Miami WBB Coach Gets Away With Calling False Timeout Like Chris Webber During Cavinder-Led NCAA Tournament Comeback
Miami women's basketball mounted a remarkable comeback to defeat Oklahoma State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. However, Hurricanes head coach Katie Meier, a legend within the sport, may have gotten away with a crucial late-game technical foul.
She pulled a Chris Webber.
On April 5, 1993, Webber called the most infamous timeout in college basketball history. Michigan did not have any timeouts remaining when Webber tried to call one, which warranted a technical foul and gave North Carolina two shots and the ball. The Wolverines could not recover and lost.
On Saturday, Miami was down 37-20 at halftime. And then the script was completely flipped.
Behind a big second half from leading-scorer Haley Cavinder, the Hurricanes stormed back with a 20-7 third quarter and went on to win by one. The last 10 seconds were insane.
Cavinder was at the line, with her team up two. She knocked down two free throws to take a four-point lead.
Miami was up 62-58 with 8.9 seconds left.
On the next possession, the Cowgirls banked in a triple. That cut the their deficit to one with 4.9 seconds.
This is where things got especially interesting.
Miami could not get the ball inbounds and the officials called a five-second violation, which negated the possession and gave the ball back to Oklahoma State. Meier was furious.
She insisted that she called a timeout before the five-second violation. The official did not give it to her, which ended up being for the best. Even as Meier clamored for the call, it was better that her team did not get charged with a timeout because, well, it didn't have any timeouts left.
Had Meier's attempted timeout been granted, the Hurricanes would have been hit with a technical foul. Just like Webber in 1993.
The Cowgirls would have had been given two free throw attempts and the ball. They could have taken the lead and retained possession.
Instead, Oklahoma State was only awarded possession with 5.3 seconds. No foul shots.
The buzzer-beater was unsuccessful and Miami escaped.