heyward (both from Butler) and a Xavier player scramble after. Veasley gets control of it, but then stands up. The question I have is: was his knee still on the ground when he got control of the ball? (Never mind that it appears as if he rips the Xavier player's arm off to get the ball. That's really speculation, because from the only angle I've seen, it's really impossible to tell where Veasley and the Xavier player's arms are. But that's what it seems like happened to me.)

These pictures, while blurry, show him holding the ball with his knee on the ground. Still, though, the question is, was he bringing it in to get control as he stood up or did he already have control? You'll have to watch the video to understand the pictures, but combined they help with the answer.


Now, I'm again going to ignore a possible foul, this time the fact that the Xavier player then appears to pull Veasley down by his shirt. My second question is, what would have happened if Heyward had shot with, say 0.5 seconds left? Then, after looking at the clock, the officials would have had to say that it didn't count and Butler had lost, because of the inadvertent 1.2-or-so second stoppage. Right? It seems like, as much of a controversy as this was, that would have been exponentially worse.

What do you think about the situation?