NEW ORLEANS, La. — In this city, where pirates once swaggered, where voodoo spells are still cast, and where the game of craps was invented, the mayhem of blunders and bounces in March can play as big a role as the magic of bracket busters and buzzer-beaters.

Here, where reportedly the good times roll, it often seems to be the dice instead. Strange things happen in Final Fours here.

Georgetown's Fred Brown threw the ball straight to North Carolina's James Worthy in 1982 in the waning seconds of the championship game. It ended the title game, often remembered for freshman Michael Jordan's go-ahead jump shot seconds earlier, with a ghastly gaffe.

Chris Webber called a timeout Michigan did not have against North Carolina in 1993, giving former Tar Heels coach Dean Smith another bizarre national title. "The score stands, doesn't it?" snapped Smith, after fielding one too many questions about luck.

"You need some luck," said another former coach, Bruce Pearl, as the coaches and media bus ground past the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which glimmered in the floodlights near midnight.

Ohio State has been lucky in its draw this year. The Buckeyes were not in a loaded bracket containing North Carolina and Kentucky, as they were last season when they were the overall No. 1 seed. Cincinnati mud-wrestled ACC Tournament champion Florida State out early. Fab Melo's academic suspension removed the shot-blocker from Syracuse that enabled the Buckeyes to score inside in the East Regional final. Against Gonzaga, Kevin Pangos' pure-looking 3-pointer to tie a third-round game vs. OSU rattled in and out in the last 88 seconds.

Four Things I Think ... about the Final Four

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Bounces and whistles, good or bad, are part of basketball, for better or worse. But memory will never let them part.

"Ohio State shot 29 free throws against us in the second half. They (referees) wouldn't let us guard the ball-screen," said Pearl.

The 5-year-old view from Ohio State would be that Tennessee was a 3-point shooting team that seldom ventured close enough to the rim to draw fouls. It would also be that Mike Conley Jr. did more in the paint than a lot of Old Masters, shooting 13 free throws, just in the second half, to the Vols' total of 17.

Pearl put Tennessee back on the map in basketball, then was fired last year for lying to NCAA investigators. The violations occurred during the recruiting of Aaron Craft, now Ohio State's sophomore starting point guard. Without photos of that cookout, Pearl is still at Tennessee, not on a bus late at night. Craft probably is too. And where would the Buckeyes be without their floor leader?

The only other time Ohio State coach Thad Matta reached the Final Four, in 2007, the most emotional game the Buckeyes played was not against Tennessee. It was in the previous round against Xavier. It was contested amid turncoat charges against Matta, previously Xavier's coach, which rivaled in southern Ohio the bitterness in Northeast Ohio about LeBron James.

OSU's Ron Lewis made a game-tying 3-pointer in the last four seconds, after Xavier's Justin Cage rimmed out the back end of a bonus situation on what easily could have been ruled an intentional foul. Conley dominated the overtime, even after Oden fouled out when he tossed Cage aside like rag doll under the basket.

"It does come down to the bounce a lot of times, the way the ball bounces for you," said Matta.

Bill Self's Jayhawks won the 2008 national championship over Memphis, 75-68, in overtime. The critical play came when the Jayhawks' Sherron Collins stumbled, either because of contact or, as referees ruled, not. He barely got the ball to Mario Chalmers, whose 3-pointer tied it in the last three seconds.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Are you from Memphis?" joked Self when asked about the non-call. "Every game has five plays that are judgment plays that could go either way. A guy will get a second foul in the first half. Really, was it a foul? Yet that impacts the whole rest of the half."

It was a veiled reference to the phantom second foul called on Jared Sullinger vs. Syracuse in the East Regional final.

All players can do is play through such moments, said Pearl, who noted the 2007 game still went to the last second.

In NCAA Tournament fact, OSU's Greg Oden blocked the Vols' Ramar Smith on a layup at the buzzer. In NCAA Tournament truth, television replays, which were not consulted because the shot missed and the result was moot, indicated Smith did not shoot in time. Internet stories of Oden's heroic block abound.

When the legend becomes fact, post the legend.