I was thinking more about the game last night between Iowa and Connecticut. I do think the illegal screen call is a little controversial but the right call. In real-time, it looked like she was still moving a little, and she did push her elbow out to impact the path of the defender. The defender certainly did sell it to make it look worse than it was – but it was something that certainly was in the realm of being called by the referee as a foul.

While it is a shame because you want to see the end of a great game like that be won with a shot or a great defensive play, I don’t agree with some of the arguments out there that you can’t call a foul at that point in the game. If it is a foul, it is a foul. We can make arguments on whether that call has been consistently been called – but the amount of time doesn’t matter. If it is a soccer game, and there is only a minute left in the game, does that mean players can suddenly go off-sides because referees should let the players decide the game. The rules are the rules – and they should be called whether there is 5 minutes in the game or 5 seconds in the game.

It is also not the reason UConn lost the game. There are plenty of plays where UConn went down the court and did not score (or stop Iowa from scoring). If they are gotten the rebound on Clark’s missed free throw, they would have called time-out and got the ball on their side of the court with 2 seconds to make a game tying or winning shot.

There were times in the first half that I thought Iowa would go up for a layup and get fouled with no call happening. There are several places where the call could have gone the other way but it didn’t.

It is a shame that a team had to lose that game – because it was a fun, exciting game that went to the very buzzer. But the game was not stolen because of a call. I could think it is controversial because everyone is complaining about it. If you think it is a bad call because you felt that she was not moving and set a legal screen, that is fair. But it is not a bad call because there was only 4 seconds in the game.

And I would like to believe that the call did not happen because of some conspiracy that wanted Iowa to win the game. As much as I criticize calls from time to time, I have too much respect for referees to believe that they would have made a call because it was perceived that everyone wants to see an Iowa / South Carolina final. It is a fast game that is hard to officiate and the referee made a decisive call when they saw a defensive player get hit by a screen in which they felt the screener was moving. They should make that call.