Contrary to Popular Belief, Collison Was Fouled

By Mike DeCourcy
DeCourcy is a NCAA hoops columnist for Sporting News who occasionally graces us with his presence in this space.
On what amounted to the final play of regulation during Thursday night’s decisive Pac-10 showdown because UCLA and Stanford, Bruins guard Darren Collison raced the ball upcourt trying to match a basket by Stanford forward Lawrence Hill that put the Cardinal ahead with a little more than 7 seconds remaining. When Collison approached the foul lane, he elevated to shoot but was met by Hill and the ball was swatted to the floor. Amid the din of screaming Bruins fans, a whistle blew.
Officials called a foul on Hill. From the sideline at the opposite end of the floor, Stanford coach Trent Johnson thought he saw injustice. On Friday morning’s SportsCenter, ESPN showed a highlight filmed from the baseline behind the Bruins basket and suggested – skeptically – that Hill might have been called for minimal body contact on what otherwise appeared to be a clean block on the ball.
However, during the FSN telecast, its producers showed a replay filmed from behind the play that revealed Hill’s elbow colliding with Collision’s as he elevated to shoot. It was not an overpowering hit, but it clearly impacted his ability to release a clean shot, but did not dislodge the ball from his hands:

Presuming that’s what the official was seeing, it was the correct call.
It all depends upon one’s vantage point. That’s why it’s so important for officials to be properly positioned when they make their calls. Which wasn’t the case when a too-far-removed ref called Marquette’s Dominic James for a three-shot foul against Georgetown’s Jonathan Wallace in what became an overtime victory for the Hoyas last weekend. But that’s another argument altogether.
Video via Deadspin, which had a decidedly different perspective on this play.
(Editor’s Note: For the record, as much as we love DeCourcy, he is on his own on this one.)↵