Xavier deserved a final shot

How to describe Butler's last-second win against Xavier on Saturday?

Bizarre? Ridiculous? Wrong?

That last one technically isn't correct, but try telling that to the Musketeers. How else to label a game where the refs take away any chance you have at a potentially game-winning shot because of a clock malfunction?

That's right but feels wrong.

Michael Conroy/AP

Jordan Crawford can't believe Xavier lost.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, watch the video here. Then read the re-caps from the Butler side, and the Xavier side. Got it?

The short sum up is this: Xavier led with 39 seconds left, Butler scrambled madly to try and get a shot off, which it eventually did after a couple of misses. Gordon Hayward's lay-up was released with 1.8 seconds remaining, but after the refs reviewed the play, they determined that there actually wasn't any time left because of an erroneous stoppage of the clock.

The reason? Let the officials spell it out:

"When we put the stopwatch to see how long the clock had erroneously stopped, 1.3 seconds had elapsed. The shot by (Hayward) was released at 1.8 seconds. The ball went through the net at 1.2 seconds and the clock stopped correctly. Because we lost 1.3 seconds, that time is deducted from the remaining 1.2 seconds, officially ending the game."

The home team benefits from a strange clock error, which, after several reviews, is the correct call? Yuck. The situation just reeks.

At the very least, Xavier deserved a chance at a last-second heave because the home team's scorekeeper made the error. After all, Butler made the shot and wasn't handed the win.

But why does it feel so wrong?

The NCAA should take a look at Rush the Court's proposal that the game can't end when time is removed like this, kinda like a defensive penalty in football. Maybe the refs followed the rules -- but in this case, the rules stink.

Mike Miller thinks complaining about the officials makes for a lousy blog post, or poor tweets @BeyndArcMMiller. But sometimes, it can't be helped.