Kansas State lost a close game to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night but, hey, one group of Wildcats was spotted a 1-0 lead before tipoff. How did that happen? Kansas State was assessed a technical foul during warmups.
Kansas State guard Brian Rohleder, a sophomore walk-on, threw down a dunk during warmups and grabbed the rim. A strange NCAA rule prohibits teams from dunking less than 20 minutes before the start of the game, and Kansas State was slapped with an administrative technical. Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison knocked down one of two free throws before the game even started.
As if the rule isn’t ridiculous enough, Kansas State would have avoided the technical foul if Rohleder dunked three seconds sooner. The first player you see dunk in the GIF above did not break the rules.
Official word on K-State tech: You can't dunk once the pregame clocks goes below 20:00. Walk-on Brian Rohleder dunked at 19:58. Unreal.
— Jason King (@JasonKingBR) March 22, 2014
Between the call against Kansas State and that technical Cincinnati was given on Thursday, we have seen some incredibly bizarre rules come into play during the tournament. Let’s just hope something like this doesn’t end up affecting the outcome of a game.
GIF via @cjzero
