Duke had an incredible comeback Monday night, but they did have just a little bit of help from the officials.
The Blue Devils stormed back late in the second half to wrestle the national championship away from the University of Wisconsin, and for that that they should be applauded. However, a couple of controversial calls in the final moments can’t be sitting well with folks in Madison.
The first play came with Duke holding a one-point lead and a little more than three minutes to play in the game. Justise Winslow dribbled along the baseline before coming to a stop under the basket. He then appeared to step on the baseline.
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Jahlil Okafor scored on that play, as Winslow was able to find the Duke big man who scored after taking the pass from Winslow.
The more egregious call came a few moments later at the other end of the court.
Duke had stretched its lead to 63-58 when Wisconsin’s Brandon Koenig missed a close-range shot. He scrambled to get the ball, as did Winslow. The ball went off someone’s hand and out of bounds. The officials ruled Wisconsin was the last to touch the ball.
The play was reviewed, and for some reason, it wasn’t overturned. Because as you can see, the ball certainly appeared to touch Winslow’s finger last.
There also was a pretty large discrepancy in second-half foul shots. Duke got to the free-throw line 16 times in the second half compared to just three trips for Wisconsin. The Badgers became frustrated by Duke’s ability to jump into the defense and draw fouls. However, that difference in free throws can also partially be explained by some incredible second-half perimeter defense from the Blue Devils that kept anyone not named Frank Kaminsky out of the paint and off the free-throw line.
It’s probably also worth mentioning that Wisconsin was helped by the officials one round prior, as this controversial non-call helped them knock off undefeated Kentucky.
