College Basketball: Don't Defend Chris Douglas-Roberts or Billy Packer

There is a call, rather a no call, in the National Title game last night that will go unmentioned today because Kansas won it all.

Let’s not forget what happened and what Billy Packer had to say concerning it.

Chris Douglas-Roberts did his part to help Memphis choke-away the game by missing two crucial free throws late in the fourth quarter.

Following the misses, Memphis got the ball, and Douglas-Roberts got his hands on it as the play was whistled dead.

Douglas-Roberts proceeded to slam the ball down on the court in frustration.

The ball bounced high up into the air, and the first immediate thought that popped up into my mind was that is a technical foul.

There is no question in my mind that what Douglas-Roberts did was uncalled for.

I don't really care if there was one million dollars on the line.  You absolutely cannot swallow your whistle if you are officiating the game.

There is no excuse for what he did.

It doesn't matter if he was mad at himself or something else.  He still did it, and it was uncalled for.

It has a direct impact on the outcome of the game, but those are the rules.

If you start saying, "Hmm, well he wasn't upset at anyone but himself for missing those shots," then you are essentially opening up the Pandora’s Box of excuses.

Billy Packer was the biggest culprit of this.

"Oh yeah, great call by the officials, don't let that impact the game."

One of the biggest idiot statements for any sport during the playoffs is "The officials shouldn't impact the outcome of the game."

In a bad way, yes.

But why not make a call that should be called?

I hate people like Packer who say bogus stuff like this.

What Douglas-Roberts did deserved a technical, and I'm shocked the officials in that game didn't call it.

When something is blatant enough, you better call it, and that purposeful slamming of the basketball, was blatant enough.

Intent doesn't count.

Just because someone fouls a guy on a lay-up, doesn't mean he is intending to. 

This isn't street ball where we make it up as we go along and explain ourselves.

It's the biggest college basketball game of the year.

So as they say, "Them the Rules." You either follow them, or pay the price.

Douglas-Roberts didn't follow them, and he didn't pay the price.

Fortunately, Kansas took home the crown, so all in all, the point is mute.

Don't think for one second that made Kansas lost.  This no-call would have been the center of the universe.

I'm almost sure it has front page news, ESPN lead story, and talk show fuel written all over it.