Alex Unger

It's rare that sports fans agree on anything. But everyone seems to be in agreement today: Duke got robbed this weekend. Dan Hurley and UConn have been flagrantly ignoring the rules for the entirety of the NCAA Tournament. Sunday was no exception. There were still 0.4 seconds on the clock. The game was live. Dan Hurley walked toward a referee on the sideline. He got in the official’s face. Then he pressed his forehead directly into the ref’s forehead. SI called it a “menacing forehead tap.” No technical foul was called. If it had been, Duke shoots two free throws. Down one. With an 86% free throw shooter at the line. Here's what actually happened and why this should be a much bigger story than it is. Braylon Mullins hit a 35-foot three to give UConn a 73-72 lead with 0.4 seconds left. It was the shot of the tournament. Nobody is disputing that. But in the seconds after the shot, Hurley walked toward a referee, got in his face, and pressed his forehead directly into the official's forehead. Sports Illustrated described it as a "menacing forehead tap." The clock still showed 0.4 seconds. The game was not over. A technical foul on a head coach for making contact with an official during a live ball is one of the easiest calls in basketball. There is no gray area. Contact with a game official is a technical. If it's called, Duke's Isaiah Evans steps to the free throw line, trailing 73-72. He shot 86% from the stripe this season. Makes both? Duke wins 74-73. Makes one? Overtime. That wasn't the only violation. When Mullins' shot went in, UConn bench players ran onto the court to celebrate before the game was over. They caught themselves and ran back, but they had already entered the playing area during a live ball. Duke's radio announcers immediately called for a technical. That wasn't called either. Two separate technical foul violations. Zero calls. In the span of 0.4 seconds. And here's what makes the Hurley part impossible to ignore. Three weeks ago, on March 7, Hurley was ejected from UConn's game at Marquette in the final second for getting in a referee's face. He was chest-to-shoulder with the official. Double technical. Ejected. The Big East fined him $25,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct. In the Sweet 16 against Michigan State on March 27, Hurley challenged an out-of-bounds call, got it overturned, and then sarcastically offered his glasses to the ref who got it wrong. Lip readers caught him asking about Lasik. Nothing was called. Two days later against Duke, Hurley was officially "warned" during the game for leaving his coach's box. Told to stay put. Then after the buzzer beater, he went forehead-to-forehead with a ref. Ejected and fined $25,000 at Marquette. Taunted a ref to his face at Michigan State with no consequences. Warned during the Duke game for leaving his coach's box. Then physical contact with a referee in the biggest moment of the tournament. The full breakdown of every missed call and what would have happened if any of them were made is here: itsgame7.com/news/duke-got-… UConn came back from 19 down. Mullins hit one of the greatest shots in tournament history. That part was earned. But two technical foul violations in 0.4 seconds, and neither one called, on a coach who was ejected for the same thing three weeks ago? That's not intensity. That's a pattern. And last night, it changed the outcome of a game.

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