Official counts to four, then calls a five second violation; Texas loses

With the Longhorns up two with under 10 seconds to play, Texas was attempting to inbound the ball. Watch as the official hands the ball to the Texas player and counts to four. He starts his five count when the Texas player indicates a timeout, but the ref instead calls a five second violation. Texas led by two at the time, but Arizona had a three-point play to take the lead and win the game.

According to the CBS studio crew, the rule states that you can’t call a timeout after four seconds, but after a quick search, I couldn’t find anything regarding this situation in the NCAA rulebook. (Let me know if you can.) Here’s what I found:

Section 12. Timeouts Not Granted

Art. 1. No timeouts shall be granted:

a. To the opponents of the throw-in team after the throw-in starts.

b. During an interrupted dribble.

c. To a player or coach when an airborne player’s momentum is

carrying him/her out of bounds or into the backcourt.

d. Unless there is player control by the requesting team. Exception:

Rule 5-12.1.c.

e. Until after the jump ball that begins the game and the conditions as

described in Rule 5-10 are in effect.

Again, I can’t find anything about the four second rule.

I clocked this on my stopwatch three times and came up with 4.2-4.5 seconds each time when starting with the beginning of his first arm swing. I’m not sure why you can’t call a timeout after four seconds, but supposedly that’s the rule.

Update: Seth Davis clears it up for us…

So it’s official, Texas got jobbed.