Max wrote:

That was a horrible "jump ball" call.  Horrible, horrible, horrible.  That ref needs to be sanctioned.

What did you expect, Max? There's no way Louisville wasn't going to make it to the final.
 

Tangential to the point, what shoe company sponsors Wichita St.?

Do you suppose NCAA could ever get to the point where Addidas could insist one of their teams be in the final game?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--kevin-ware-t-shirt-debacle-another-example-of-why-ncaa-is-under-attack-210708122.html
 

Meh.  If Baker had possession then he should have been called for traveling. He took at least 4 steps trying to get the ball away from Hancock (and threw a shoulder in the process).  You're also assuming a lot of things would have happened if the referee had let it go. Wichita State had under 7 seconds off of a loose ball to score 3 points. Nothing about the way they played in the last 12 minutes suggested a likelihood of success. 

I thought the charge call on Syracuse at the end of the Michigan/Syracuse game was a worse call, and with Syracuse down only 1 and with momentum at the time, that call had a much greater effect on the final result. 

I'm all in favor of not calling the jump ball, but go back and watch the video. Baker catches the ball. He's out of control, so he puts the ball on the floor to avoid a traveling call. Then he picks it up which is when Hancock grabs the ball. Baker steps forward with his right foot, making his left foot the pivot. He then pulls away to his left (the picture above) and in the process, lifts his left foot. That's a travel. He then brings his left foot down and lifts it again for good measure.  

There were 5 possible options for the referee:

- call the jump ball (Wichita loses)
- call a foul on Baker for the shoulder (Wichita loses)
- call Baker for traveling (Wichita loses)
- call Hancock for a reach in foul (Wichita goes to the line to shoot 2 while down 3 with 6 seconds left) 
- do nothing Wichita (6-20 from 3 pt range for the game) gets a chance to hurl a desperation 3 at the buzzer to try to tie (not win). 

Again, I'm in favor of letting them play, but Wichita St. gave that game away. The refs didn't take it from them. And to be clear, I couldn't care less. I don't particularly like Rick Pitino, so it wouldn't have bothered me if Wichita had won the game.