[BostonCard]

You can play the game as if it were the platonic ideal of how basketball ought to be called based on the rules of the game as they are printed in the rulebook or you can play the game as it is called in real life, where refs are human, calls get missed, and, especially late in a tight game, refs are less likely to call fouls because of a well-described bias towards ostensibly not letting the game be decided by the refs.  Yes, I totally get that a decision not to call a foul is just as much of the refs influencing the game as the refs blowing a whistle, but this is a well-known human bias.

The question is not whether the play was a foul according to the rulebook; I think we all agree it was.  The question is whether that is a foul that refs will typically call, and I don't think so.  Moreover, this was not a tightly called game; the refs were letting fouls go all game long, including some uncalled fouls against Baylor.  There are two things that I think people can legitimately be upset over.  First is if the reffing is consistently benefiting one team or another, and I thought, as a whole, it was pretty fair.  Second is if the reffing is inconsistent and a play that is called one way early in the game is not called later in the game.  Again, by and large, I thought the refs were letting a lot fly all game long.

So, yes, it was a blown call.  But no, it should not have been a surprise that it was a blown call.

BC

[BostonCard]

You can play the game as if it were the platonic ideal of how basketball ought to be called based on the rules of the game as they are printed in the rulebook or you can play the game as it is called in real life, where refs are human, calls get missed, and, especially late in a tight game, refs are less likely to call fouls because of a well-described bias towards ostensibly not letting the game be decided by the refs.  Yes, I totally get that a decision not to call a foul is just as much of the refs influencing the game as the refs blowing a whistle, but this is a well-known human bias.

The question is not whether the play was a foul according to the rulebook; I think we all agree it was.  The question is whether that is a foul that refs will typically call, and I don't think so.  Moreover, this was not a tightly called game; the refs were letting fouls go all game long, including some uncalled fouls against Baylor.  There are two things that I think people can legitimately be upset over.  First is if the reffing is consistently benefiting one team or another, and I thought, as a whole, it was pretty fair.  Second is if the reffing is inconsistent and a play that is called one way early in the game is not called later in the game.  Again, by and large, I thought the refs were letting a lot fly all game long.

So, yes, it was a blown call.  But no, it should not have been a surprise that it was a blown call.

BC