This story has been unavoidable for much of the past couple days and I expect that with no new developments expected, it’ll fizzle and die out and become a highlight that ESPN shows when trying to promote the game. This morning I read two fairly good pieces, effectively eulogies on the story, and barring any new developments, I expect that this will be my last post on it as well.

The first was by New York Daily News columnist Bob Raissman. In the column, Raissman blasts CBS analyst Billy Packer for his blatant and borderline repugnant defense of Duke and Gerald Henderson in the moments after the foul.

What’s worse isn’t that Packer says this wasn’t a dirty foul in the seconds after it happened, it was that he insisted it wasn’t (Jim Nantz, coincidentally remained silent on the matter) even after they replayed the play 9 times. What I thought was comical when listening to Packer’s call was that he insisted that Henderson was going for the ball despite the fact that Hansbrough had been stripped of the ball before Henderson even left the ground.

And the coup de gras was when Henderson was ejected from the game, Packer said, “This a poor piece of officiating.”

Boy, who can wait for March Madness? But wait, you don’t have to wait for two more weeks to see Packer behave like a moron. This Sunday, he’ll, no doubt, be confronting the head of the NCAA Selection Committee on whatever teams they pick, or don’t pick, for the field of 65 and pretty much anything else he feels like criticizing.

Billy Packer has a place alongside sometime-Chicago Sun-Times columnist and ESPN talking head Jay Mariotti in the Blowhard Hall of Fame and I think his defense of Duke and Henderson in this case is reprehensible.

Here’s a link to Raissman’s column.

That’s it. I’m done. No more on Tyler Hansbrough, Coach K, Roy Williams, Gerald Henderson.

Pretty good piece on Coach K’s subtle spin of the incident by Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wentzel. 

Best of the rest…

Great story in the New York Times today on George and Coby Karl.

The Detroit Free Press’ Drew Sharp on Greg Oden’s freshman experience.

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