North Carolina Lays A Few Less Bricks for Championship

To say the title game between the ‘Heels and ‘Zags was a letdown is an understatement. When the WINNING team shoots 4-27 from three, and barely over 50% from the free throw stripe, you know you won’t have any hesitation hitting the “Are You Sure” button on the TiVO delete.

The common refrain was the referees “ruined” the game, by dramatically changing how they called fouls in the second half. Many declared it “unwatchable” but we all know that’s a lie. I personally feel that fouls are fouls, and should be called. And in the 2nd half, the two big teams started really bumping uglies.

What is most galling, is the clear failure of replay to fix the out-of-bounds non-call on Kennedy Meeks in the final minute. Once again, those who worship the false god of replay were properly humiliated by yet another high profile failure.

If a cumbersome system of standing around a monitor to make sure a mistaken out of bounds call doesn’t decide a game can’t catch and fix that, then it’s worthless. If you want to install airbags in sporting events, then they better goddamn fire when you run into a tree.

Anyway, now the real drama is on: will the NCAA’s notice of allegations end up having this banner come down in a few years at the Dean Dome? I doubt it, but it would certainly be deserved. North Carolina is one of the dirtiest college programs in America, and yet they curiously don’t get nearly the hate and hysteria of Miami, or Ohio State, or any other school that cheats like crazy.

For nearly 20 years UNC shuttled football and basketball players through joke classes, then in some cases pushed them out the door unable to read at a high school level. Conveniently the NCAA has said that they aren’t in the business of determining whether classes are fraudulent. But boy, if a kid gets a free breakfast from a booster… look out.

Tough break for Gonzaga. The little school that could, almost did. I’d like to say they’ll have another chance given the strength of Mark Few’s program, and the weakness of their conference. But getting to that mountaintop is hard, and rare.

Pretty soon, UNC’s slap on the wrist will be official, and the parade of NBA lottery picks will return. Look at the list of NCAA winners on wikipedia. The bluebloods win this thing in the end. One way or another.