Was it a travel? If you watched any of CBS's Post-Game show last night or this afternoon's Road to the Final 4, you'd know that Clark Kellogg and Greg Gumble sure think so.
"No," Green said when asked about a possible traveling violation. "There were a lot of guys in there. I probably got pushed. They didn't call it. The play was good, and that's all I can say."
Seth Green was asked about it in an interview at SI.com:
S.D.: Immediately, I thought travel, but with each viewing I was less and less sure. I'd never blame a referee on that call in that situation in the Sweet 16. It's hard to fathom someone stepping in during that situation. At the end, I think it was technically a travel.
My thoughts? Well, almost total opposite from Seth Green. Immediately, I thought it was an amazing shot, if anything, I thought maybe Green was fouled. But then during the post game show, CBS was showing slow motion shots, and blowing it up and enlarging it to point out the possible travel. After further review, I think there is no doubt his pivot foot moved. Was he pushed? Perhaps. Was it a good no-call? I can't argue with the officials, I think it could have gone either way, and it would have been justified either way. Vandy fans, I'm sure, would disagree.
Meanwhile, over at foxsports.com, Kevin Hench has had enough. He breaks down ALL the bad calls so far this weekend. Seems like the refs have sure created controversy while creating quite possibly the greatest Elite 8 field we have ever seen. I personally think Mench is just trying to create controversy - I read through his list, and they are not nearly as bad as he makes them out to be. For example:
No. 1 Florida 65, No. 5 Butler 57
In one of the early games on Friday, defending champ and 1-seed Florida took on valiant Butler. The Bulldogs led the Gators by as many as nine and were still tied 54-54 with 2:40 to play when 6-foot-10 Florida big man Al Horford began backing down the smaller Brandon Crone. Horford backed and backed and bashed and bashed Crone all the way under the basket before finally eliciting a whistle as he laid the ball in. Foul. ON CRONE!!! Yeesh. Despite getting knocked to the floor by the massive Horford, Crone was whistled for his fifth foul and, after the three-point play, Butler never tied it up again.
No. 1 North Carolina 74, No. 5 USC 64
In the Friday nightcap, top seed North Carolina was down 16 points when a couple of touch fouls sent USC big man Taj Gibson to the bench. Seriously, why do you guys have to blow your whistle when the man supposedly being fouled has caught the ball in the post anyway and no advantage has been gained by this alleged foul? Play on!
But when it came to the small change, ticky-tack stuff against Gibson, the refs saved their best for last. The Trojans had the ball down six with 48.5 seconds left when Gibson set a screen at the 3-point line. And yes he moved on the screen. After the man he was picking ran into him! Despite Billy Packer's contention that this was an easy and uncontroversial call, Tim Floyd had every right to be apoplectic on this whistle that essentially ended the USC season.
See the rest of his breakdown here.
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