- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,153,410
- Reaction score
- 59
One of the circulated broadcast clips from the thrilling NCAA Elite Eight battle between Duke and Connecticut on Sunday, March 29 featured the Duke radio broadcast reacting to Braylon Mullins' jaw-dropping three-pointer, then immediately wondering about a technical foul for exuberant UConn players spilling onto the floor.
Mullins hit an uncontested three-pointer from near midcourt, splashing through with 0.3 seconds on the clock after a turnover to give UConn a 73-72 win, sending the Huskies to the Final Four.
UConn players did indeed set foot on the floor before jumping back into their designated space during the celebration. Duke's last gasp after the inbound didn't lead to a potential winning shot.
Though college-basketball fans will no doubt rib Duke radio announcers for immediately resorting to a technicality, it should be noted that the WIAA girls basketball playoffs in Wisconsin hinged on a very similar call.
On Feb. 28 in a WIAA Division 5 regional final, top-seeded Pacelli Catholic of Stevens Point defeated Columbus Catholic of Marshfield, 74-73, in a game that pivoted on a technical foul called on the Columbus bench with 0.1 seconds left.
With 6.1 seconds left, Columbus Catholic freshman guard Elly Gardner split a pair of free throws to give Columbus Catholic a one-point lead at 73-72. Pacelli's Jaedyn Zdroik tried to go coast-to-coast thereafter, but her shot was way off the mark and landed out of bounds, striking the baseline with 0.1 seconds on the clock.
A Columbus Catholic player dashed on to the floor to greet her teammates in what she thought was victory. After a long discussion, officials elected to assess Columbus a technical foul for entering the floor before the game was over. Pacelli's Ella Van Order lined up for two free throws, made both and flipped the scoreboard.
[IMG alt="Pacelli High School's players celebrate their victory against Eleva-Strum High School during their WIAA Division 5 championship girls basketball game Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.
Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin."]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/21549acbb1e839cc0e2ad35efa0461c3[/IMG]
Pacelli went on to win the Division 5 state championship with four more playoff victories, including a 70-40 blowout in the title game over Eleva-Strum after a 49-40 win over Barneveld in the state semifinal.
“I'll be honest. I can't tell you it doesn't hurt. I feel like we got something taken from our girls that they worked really hard to get,” Columbus Catholic girls basketball coach Eric Wilson told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “But the one thing we preach in our program is that life isn't always fair, and this isn't just about basketball. This is about how you're going to handle life later on, and it's really unfortunate that, you know, we should be playing [in the sectional], but the reality is is we're not, and so we've got to figure out how to deal with it, and our kids have done a fairly good job with that.
“Just to get an understanding of dead-ball, and did it affect the game? I've talked to a lot of referees in the area that I respect, and I wanted to understand whether it had to be called. The WIAA tells me yes. Other officials tell me there's discretion there.
"I go back to one thing, and this is not sour grapes by any means, because we're not changing it. The game's over. But where I struggle is that, at this point, for our kids, the call affected the outcome of the game. And at that point, we talk about, did anybody gain an advantage? Referees talk about gaining an advantage all the time. There was no advantage gained by us, and it would have been different if we'd bumped the ref, or we'd have done something angrily towards another team, but we didn't. And I could have those feelings, but the reality is, the rule is the rule, unfortunately. I just have to keep going back to that, because otherwise you just keep going down the rabbit hole and never get past it.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should UConn have gotten technical? A Wisconsin high school player did
Continue reading...
Mullins hit an uncontested three-pointer from near midcourt, splashing through with 0.3 seconds on the clock after a turnover to give UConn a 73-72 win, sending the Huskies to the Final Four.
UConn players did indeed set foot on the floor before jumping back into their designated space during the celebration. Duke's last gasp after the inbound didn't lead to a potential winning shot.
Though college-basketball fans will no doubt rib Duke radio announcers for immediately resorting to a technicality, it should be noted that the WIAA girls basketball playoffs in Wisconsin hinged on a very similar call.
On Feb. 28 in a WIAA Division 5 regional final, top-seeded Pacelli Catholic of Stevens Point defeated Columbus Catholic of Marshfield, 74-73, in a game that pivoted on a technical foul called on the Columbus bench with 0.1 seconds left.
With 6.1 seconds left, Columbus Catholic freshman guard Elly Gardner split a pair of free throws to give Columbus Catholic a one-point lead at 73-72. Pacelli's Jaedyn Zdroik tried to go coast-to-coast thereafter, but her shot was way off the mark and landed out of bounds, striking the baseline with 0.1 seconds on the clock.
A Columbus Catholic player dashed on to the floor to greet her teammates in what she thought was victory. After a long discussion, officials elected to assess Columbus a technical foul for entering the floor before the game was over. Pacelli's Ella Van Order lined up for two free throws, made both and flipped the scoreboard.
[IMG alt="Pacelli High School's players celebrate their victory against Eleva-Strum High School during their WIAA Division 5 championship girls basketball game Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.
Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin."]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/21549acbb1e839cc0e2ad35efa0461c3[/IMG]
Pacelli went on to win the Division 5 state championship with four more playoff victories, including a 70-40 blowout in the title game over Eleva-Strum after a 49-40 win over Barneveld in the state semifinal.
“I'll be honest. I can't tell you it doesn't hurt. I feel like we got something taken from our girls that they worked really hard to get,” Columbus Catholic girls basketball coach Eric Wilson told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “But the one thing we preach in our program is that life isn't always fair, and this isn't just about basketball. This is about how you're going to handle life later on, and it's really unfortunate that, you know, we should be playing [in the sectional], but the reality is is we're not, and so we've got to figure out how to deal with it, and our kids have done a fairly good job with that.
“Just to get an understanding of dead-ball, and did it affect the game? I've talked to a lot of referees in the area that I respect, and I wanted to understand whether it had to be called. The WIAA tells me yes. Other officials tell me there's discretion there.
"I go back to one thing, and this is not sour grapes by any means, because we're not changing it. The game's over. But where I struggle is that, at this point, for our kids, the call affected the outcome of the game. And at that point, we talk about, did anybody gain an advantage? Referees talk about gaining an advantage all the time. There was no advantage gained by us, and it would have been different if we'd bumped the ref, or we'd have done something angrily towards another team, but we didn't. And I could have those feelings, but the reality is, the rule is the rule, unfortunately. I just have to keep going back to that, because otherwise you just keep going down the rabbit hole and never get past it.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should UConn have gotten technical? A Wisconsin high school player did
Continue reading...
