6 on 5?

Since when was that fair?

In Thursday night's Sun Belt conference match between Louisiana Lafayette and Western Kentucky, the Ragin' Cajuns had a little extra man-power on the floor helping them get a game-winning layup on their last possession. In fact, they had an extra man.

So, who's to blame? Is it the officials, coaches, players? What about the scorekeeper that had to put in the books that six players checking into the game?

The players. It's got to be hard not to notice that there's an extra man on the court. I get that there is a lot of action, constant motion and it might not be as easy as I think to spot the additional player. It seems to me though that when there's a man on each player, and someone's the odd man out, there's an issue.

The coaches. Which coach should've said something? Was it Hilltoppers head man Ken McDonald's job to keep up with this? Surely any coach should. Or was it the Ragin' Cajuns' Bob Marlin who should've alerted officials to the error? There are a lot of questions to be asked but there's no question McDonald took the brunt of this one as he was fired the day after this incident occurred. Sure, Western Kentucky had started 5-11, but how much did this play into his firing? Was it just bad timing? Would 6-10 have been any better for him had the Hilltoppers managed to get the win?

The officials. They definitely hold a serious amount of the blame. Isn't it their job after all to keep track of the game, including how many players are on the court? Seems like out of all their responsibilities, that might be one of the easier ones. I'm not doubting the crew or saying they don't do a respectable job, but that's almost an inexcusable error. The Sun Belt is discussing suspending the three officials responsible for calling this game, but that still doesn't change the outcome in the record book. Or give McDonald his job back.

I doubt this is something that happens very often, especially in the manner that it did this time with no one noticing and it deciding the outcome of the game in the final seconds.

The irony of the situation?

"This probably happens more than we realize," Wright Waters, retiring Sun Belt commissioner, said.

Really Waters? Does it?