Funny the way the rest of the national media talked about this story four days ago. Perhaps that's why Dodd had to embellish to attract readers.
The facts of the end of this game have been hashed out repeatedly since Saturday evening, with A&M fans (coupled with UCLA haters) repeatedly posting the picture of Sloan's final drive:
http://deadspin.com/371240/uclas-non+foul-and-huggy-bear-sober-in-the-sw
eet-16
UCLA fans counter by (mostly) conceding that a foul could have been called on that play, but that the precedent the refs had set in this game was to allow 'mugging' to go on at will. They offer proof in pictures as well:
http://larrybrownsports.com/college-basketball/whining-ucla
-noncalls/#more-1409
At the end of the day, UCLA won this game and the entire reason is not in the final 'no-call' as Dodd would have you believe. It is mostly a result of the fact that over the from 8:44 to 1:37 left in the game (that's about 18% of the game):
UCLA - 4/4 from the field, 3/4 FTs
A&M - 0/9 from the field, 1/4 FTs
An A&M blogger recaps this crucial period of the game here:
http://aggiesportsblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/with-844-left-in-game-w
e-were-up-8-on-1.html
This was a hard fought game, with both teams exhibiting streaks of hot and cold (notably A&M hot to start the 2nd half, and UCLA ice cold, followed by a clear reversal in the last 9 minutes of the game). I think it's time to move on to the next round Dodd (as most of the country has done), as UCLA does have a challenging game Thursday night, and another to follow if they are able to overcome the Western Kentucky. No team has 'an easy path to the Final Four' as is being over-hyped about different brackets by different factions. Every team in the Sweet 16 (and in the rounds preceding it, for that matter) is a formidable opponent that no one would ever regard lightly.
Happy Sweet 16 watching all, I know it's going to be entertaining!
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