San Diego State is headed to the Final Four after defeating Creighton 57-56 earlier today.
The game was decided largely by a foul that was called with 1.2 seconds to play.
The Aztecs made a free throw to win the game following the controversial foul call.
Did the officials get it right?
This controversial foul on Creighton helped San Diego State (+125 ML) move on to their FIRST Final Four in program history
Did the officials get the call correct? pic.twitter.com/dQ22sp9Pyg
— Ballislife Bets (@BallislifeBets) March 26, 2023
I’m going to say that “technically” it probably was a foul, but I hate that it was called in that particular situation.
As Mike DeCourcy says, it was a soft call:
It might not be technically correct, because Nembhard did have his left forearm and then hand on the right side of Trammell’s waist as the veteran Aztecs guard attempted to launch a game-winning pull-up jumper with the score tied and everyone at the KFC Yum! Center torn between the approaching divergence of agony and ecstasy.
It would be right, though, because what occurred did not appear to be called a foul for the other 99 percent of the NCAA Tournament South Region final Sunday afternoon. It was a game played between two extraordinary defensive teams that were permitted to expend as much physicality as they wished with little concern about personals being charged. Only 17 free throws were attempted in 40 minutes of basketball, including those two near the very end.
Someone was going to lose this ferocious, phenomenal game.
And one could say the Aztecs were the deserving winner, because they did achieve at least the goal of being the team in command of the ball as the final seconds dwindled. And they did get a single free throw from Trammel that dropped directly through the net after the first of his two attempts rolled ominously off the rim and to the right, daring him to send San Diego State to the Final Four and not to overtime by connecting on the second.
