Bad Night in the Commonweath.

Kentucky lost a heartbreaker, at home, to LSU last night on yet another "controversial non-call"... It's a pattern for UK. A couple of years ago, they lost a Final Four game against Wisconsin when three refs all missed a shot clock violation.   The shooter clearly had the ball in his hands with ZERO on the shot clock.  Refs said, "Sorry... that's not reviewable".   The rule was changed the next year.  Now, it IS reviewable.

Last night, LSU had 6 seconds to go the length of the floor to try to win.  A shot was thrown up, missed... but, the ball was dancing around the rim when an LSU big man tipped it in.  It was VERY CLEAR that the ball, AND his hand were well inside "the cylinder"... a very clear case of offensive interference.   The refs reviewed to see whether ball was released before the buzzer.   So, they SAW the interference.  But, told Cal,  "Basket interference is NOT reviewable".   Sorry, you lose. 

In the post game interview, Cal said...  "Kentucky is like Wilt Chamberlain, we cause rule changes".

In the greater picture, I'm actually GLAD that Kentucky lost.  As we all know, because of the BLOATED post-season tournament, the regular season in college basketball means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.   Kentucky was on a 10 game win streak.  It's actually BETTER for Cal to get that monkey off their backs before the tournament.  Now, he can beat on them some more in practice and use this as a motivating factor.    It's pretty unheard of in college football, for it to be BETTER to lose, than to win. (The only case I can remember is Bama losing to Auburn last year?)    But, that's because EVERY game matters.

What happened after than was even more sad.  Louisville was just wiping the floor with Duke for the first 75% of that game.   It was AWESOME.  I very nearly posted something here last night about Chris Mack being the greatest coach in the game today.   The Cards were up by 23 with about 10 to play.  Still up by 20 with 8 to play.  It was STILL 19 points with about 6 to play.   But, the wheels came TOTALLY OFF the wagon and Duke just stormed back to beat them.   It might have been the saddest thing I've seen on a basketball court.   Louisville couldn't do ANYTHING!   They couldn't inbound the ball.. couldn't pass, wouldn't shoot...   It was embarrassing.   During a critical time out with about 1:30 to play, Mack was just standing there.. saying nothing, while one of his assistants was talking to the players.   I couldn't believe it.

I mean.. really.. your team is DISINTEGRATING  in front of a wild home town crowd, and you've got NOTHING TO SAY?     It was awful.

Oh well... Mack has the Nation's #2 recruiting class coming in next year..  and that was all done BEFORE he started winning with this rag tag bunch of nothing.