I'm curious about the play that the reviewed and called a foul on Joe T. Do you know if the refs were right on that one? If not, maybe it's a question you can ask around on to get an explanation.
I havent heard anything more about this so I looked it up in the rule book because that was the first time that I had ever seen a foul reversed after video review. This is what I found:
This is all under Rule 11 - Instant Replay
Section 1 - Art 4
Art. 4. The officials shall not use such available equipment for judgment calls such as:
a. Determine whether a foul occurred (Exceptions: A flagrant foul.)
b. Determine whether basket interference or goaltending occurred
c. Determine whether a violation occurred except in Rules 11-2.1.e and 11-3.1.a.2.
(c. just refers so shot clock and game clock situations)
So that explicitly says that a referee cannot use instant replay to determine if a foul occurred or not. However,
d. Fouls
1. After a call has been made, determine if a flagrant personal foul or a flagrant 2 contact technical foul or a contact dead ball technical foul occurred. When it is determined that a flagrant personal or flagrant 2 contact technical foul did not occur but a contact dead ball technical foul or common foul did occur, those fouls shall be penalized accordingly. However, no other infractions may be penalized. When the review discloses, by indisputable evidence, that there was no foul, the foul call shall be reversed with no foul charged.
What we know is that originally the referee blew the whistle and a foul was called on Lamar Stevens of PSU and of course the clock stopped. The referee then used instant replay monitors to determine if a flagrant foul was committed only to then reverse the call to a common foul on Joe Toussaint.
My interpretation of the rule and how it pertains to the above situation, is that the rule d.1 does not state specifically to the player that the foul was called on. While I do think it is inferred that the replay will focus on the original player that committed the foul and whether it was flagrant by that player, it is not stated that way. Thus, by the way the rule is written, the referees can voluntarily use video replay to determine if a flagrant foul was committed by any player during the live ball period and then assess common fouls or technical fouls as supported by indisputable video evidence as they see fit.
So do I think it was the right call? no. Do I think they should have been able to reverse the call? no. But do I think they were within the rules to reverse the call and assess the foul on Joe T? yes. Because as it is written, once a referee uses the excuse of determining if a foul was flagrant or not, which is within their right, they can totally re-officiate the play as it pertains to fouls and really anywhere on the court.