The brand of basketball Samford plays is quite different from most teams in March Madness' field of 68. They use everyone in their rotation and call for substitutions quite a lot. This style of basketball was put to the test in the first round of the NCAA Tournament when they went up against a short-handed Kansas basketball squad led by Coach Bill Self and Hunter Dickinson. All was going well for the 13th seed and an upset looked to be on the horizon. But, one questionable call prevented all of that from happening and left fans up in arms.
Samford was only down by one point with 14 seconds left in this March Madness first-round game. Then, the unthinkable to them. When AJ Staton-McCray was defending Nick Timberlake, he got the clean block off of him. However, the officials saw it differently and ruled it a foul. Bill Self's Kansas then got the opportunity to shut the doors on a comeback as Timberlake was able to knock down both of these free throws, via dubs408.
— dubs408 (@somedubvids) March 22, 2024
Questionable call makes fans rage
Fans watching from home wore their referee goggles and deemed that it was a wrong call. It prompted reactions of frustration and hilarity.
“That is CLEAN BY my man from Samford. That block is INCREDIBLE. My god. Unbelievable that they missed that call. Total anticipation call,” Sam Vecenie of The Athletic said.
Others have also claimed that they had a physical reaction to this March Madness game, “Feel sick, Samford, this is as clean a block as you could ever hope for… In the most crucial part of the game. You can’t miss this call. Horrible, horrible call.”
The consensus was all over the internet as well, “The Referees just absolutely RUINED a great game and potentially massive upset Unbelievable that a block/foul can’t be reviewed in a moment that big Completely ruined the end of the game Samford got 1000% screwed over.”
While some fans took the loss and their busted bracket seriously, others were just there to clown Kansas.
“Unreal. Clean block. Blown call. Bill Self and his toupee survive. Heckuva a year for Samford,” Pat Smith of the 3 Man Front declared.
Kansas gets away in March Madness
Samford still put up a fight against Kansas. Despite everyone getting playing time, they still had their standouts. Achor Achor knocked down nine of his 22 field goal attempts and three of his free throws for 23 points. He also led the team in rebounds by racking in eight boards. Jaden Campbell and Riley Allenspach followed suit as the duo combined for 33 points.
For Kansas, it was the trio of Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams, and Dajuan Harris who stepped up despite missing Kevin McCullar. The three notched 52 points for Kansas while Johnny Furphy and Nick Timberlake also combined for 35 points. Hunter Dickinson may have been tired and has not seen the memes yet but he unveiled his feelings on this tough March Madness win, via CBS Sports.
“A lot of teams could've folded. That's what happens in March. A lot of runs happen like that, the crowd is into it. But, you know, it is what it is,” the big man who finished with 20 massive rebounds said.
Will the Bill Self-led Kansas squad be able to ride this momentum en route to a national championship?
Follow Us
Subscribe