Like It is

Long odds, officials wear down underHogs

Arkansas' bench watches the action during the final minutes against North Carolina Sunday March 19, 2017 during the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The Tar Heels beat the Razorbacks 72-65 eliminating them from the tournament.
Arkansas' bench watches the action during the final minutes against North Carolina Sunday March 19, 2017 during the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The Tar Heels beat the Razorbacks 72-65 eliminating them from the tournament.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- They were a really nice couple, and, by the time South Carolina beat Duke late Sunday night, wished they had stayed at the arena to help yell for the Gamecocks.

They were decked out in North Carolina blue. She attended school there, studied journalism for two years before switching to nursing. He is such a die-hard Tar Heel he is 99 percent sure their NCAA Tourney journey has just begun.

It was an hour into the off-and-on conversation, and definitely before South Carolina went on a run that allowed it to eliminate second-seeded Duke, before the discussion turned to officiating in the Arkansas-North Carolina game.

The North Carolina couple had already admitted the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville had surprised them with their tenacious play and had scared them to death, so it seemed we had seen the same game.

"Maybe," he said when the topic turned to officiating, "but bad calls happen in every game."

End of discussion about the officiating in the Arkansas-North Carolina game.

And although he was right, there are bad calls in every game, it seems every year in the NCAA Tournament officials determine the outcome of a game, at least once, and that it is always on the side of the higher-ranked team.

Usually it happens on the first weekend.

It was really interesting, though, to watch the last 10 minutes of the South Carolina-Duke game when Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest men's D-1 coach ever, started trying to get the attention of the officials.

Forever, it seems Coach K has a scowl and words that come through his clinched lips seem to garner favor with the officials. Sunday night he was ignored, and the thought came and went that the officials in the second game and the ones in Hogs and Heels game shared a dressing room.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Maybe, if the officials from the first game were made aware that they had not graded well, the crew for the second game would have heard it and decided they'd rather survive and advance. It was just a thought.

No doubt part of the problem on the opening weekend is that there are 48 games and the officiating crews have to take some guys who aren't really worthy of working in the NCAA Tournament.

By now the grades are in and the subpar officials have been weeded out.

By now the furor has probably died down.

North Carolina shooting 25 free throws to Arkansas' 8 was big news Sunday. It was huge on social media Sunday night.

By the first tipoff of the Sweet 16 on Thursday -- and hopefully the officials who worked the Hogs and Heels are comfortably at home -- it will be forgotten by everyone not from Arkansas.

Most likely the Razorbacks Nation won't forget the disappointment for a very long time because the Razorbacks played their best game of the season.

They didn't back down. They took shot after shot and stayed on their feet.

Those young men need to be remembered for how they played, even against outrageous odds.

About an hour after the game Dusty Hannahs tweeted out they had given it their all and he was proud to be a Hog and thanks for the great ride.

He's not the only one with that attitude. When you consider this was a team without a true point guard, that all the guards have been shooters and scorers for as long as they've played, Coach Mike Anderson did a magnificent job of keeping everyone on the same page as much as he did.

Now he loses three seniors who became the foundation of this team, but seven others got tournament experience and held their own when they were on the court.

So, no, the officiating won't be forgotten, but it shouldn't overshadow the memory of the effort the fighting Razorbacks gave against all odds.

Sports on 03/21/2017

Upcoming Events