"Stop feeling sorry for Chris Collins and Northwestern"

Chris Chase at FoxSports has excellent analysis of the 'Cats' loss, although a good editor could have condensed his repetitive telling.  (Get in, get out, make your point and don't repeat.)

Read the whole thing:

With Northwestern in the midst of a stunning 20-5 run that cut No. 1 Gonzaga’s second-round lead to five points with five minutes left, Collins threw a temper tantrum after a horrible no-call by the officials, running out onto the court to shout at a referee and quickly getting T’d up. The call effectively halted Northwestern’s momentum and, for all intents and purposes, ended the comeback hopes.  

The problem is, Collins was right and not just in a “we looked at this in super slo-mo for five minutes and think refs got the call wrong” but in a “how did you miss this call live, it was obvious to everybody in the building, watching on television and probably even listening on radio?” On the play in question, Northwestern’s Dererk Pardon went strong to the hoop for a dunk and was rejected by Zach Collins of Gonzaga. But it was clear that Collins had stuck his hand up through the rim, which is basket interference. The field goal should have been awarded, Gonzaga’s lead should have been cut to three and with Mark Few’s Bulldogs in complete meltdown mode, it felt like the game was going to be Northwestern’s to lose. 

Instead, Collins got the tech, Gonzaga made both free throws and there was a backbreaking four-point swing. The momentum was done and though Northwestern still had chances to get back in the game over the last four minutes, the team saw its last, best chance blow up along with its coach’s temper. (Granted, it has to be tough for Collins; after years of playing and coaching for Duke, seeing an officiating decision go the other way must be jarring.) 

Collins will get a pass because the call was so egregiously bad. He shouldn’t. Bad calls happen all the time. Bad calls in important, tight situations do too. They’re an unfortunate part of sports. It’s your job to keep your cool. Collins flew off the handle and it might have cost his team its greatest victory in school history.
...
Collins is right about this.
Here’s what he told reporters after the game:
“You guys saw it. I mean, it would have been a three-point game. We had all the momentum. The guy puts his hand through the rim. It’s a very easy call, in my opinion. But it’s an honest mistake. Referees are human beings. They’re here for a reason, because they’re outstanding officials. They made the calls, we have to live with them. In my heart, do I think if we get that call and cut it to three, we have a great chance to win? Yes, I believe we had a great chance to win if the correct call was made.” 

All of that’s true but it leads to an incorrect implication. Collins speaks as if the game was a lost cause following the missed basket interference, that the “momentum” would have stopped with the block that wasn’t. And yes, it “would have been a three-point game,” but if the coach could have kept his head for an instant, and not gone into hysterics like he was Northwestern Kid’s far younger brother, it still only would have been a five-point game, the game situation that seconds before had felt so advantageous for Northwestern. 

Gonzaga still would have been in the midst of a freefall, with their seven previous offensive possessions having been: miss, miss, foul, turnover, miss, turnover, missed free throw and missed free throw. That was part of a 6-0 Northwestern run which was just a sliver of the 23-8 run that got the Wildcats back into the game. Down five with five minutes left and all on the momentum on your side while your opponent confronts fears over choking away its No. 1 seed during the chaos of collapse — that’s not as good as being down three, but it’s not bad.
Collins ensured Northwestern wasn’t in that position though. Instead of being down those five points with Gonzaga still in the middle of its meltdown, the ‘Cats were down seven because Collins acted the fool and watched Gonzaga hit its two technical free throws while catching its breath, relaxing a bit and resettling after the Northwestern onslaught.