NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Midwest Regional : Controversy Is Still Raging Over Cuckoo Clock

Kansas will play North Carolina State today at Kemper Arena for the NCAA Midwest Regional title and a berth in the Final Four.

But no one was talking about the impending game Saturday. The clock controversy is still ticking, although North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano, for one, doesn’t believe that a malfunctioning clock in the Kansas-Michigan State semifinal game Friday cheated the Spartans out of the win.

The Jayhawks rallied in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime at 80-80 and then went on to win, 96-86.

The situation:

Michigan State led, 75-72, with 2:21 remaining when forward Vernon Carr went to the free-throw line in a one-and-one situation. He made the first foul shot but missed the second.

Kansas took the ball out of bounds, missed a shot and then scored on Ron Kellogg’s tip-in. Reporters covering the game agreed that Kellogg scored with 2:20 left. But the official play-by-play listed Kellogg’s basket at the 2:09 mark. The computer program used by the statistical crew has a built-in clock.

CBS, in its replays, contended that 15 seconds were lost before the clock was activated again.

Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote charged to the scorer’s table to complain about the missing seconds, prompting Kansas Coach Larry Brown, a program in hand, to complain to the officials about Heathcote leaving the coaching box.

Brown, while shaking his program at official Bob Dibler, accidentally flipped the official’s whistle into Dibler’s face. Brown was assessed a technical foul.

Michigan State’s Scott Skiles was already at the free-throw line. Skiles missed on the front end of the bonus shot but made two free throws on the technical foul--and the Spartans retained possession.

A jump shot by forward Barry Fordham gave Michigan State a six-point lead with 1:39 remaining, but the Spartans couldn’t maintain their advantage.

Larry Polec and Mark Brown each missed the first attempts of one-and-ones in the final 27 seconds--and Michigan State, ironically, is the best free-throw shooting team in the country at 80.5%.

Asked if he was concerned that the clock might malfunction today, Valvano said:

I’m wearing a stopwatch around my neck right now. I didn’t see the game in person but I saw the last two minutes on television. It’s a situation that should not have occurred.

“Jud Heathcote was correct when he went to the scorer’s table. I can’t imagine someone not realizing that 15 seconds went off the clock, and it was a correctable error. But I don’t think it cost Michigan State the game. They were still up by six with a minute to play (actually by four with 58 seconds left).

“I thought Michigan State had it won. It would have been different if the clock didn’t run from the 20-seconds point to the 5-seconds point. I’m surprised in such a big game that the correction was not made. What would I have done?

“I would have walked over very quietly and probably choked the timer.”

Arnie Ferrin, a member of the NCAA basketball committee, said Saturday that it was not a correctable error.

“The timer (Larry Bates) who flipped the switch was unaware that the clock was not running, and he flipped it again and the clock was functioning,” Ferrin said. “He didn’t know how much time had been lost. If the timer became aware, he should have blown the horn (he didn’t) and told the officials that he had lost some time on the clock. Then it could have been rectified.”

According to the rules, time can not be added or subtracted from the clock unless the amount of time gained or lost is precisely known by the officials or the clock operator.

There will be a backup clock at today’s game operated by a standby official in case of another malfunction. The timer, Bates, who is experienced, will be an intent clock-watcher.

There is a common sense rule that guides officials. Almost everyone at the press tables knew that time had not gone off the clock, and, if the officials had consulted the computerized play-by play, they would have realized the error. Ferrin said there is a specific rule prohibiting the use of a TV replay.

Brown pointed out that the clock problem worked to his team’s disadvantage, because his technical foul led to a possible six-point play by Michigan State.

“I wouldn’t have hit his whistle, gotten the technical and felt as silly as I did if the referees were doing their job and had called a technical foul (on Heathcote),” Brown said. “You can’t go to the scorer’s table unless it’s a dead-ball situation. The whole game changed because of my technical foul more so than the clock not being started.”

The officials contend that they didn’t see Heathcote leave the coaching box to go to the scorer’s table and only noticed him when he was going back into the box.

Midwest Regional Notes

Kansas (34-3), a veteran team, is the clear favorite today over North Carolina State (19-12), a relatively young team. Both teams have good size. Kansas beat N.C. State, 71-56, last December in Greensboro, N.C. North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano says that by basketball time that game was played a year ago and both teams have improved. Today’s game will be televised by Channel 2 starting at 1:03 p.m. PST. . . . The winner will will play the winner of the Duke-Navy East Regional title game in the NCAA semifinals next Saturday at Dallas. . . . Kansas is the nation’s No. 2-ranked team and top-seeded in the Midwest Regional. North Carolina State wasn’t in the final top 20 and finished in a fourth-place tie in the ACC during the regular season. . . . “But the NCAA is a new season,” Valvano said. “We’re 3-0 and so is Kansas. Anybody who gets to the Final Four has to dodge a bullet along the way. We dodged ours against Arkansas Little Rock (two overtimes) in the second round, and Kansas dodged one Friday night.”