Cynical Craig here

Give Duke credit. But that game was officiated poorly. With about 4 mins left, Winslow steps out of bounds right in front of the ref (yes, that ref that helped the Devils all game long) yet the ref doesn’t call it. The non-call leads to a basket and-one for Okafor.

Duke’s physical defense in the second half netted them 6 fouls. Wisconsin had 10 fouls by the 8 minute mark!!!

Duke is a much bigger draw, will sell more T-Shirts, merchandise, and create bigger TV ratings than Wisconsin now and forever. Then next Winter, we’ll all go back to the trough for more hoping that the best team will win. And people like me and Hawks will skeptically wonder how level the playing field of this multi-billion dollar business really is.

you beat me to the punch. The refs called the 2nd half entirely in Duke’s favor. Very poorly concealed. Wisconsin got screwed.

There was no joy in watching this one, reminded me of a WCC game against Gonzaga.

Gee Craig, you’re sounding like Jim Hawks. Maybe they got WCC refs tonight who thought the blue looked too much like Gonzaga. :wink: LOL

Just now reading your post, not cynical at all, and completely spot on.

I tried to explain a little bit of how Coach K is the master at setting the stage for his team to have the advantage when it matters and he did it again tonight. See my post in the Kentucky thread…

The foul disparity in the second half was a complete sham and his way of abusing the officials and compelling them to set his team up for the win.

The officiating was terribly one sided but that is what Duke and K wanted. It is how they won the game.

I watched the championship for the first time in 20 years… I dislike College Basketball for the very reasons you stated.

In the first half Wisconsin had 2 fouls, even Coach K said at half time that they could not get the Wisconsin players to foul… so he harps on the refs and guess what? Wisconsin gets 10 fouls in the first ten minutes…

As an official, I watched the game and told my wife “this is why I hate watching college ball (pro’s are not much better), the officiating is NOT being called consistent.”

four things I noticed:

  1. missed call on the foot being out bounds…
  2. the “Obvious” last touch by Winslow
  3. When had the rules changed that an offensive player can bang into a defensive player (moving or not) and it is called “blocking”?
  4. Wisconsin coached called it hand checking… It was NOT hand checking, it was grabbing, wrapping around and holding… Dam I thought I was watching a football game for a minute.

First I didn’t fall asleep in this game but with one minute left I turned off the tv. Boring last stretch of the game did it. Thought Wisconsin got it when they had 9 pts lead and the ref let Duke do whatever they want. When is coach K going to retired?

Another darling of Duke just like Zags

I’m glad others saw what I did. I agree with Floyd on his point #3. Several times, a Duke player banged into a Wisconsin defender and the foul was called on the defense. What is the defense supposed to do??? Get out of the way!? It’s frustrating to watch. My 13 yr old son is even a bit disenchanted with the basketball business. He said, “I don’t care much about the NCAA Championship. My fantasy baseball team is way more important to me.”