This thunderous Maryland dunk somehow earned an awful technical foul from refs
Earlier Thursday I texted a friend saying how nice it was that so few games in this NCAA tournament have been controlled by refs calling ticky-tack fouls, not calling things both ways and making absurd decisions that ruin the flow of the game.
Spoke too soon.
Midway through the first half of the heavily anticipated Kansas vs. Maryland Sweet 16 game, Maryland's Jake Layman stole a lazy Jayhawks pass, tipped it to himself and went in for an easy, semi-thunderous dunk. And then this happened.
He was given a technical for this. Fair or no? #MarchMadness https://t.co/eWqoBk6VGJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2016
Layman rocked up, then down and held it for a split second, which was apparently enough for refs to call a technical foul for hanging on the rim.
1. The Maryland senior totally milked the dunk, preening for a moment while rocking then falling.
2. Layman also obviously double-dribbled before the dunk, corralling the ball with a few bounces, then bringing his off-hand up to touch the ball before resuming his dribble.
3. Both of those things notwithstanding, calling a technical foul was a complete joke. It was a waste of a whistle from an officiating crew that seemed intent on making its presence known. I mean, if you can't hold onto the rim for a split second after a dunk, then what's it all for? They were right; Layman wasn't using the rim to steady himself, but that's besides the point. This is one of the last 15 basketball games of the year. Adrenaline is flowing. Let the dudes play.
The good news for Maryland though: KU missed the free throw so no harm, no foul. The bad news: The Terps fell 79-63.
