I guess I should post one, well late, about the Tournament: Services Rendered.

I had meant to do this post in a far more timely manner, but I guess I can finally get around to it this morning...

I said it back in the fight-incident between Marquette and Seton Hall in the Big East semifinals -- that I really felt the officiating in college basketball was directing the tournament in a certain direction.

Now, to be fair, I did NOT think Virginia was that "certain direction".  I was certain they were looking Duke-North Carolina Round 4.

And the ratings proved it out:  A semifinal thriller with Auburn was the lowest-rated Final Four CBS game since 2008, and their National Championship win was the least-watched CBS National Championship game in at least a decade.  (Sports Media Watch -- only the cable title games were less for the final game of the tournament.)

But it was clear that the entire tournament had a flavor that it was being directed toward a certain outcome:

• National Semifinal:  Not only is there a questionable foul on Samir Doughty, resulting in three Virginia freethrows, but the referees completely miss a late double-dribble which would've resulted in Auburn winning!
• Sweet 16:  Carsen Edwards tries to win the game for Purdue in regulation, misses a 3 which should've given Tennessee a win, except his outstretched leg is hip-checked by Lamonte Turner, and the resulting two made freethrows out of the three send us to overtime where Turner's Tennessee team is defeated.
• Second Round:  About the only real marquee game of the second round, Duke and UCF fumble through a myriad of missed and close calls (Duke fans will claim UCF should never have gotten a shot clock reset on a key basket), but when Zion Richardson plows over UCF, it's called the fifth and final foul on UCF's 7' 8" Tacko Fall, and Duke wins with little further incident.

And that's just three of a number of bad calls.

But then Virginia gets two calls in the National Championship game against Texas Tech which aids in sealing the deal:

One was a call, Virginia up two in the overtime, and once again, like the Big Ten Championship Game, the replay call basically inverts what was a natural call on the court on a ball going out of bounds.  And ignoring the fact that the only reason it occurred in the first place was a foul on Virginia!

So those two calls give Virginia the ball, instead of a 90+% free throw shooter a chance to tie the game.

The cynic against conspiracy theories would then ask:  Why Virginia?

Easy.  Services rendered.

Whether or not last year's 20-point loss to #16 Maryland-Baltimore County had anything bad on it (and I'd think it very possible, but as an old-school dive for illegal-bookie money, if it was), it breathed life into the March Madness concept.

The deliberate manuvering and direction of the tournament to Virginia was a payment for services rendered by a corrupt NCAA (really?  FUCKING BAYLOR in the women's title???).