FanNation

A controversial ending to the South Carolina high school basketball game has prompted a call in the Palmetto State's legislature to propose instant replay in high school games.

The play that started the controversy was from the SCHSL (South Carolina High School League) Class 4A boys championship game between Spartanbug and Summerville.  Summerville held a two point lead with 1.7 seconds left and at the free throw line.  A missed free throw was rebounded by a Spartanburg player who made a couple of dribbles and launched a 70 foot shoot that rattled the rim and fell in for an apparrant game winning three pointer.  The officials huddled and discussed what took place.  After consulting with each other, the officials ruled the shot came after the final buzzer, nullifying the game winning basket.  That decision sent Summerville into a frenzy celebrating their first basketball championship.   Here's a link to a video of that shot.  You can decide if it was made in time.  http://videos.thestate.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=1755440

A member of the South Carolina Legislature from the Spartanburg area has written and sent a bill to the Statehouse proposing the High School League to implement instant replay in state championship games.  The proposal would have the replay be mandatory only in basketball and football.  Since the championship games are played at the University of South Carolina, the technology is in place to easily do this. 

While instant replay has proved to be successful in college and professional sports, I don't believe a state law is the way to go about this.  The government shouldn't be getting in the business of telling a high school sports sanctioning body how to conduct their business.  The SCHSL could easily implement a rule if they feel one needs to be added or changed.  There has been no discussion about if the proposed law would make the replay rule like in college or professional.  Would the coaches have challenges or would every play be reviewable from an official in the booth? 

Secondly, this proposal only calls for it being used during the championship games.  Who's to say that a pivotal call could be made in the first round of the playoffs that could potentially knock out a team that would have made the championship game had the call went their way with the use of instant replay. 

I just don't feel that a law from a state government should be what drives this proposal.  It's bad enough that a member of a state governing body feels the need to write a bill and send it in for consideration.  It's another thing that the legislator that did this is from the area of the team on the losing end of a basketball officials decision, creating the discussion of did the representative have sour grapes over the call.  We all have seen split second calls that could have gone in your team's favor, but a law making instat replay mandatory isn't the right way to go about it.