Amongst those observers amused by the OU/Oregon officiating flap is the man who once opined, “when rape is inevitable, relax and let it happen.” From the Oklahoman’s John Rhode.
“Maybe now those people at Oklahoma understand what I was talking about,” an upbeat Bobby Knight said. “And you make sure they get this message. I want them to be that much more enamored with me over at that place.”
On Jan. 20, 2003, the Sooners beat the Red Raiders 69-64 in overtime at Lloyd Noble Center in a contest mired by two clock controversies in the final seconds of regulation. The game clock stopped for a full second when Texas Tech had the ball with 6.7 seconds left, and started .7 seconds late after OU in-bounded the ball with 4.5 seconds remaining.
OU guard Hollis Price took the inbound pass, dribbled his way through traffic and hit a 17-foot jumper at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Had the clock started properly, Price would not have gotten the shot off in time. Big 12 officials later ruled human error likely was the cause and scorer’s table personnel at Lloyd Noble were rotated in their responsibilities.
The time discrepancy was not noticed until the Red Raiders had returned home. Had it been detected during the game, it would have been a correctable error. Judgments involving the game clock are reviewable.
Some have suggested Oregon forfeit last Saturday’s 34-33 football victory over the Sooners. In the final 72 seconds of the game, the Ducks benefited from an improper ruling on an onside kick and a pass interference call.
“Had Oklahoma forfeited that game against us like I suggested, they would have gotten far more positive publicity out of that than if they had gone to the Final Four that year,” Knight said. “Now I guess the ˜duck’ is swimming in the other pond.”