Duke is not the bet team in college basketball. They are and have been completely overrated this year. However, as Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post calls the NCAA the Cartel, they made sure that they would have them in the Final Four and now they are playing in the national championship game. I know in basketball you have to hit shots, but there are still points in a game where the officials play a role in helping the other team. For as long as I have remembered Duke has been one of college basketball's biggest benefactors of calls.
How Do They Miss These Things
15 years ago Christian Laettner stepped on a Kentucky players chest right in front of the ref, and no foul was called. Christian should have been kicked out of the game, but instead he hit the last second shot and got Duke their second title. In last night's game, DeSean Butler got his knee tore up by Zoubek and while he is lying in pain with tears in his eyes, Zoubek is celebrating and the official calls a charge. This is where the Cartel and TV execs should be ashamed of themselves. What makes college sports so great is the purity of it. There are no big time shoe deals or huge advertising deals for the students. They are playing because they love the sport or to prepare themselves for a future in sports. The Cartel and the execs profit from these kids and sometimes you feel manipulate the sport to get the results the feel will work. This is especially true with NCAA tournament. You feel like when a lower seed win a phone call is made to the refs to make sure they turn a blind eye to some obvious calls. It happened last Sunday when Duke played Baylor. Scheyer threw his elbows around and Baylor player pushed another Duke player but on Baylor got called for the technical foul, which led to another Duke run. Sue West Virginia got to the free throw line last night more than Duke, but there were numerous illegal screens and over the backs by the Blue Devils that helped them outscore WVU by more than 15 in second chance points. No way could you have WVU and Butler in the champions game. Hillbilly U vs Hickory High, that is a network nightmare.
TV Role
CBS has made sure they have had star power since 2006 when George Mason crashed the Final Four and it was the lowest rated Final Four ever. No one wanted to see a "true" Cinderella go that far. In the four years previous there has been more one seeds in the Final Four than in previous years, until this year. Butler stands as the only team left to beat Duke. CBS will tout it as David vs Goliath. At least in that fight David had God on his side and no one else working against him. The only way Butler will win is if they pull a Villanova and shoot 70 percent from the field like they did against Georgetown. No one wants them to win from the Cartel to TV execs. They want their true blue blood and money making schools to stay on top.
I'm not mad that my pick lost in the Final Four, I'm just sick of Duke and the treatment they get and it has irritated me since I was a child. There was heartbreak in 90 when they beat that great UNLV team and glee when UConn destroyed Duke's best team in 2001. Maybe Butler can bring the anti-Duke Nation more happiness with a shocking win tomorrow night. What am I thinking, those scripts are only written in Hollywood and TV would never manipulate real life.
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