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Associated Press

Officiating in the second half of the national championship game was an atrocity, but it wasn't much better in the earlier rounds.

Nobody's perfect, but college basketball referees seem to get things right about as often as your local meteorologist. And there were quite a few instances in the NCAA tournament in which poor officiating altered the outcome of the game.

In the first-round game between Seton Hall and Arkansas, the Pirates were down by one with 24 seconds remaining and trying to foul to extend the game. First, the refs missed a blatant travel by Arkansas. Then, they compounded the error by whistling Desi Rodriguez for a flagrant foul for a harmless push. Arkansas made three out of four free throws on that possession, effectively ending the game.

The following round, Arkansas was on the wrong end of one of the most bizarre no-calls of all time. North Carolina led by one with 46 seconds remaining. Joel Berry drove to the lane with the shot clock winding down. He was met by a defender who grabbed at the ball for what possibly could have been called a tie-up.

Berry then took three steps before crashing into another defender while heaving the ball toward the basket. It should have been traveling. It could have been a block or charge. The only thing it shouldn't have been was a Kennedy Meeks putback layup with no whistles.

There were also several physical games involving South Carolina or West Virginia in which those teams committed fouls on so many possessions that the officials unofficially instituted a "no blood, no foul" policy. This was especially true in the second half of South Carolina's Elite Eight win over Florida.

"If they're stronger than you and they're allowed to play more physical, there's not much you can do," Florida's Chris Chiozza told B/R's Jordan Brenner after the game. "We tried to use our speed, we got around them, and then we get to the rim and there's three guys coming and swinging for the ball. It's on the refs to give us a foul at the rim when we get there, or they say it's not a foul. They didn't call any in the second half, and that's pretty much how it went down the stretch."

Worst of all, though, was when the officials missed a goaltending call late in the second-round game between Gonzaga and Northwestern. Zach Collins put his hand through the rim to block a Northwestern shot attempt, after which Northwestern head coach Chris Collins went ballistic. The shot should have brought NW back to within three. Instead, after the technical foul, Gonzaga led by seven, and that was that.

The best refs are the ones you barely notice, but the officials in the NCAA tournament repeatedly put themselves in the spotlight with questionable decisions.