Wisconsin lost to Duke on Monday night in the 2015 National Championship.
A strong second half by the Blue Devils made for a hotly contested matchup that included bad calls by officials on both sides, as is typical in any college basketball game.
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Badgers coach Bo Ryan saw it differently.
Speaking with CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson after the game, Ryan used descriptive language to implicitly complain about officials:
It was just a situation where you just have to be able to handle all the hands and the checking. All the body contact — there was more body contact in this game than in any game we've played all year, and I just feel sorry for my guys that all of a sudden, a game was like that. I think they're struggling with that a little bit. We missed some opportunities. They hit some tough shots. You know, it's just a shame it had to be played that way.
Ryan isn't technically wrong. At one point, it appeared Justise Winslow committed several uncalled fouls and stepped out of bounds without a blown whistle during critical moments in the second half.
Still, people exploded on social media about Ryan, who didn't appear to be sending his kids the right message about losing with grace.
It was only exacerbated by Ryan's podium comments, where he took shots about Wisconsin having to develop rather than "rent" players.
All the seniors that I've had — hard to say the word. But every player that's played through the program, OK, we don't do a rent-a-player. You know what I mean? Try to take a fifth-year guy. That's OK. If other people do that, that's OK. I like trying to build from within. It's just the way I am. And to see these guys grow over the years and to be here last year and lose a tough game, boom, they came back.
This tone was widely mocked, save for some who decided to jump in at a rather . . . inopportune moment.
Waayyyylllpppp pic.twitter.com/Ra4y9jIEKt
— Kevin Trahan (@k_trahan) April 7, 2015It's worthwhile to examine both the quality of college officiating and the one-and-done system, but not in the heat of a tough loss like this.
(Source: CBS, SB Nation)