LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — You can fuss or rage about the call that pushed Creighton to its 57-56 loss to San Diego State in the South Regional title game on Sunday afternoon until the Fourth of July — 2027.
And they likely will do precisely that in Omaha, Nebraska.
You don’t decide a trip to the NCAA Final Four on that play. Players decide the game in the final second, especially in a game that stayed within four points or less over the final dozen minutes.
The winner of this game would be booked to play Florida Atlantic in the national semifinals of the men’s tournament in Houston next Saturday. You’ve seen how wacky this bracket has become. The winner of this game could win the national title.
IMAGES | San Diego State defeats Creighton to advance to Final Four
San Diego State defeated Creighton to advance to the Final Four.
The officials had only whistled nine fouls on Creighton in the first 39 minutes and 53 seconds — and then they called that?
Yes, Creighton guard Ryan Nembhard put his left hand on the back of San Diego State’s Darrion Trammell as he elevated in the lane in the final two seconds. But did the hand result in Trammell missing the 10-foot floater?
Don’t know.
Will never know, although I will say that when I posed the question on Twitter, the majority who responded believe the call was proper, a play one Division I coach told me was a textbook, “grab and extension.”
Doesn’t matter.
What matters is this: Creighton handled the largest serving of bile the Bluejays’ players and coaches will ever ingest without pointing a finger, throwing a fit or carrying on in any of the uncivilized ways we see breaking out in arenas, stadiums and ball parks across America in 2023.
Sportsmanship is the cotton candy of abstract topics — easy to embrace when the scoreboard is turned off in an October practice or at preseason media days.
Show me how you handle a kick in the teeth when the bright lights are burning.
Creighton handled it like a champion.
None of the nonsense that keeps popping up in the news or on social media.
You know what I’m talking about — the ridiculous behavior that inspired fights, ejections and shootings. The stuff that keeps happening and keeps making it more difficult to convince people to pursue careers in officiating.
“Officiating is part of the game,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We’re not going to go there. We lost a game because we didn’t do enough and San Diego State did.”
“(Trammell) came off a little screen,” Nembhard said. “He got downhill and tried to make a floater. Called a foul.”
Thoughts on that foul? pic.twitter.com/2zjiqytI5n
— rickbozich (@rickbozich) March 26, 2023
Nobody threw a bottle. Nobody chased the officials off the court. Nobody incited the crowd, which featured at least five or six Creighton fans for every person that was cheering for San Diego State.
Yes, McDermott barked at the officials before and after they reviewed the call, which resulted in Trammell missing his first free throw attempt before he swished the second to break the game’s seventh and final tie with 1.2 seconds left.
But the coach didn’t pound the scorer’s table. And his players did not get in the faces of the officials. They credited San Diego State, as absurdly difficult as that had to be.
“I didn’t really have a good angle to see if that was a foul or anything,” said Kalkbrenner, who led Creighton with 17 points.
“At the end of the day, the refs make the calls. I haven’t watched the replay or anything like that. And even if I did, I wouldn’t want to speak about the calls to the media.”
“To witness how these guys represent the name on the front of their jersey is really what sports is all about,” McDermott said.
“You win with class and you lose with class. That’s what we’re going to do.”
And that is precisely what the Bluejays did. As they sat on a elevated table answering questions with bright lights behind them, the faces and body language of the Creighton players screamed how intensely they pursued their program’s first Final Four.
Nembhard had been crying. Kalkbrenner wrapped an NCAA towel over his mouth. Guard Baylor Scheierman, the guy who made the steal and scored the basket that tied the game at 56, covered his mouth and ears with his towel. Forward Arthur Kaluma looked directly into the cameras with a blank expression. And on the far right sat Trey Alexander, head down, tears apparent.
“Obviously I’m going to look back on this one day and know that an Elite Eight is a great run,” Kalkbrenner said. “But right now when you lose it just hurts, especially after all the work you just put in. After it happens you’re just disappointed and sad.”
I don’t know who’s going to win the national championship next weekend in Houston.
I do know who has already won the national championship for sportsmanship — for those of you who still believe in sportsmanship:
Creighton. McDermott and his deflated players.
As the San Diego State players bathed in confetti and cut down the nets at the KFC Yum! Center while celebrating the first Final Four trip in this history of that program, McDermott and his five starters answered questions about a loss that cut out every inch of their intestines.
Away from the podium, in a hushed locker room, Nembhard was asked one more time about the play. Maybe outside of the press conference setting, his answer would change.
It did not.
“I guess I pushed him in the back a little bit,” Nembhard said. “We don’t blame officials. When we lose or when we win, we don’t make excuses. So we don’t have an excuse for none of that. I’m not going to make excuses.”
So San Diego State gets its trip to the Final Four. But Creighton delivered something bigger than that — a reminder that sportsmanship is more than something you talk about when the scoreboard is turned off.
Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.