‘And the crowd goes wild’ … five minutes later, anyway

People here and in Boise probably will be arguing about Deville Smith’s basket/no basket at the end of Saturday’s UNLV vs. Boise State basketball game until the field turf turns green up there.

What people can’t argue is that these new college basketball rules/instant replay have killed the spontaneous thrill of sinking a buzzer-beating basket — or the spontaneous disappointment of having one waved off — just after it happens.

Remember when you were a kid, and you shot baskets in the schoolyard, and you would count down the seconds ” … three … two … one …” and then you would launch a long one and make a weird buzzer sound?

After doing this a bunch of times, that long one finally would go swish! And then you would make these crowd-goes-wild noises, and you didn’t care if passersby heard you.

Well, in today’s game, first there would be a long meeting among the officials, and replays from every angle, and Brent Musburger might even get involved with his monitor. People would stand around by the scorer’s table.

Even if they ruled your shot was good, the crowd wouldn’t go wild until five minutes after you made it.

I suppose the important thing is to get it right. But buzzer-beating baskets sure aren’t as cool as they used to be.