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Duke won the national championship last night thanks to a friendly whistle, a terrible review by terrible referees, and, frankly, by being the marginally better team. The Blue Devils clamped down on defense when they needed to and Wisconsin suffered through a Xavier-like offensive drought at the worst possible time. With that, the season was over and the offseason was ushered. We'll be here all summer long to keep you updated on what is going on all over basketball.
Dave Bliss, former Baylor Bears coach, hired as coach at NAIA's Southwestern Christian University
We mentioned this on social media yesterday, but it deserves a repeat. Bliss covered for Carlton Dotson after he murdered and dismembered teammate Patrick Dennehy (for whom Bliss was making tuition payments), and then tried to paint Dennehy as a drug dealer. Good hire, Southwestern, this is just the guy to mold your young men.
Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN
Why not? Well, because it's absurd. Still, Xavier is a #7 seed here and looking at a second round matchup with the defending national champs. I'll go out on a limb and say that Xavier will have a better seed than that when it actually matters 11 months from now.
NCAA championship game earns best overnight TV rating in 18 years
Too bad the game is so fundamentally flawed, or else the ratings wouldn't be approaching the best they've ever been. People watch college basketball because, despite the wailing of NBA pundits, it's still a great product.
Did the refs get it wrong on crucial out-of-bounds review in Duke-Wisconsin? - SportsNation - ESPN
Yes, yes they did. If the fact that the national championship was marred by a call that was reviewed and still missed was surprising to you, you've not been paying attention this year. Officials have verged on the criminally incompetent all year, and they did it again on the grand stage. I'm not saying that this would have changed the outcome of the game, but it might have. Missing a live action call is one thing, missing one that is clear after looking it on the monitor deserves punishment.