Dennis Dodd

Officials continue to call NCAA Tournament games like they are the Battle for Faluja.

In the second round almost half the games (seven of 16) were bogged down by a foul-a-minute pace. The Tennessee-Butler game had a tournament-high 49 fouls. Taking into account the overtime, there was a foul call every 55 seconds in that game. The worst ratio was in the West Virginia-Duke game which featured a whistle every 50 seconds.

Going into the Sweet 16, three of every eight games (18 of 48, 37.5 percent) are being called at, at least a foul-a-minute rate (minimum 40 fouls in a 40 minutes). The second-round games averaged almost a foul out per game (14 DQs in 16 games). The average fouls per game were 37.125.  

So what, you say? Those of you who attended these games (like me)  were so pissed at the end you wanted to strangle someone.

I'll say it again. A mandate has been handed down by someone to call these games close. It takes away from the appeal of the tournament -- the players. We don't come to see officials, we come to see great ball.

Here are the Texas-UCLA pictures. I'm told they didn't open right...

If you didn't get enough of the officiating agenda that seems to be emerging in the NCAA Tournament http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10730844, then take a look at these pictures from Saturday's UCLA-Texas game. They clearly show Aggies guard Donald Sloan being fouled as he goes up for the tying shot with seconds to spare.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/37063269.jpg

http://media.scout.com/media/image/53/532752.jpg

In both pictures you can see UCLA's Josh Shipp reaching across Sloan's body and grabbing the guard's right wrist. Another Bruins player, who appears to be Darren Collison, is hitting Sloan's right elbow.

I'm shocked more wasn't made of this. A&M coach Mark Turgeon has proved himself to be a world-class whiner this season. This time he had a legit claim and just seemed to accept this railroad job. And where was the media to ask the question of Sloan whether he was fouled? I've seen accounts where it was described that Sloan's shot was "swatted away" or that Shipp "blocked" the shot.

What was everyone watching? Unless the photographs you're opening have been photoshopped (and they haven't) this is the biggest travesty of the tournament. The officials couldn't even get the final score right. They late changed the final from 53-49 to 51-49.

Yo, Bill Byrne (Texas A&M AD), I've got Hank Nichols' (NCAA supervisor of officials) cellie if you want it.

If you didn't get enough of the officiating agenda that seems to be emerging in the NCAA Tournament http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10730844, then take a look at these pictures from Saturday's UCLA-Texas game. They clearly show Aggies guard Donald Sloan being fouled as he goes up for the tying shot with seconds to spare.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/37063269.jpg

http://media.scout.com/media/image/53/532752.jpg

In both pictures you can see UCLA's Josh Shipp reaching across Sloan's body and grabbing the guard's right wrist. Another Bruins player, who appears to be Darren Collison, is hitting Sloan's right elbow.

I'm shocked more wasn't made of this. A&M coach Mark Turgeon has proved himself to be a world-class whiner this season. This time he had a legit claim and just seemed to accept this railroad job. And where was the media to ask the question of Sloan whether he was fouled? I've seen accounts where it was described that Sloan's shot was "swatted away" or that Shipp "blocked" the shot.

What was everyone watching? Unless the photographs you're opening have been photoshopped (and they haven't) this is the biggest travesty of the tournament. The officials couldn't even get the final score right. They late changed the final from 53-49 to 51-49.

Yo, Bill Byrne (Texas A&M AD), I've got Hank Nichols' (NCAA supervisor of officials) cellie if you want it.

... which is another name for Omaha which has been a great host for this corner of the Midwest Regional.

Just bought at Omaha Steakburger here at the Qwest Center. The rest of you have to order them by mail. Here, they're $5.50 a pop.

Best quote of the week comes from Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan who responded this way when asked to describe his swing offense:

"(It's) $99.99, there's a DVD. I can give you the address -- come on, I put my kids through college on the money that I made from the videos that we put out."

Getting ready to go out on the court for Kansas State-Wisconsin and it hit me: It took Duke and the officials in that second-round game to make Bob Huggins a sympathetic figure. His Mountaineers got screwed by the officials in the first half against the Dookies.

We certainly didn't need Cal State-Fullerton to pull any surprises against Wisconsin.

And by "we", of course, I mean me. It's past midnight ET. No need to get upset crazy. After more than 12 hours shacked up in "The Q" it's time to wrap up this first day.

The Titans cooperated nicely, losing to the third-seeded Badgers 71-56 in the final game of the day.

A big bowl of chicken soup for Coach K, though, in Washington D.C. Mike Krzyzewksi and I have something in common. Duke barely escaped in a 71-70 over Belmont. More imporantly, Coach K has a brutal case of the flu. He barely got up off the bench during timeouts.

Me? I've a sinus/cold thing that has me feeling like Kent State (10 points in the first half vs. UNLV) and Winthrop (11 points in the second half vs. Washington State) combined.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow. It can't get any worse than carrying a brick around in your head.