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If only there were do-overs in life.

I'm guessing the three participants that played a role in last Monday night's controversial girls basketball game — Omaha Burke, Columbus and the officials — all might have acted differently if given a second chance.

Most know the story by now, but to review ...

Burke was wearing light pink uniforms in its home game against Columbus as part of a charity night for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Discoverers, who trailed by a point at halftime, brought the uniforms — technically illegal under National Federation rules because home-team uniforms must be white — to the attention of the officials.

The refs called a technical foul, Columbus sank the two free throws and went on to win the game.

The story has generated publicity not just in Nebraska but across the nation. There were more than 200 comments on Omaha.com, more than 5,000 comments on yahoo.com and a poll that drew more than 144,000 responses on msn.com.

In hindsight, the situation could have been defused if just one of these three things had occurred:

• Burke should have informed Columbus officials and the Nebraska School Activities Association of the uniforms ahead of time. Even if the NSAA ruled they weren't legal to wear that night, the uniforms could have been auctioned off after the game.

• Columbus shouldn't have brought up the uniforms at halftime. With the Discoverers trailing by a point, that gave the perception of sour grapes.

• The officials shouldn't have called the technical foul at halftime. If there was a foul to be called, it should have been called at the start of the game only.

There is both good and bad that have come out of this whole ordeal, with the winner being Make-A-Wish and the loser being Columbus High.

First the good.

Burke raised $2,600 for the charity that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions, and more money was generated after news spread of the game. I received several e-mails from people who were going to make donations to the Nebraska chapter of Make-A-Wish — Len in Florida, Terri in Arizona, Kevin in Maryland, Pat in Indiana, Kent in Colorado, among others — in the name of the Burke basketball team.

The World-Herald also donated $1,000 and encouraged anyone else who still wanted to donate to send a check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska.

Now the bad.

Columbus head coach Dave Licari and athletic director John Krogstrand have been widely criticized over this, and that's unfortunate. Again, I'm guessing the situation would have been handled differently if they had a second chance.

I've known Dave since covering prep sports the past 10 years. He runs a class program and is a good guy, which is evidenced by an email I received on his behalf.

It mentioned how Licari recruited an autistic student three years ago to be the team manager. The email, sent by the boy's father, told how much that meant to his son and how thankful the family was that Licari had given him that chance.

Emails also were received in support of Krogstrand, who has coordinated charity fundraisers at Columbus High. He also took my call the day after the game to explain his side of the story.

The athletic director said he arrived late to the game and that it was his suggestion — not Licari's — to get a ruling from the officials at halftime about the pink uniforms. The officials then elected to assess the technical foul, and the rest is history.

Another email from Columbus pointed out the city donates more food (in pounds) to its local food pantry than any city in the state and that the community holds one of Nebraska's most successful Relay for Life chapters.

In short, Columbus is not a bad place. These aren't bad people. Unfortunately, they got caught up in something last Monday night that became far bigger than anyone could have imagined.

Columbus Public Schools superintendent Troy Loeffelholz said last week that the high school principals at Burke and Columbus are looking to work together toward a possible joint fund-raiser in the future.

That sounds like a great idea, and I want to be there when it happens.

Ratings update: Fremont drops from fifth to ninth in the Nebraska Top 10 after a road loss against Lincoln Northeast. The Rockets, who also defeated Millard North last week, enter the Top 10 at No. 7.

The six No. 1 teams — Omaha Central, Seward, Minden, Homer, Hitchcock County and Lindsay Holy Family — remain on top.

Statistics needed: Coaches of teams in Class A, Class B and the Omaha-area are reminded to submit their updated statistics by Tuesday. They may be emailed to mike.patterson@owh.com or faxed to 402-444-1238.

Hard-luck Mustangs: Millard North played three home games last week against ranked opponents, and lost all three in the final five seconds.

Brianna Craig sank a layup with two seconds left Monday night in Lincoln Northeast's 47-45 win, Peyton Hagen made a layup with one second remaining Friday night in Bellevue East's 46-45 victory and Chelsea Mason sank two free throws with five seconds left Saturday night in Bellevue West's 54-53 win.

Coach Scott Persigehl and his No. 10 Mustangs hope for better luck on the road Friday night against No. 5 Millard West.

Cardinals are rolling: One of the hottest teams in Class B is Omaha Duchesne, which was 4-11 in mid-January. The Cardinals have rattled off six wins in a row and are just one game under .500 with two home games left — Tuesday against Omaha Gross and Thursday against Ralston.

Top games this week:

Class A—Tuesday: Lincoln Southeast at Lincoln Northeast, 7:30. Friday: Bellevue East at Omaha Central, 5:30; Millard North at Millard West, 5:30. Saturday: Papillion-La Vista South at Bellevue West, 5:30.

Class B—Tuesday: Waverly at Crete. Friday: Gretna at Norris, Crete at Seward. Saturday: Beatrice at Waverly.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

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