Final Four 2015: Kentucky Wildcats No Longer Unsullied, Officials Even Less So

The Kentucky Wildcats give it a great run, but Frank Kaminsky and the Wisconsin Badgers were too much in a rematch of last year’s National Semifinal.

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  • This Final Four had it all.

    Great shooting. Competitive play. Great coaches. NBA lottery picks on the court. Drama and excitement.

    And some of the worst officiating you’ve ever seen. And no, this isn’t just me, it was all over twitter like a bad rash from most everyone. It wasn’t just calls for one team or the other either, the officiating was bad going both directions, and potentially had some game-changing calls and no-calls within the last 10 minutes of play.

    A sampling of some of the frustration with the officiating from more notable personalities:

    And those are the more family-friendly tweets.

    Regardless, it was a great game that — just like 2014 — came down to the wire. The Badgers just got the best of UK down the stretch and really worked hard on the glass and down low to keep those big Wildcats from dominating as they had throughout the tournament.

    Frank Kaminsky led all scorers with 20 points, and he was the catalyst that got Wisconsin off the deck after Kentucky made a 14-4 run to take control of the game.

    So the season ends at 38-1 for the Wildcats, a team who held the No. 1 spot in the AP poll from wire-to-wire during the season. This was the first time since 1991 and UNLV that a team had come into the Final Four with an undefeated record.

    And, for the second consecutive time, a team from the Big Ten has upset an SEC team in a National Semifinal game, going back to Ohio State beating Alabama in the College Football Playoff.

    This one just wasn’t meant to be for the Wildcats, who will most certainly have a very different looking roster next season.

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