NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of padded, orange seat cushions — a Final Four gift to the 73,361 fans who crammed inside the Superdome — cascaded toward the court in a mini-hurricane from just about every nook and cranny of the world’s largest indoor stadium.
Irate over how the final 2.9 seconds of their 64-62 loss to Kansas in the national semifinals of the NCAA tournament unfolded last night, Ohio State fans threw their cushions and caution to the wind.
But the Buckeyes’ anger didn’t change the referee’s indisputably correct call of a lane violation against Ohio State guard Aaron Craft that sealed Kansas’ bizarre comeback victory, which gave the Jayhawks (32-6) an improbable march into the national championship game Monday night against No. 1 Kentucky.
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Leading 64-61 with 8.3 seconds left, Kansas coach Bill Self decided to foul Ohio State on the inbounds pass rather than risk a potential game-tying 3-pointer. Craft was fouled at 2.9, and he made the front end of a one-and-one, cutting the deficit to 64-62.
On his second attempt, Craft fired a bullet at the front of the rim, and the ball caromed directly into his hands as he charged up the lane in search of the rebound. Nevertheless, the officials ruled that Craft had entered the lane too soon, nullifying any potential tying basket.
“I knew we needed to miss it,” Craft said. “I figured that would be the easiest way for us to get the ball back instead of just trying to miss it a different way. I stepped over the early, apparently so.”
Craft said the officials didn’t wait around after the game to offer an explanation.
“No, they left,” Craft said. “That’s not what lost us the game — not a call at the end. It was probably the right one. I should have had a little more patience on the line, but it is what it is.”
Kansas, which was paced by All-America forward Thomas Robinson’s 19 points, will face Kentucky tomorrow in search of the school’s sixth national championship.
Self’s Kansas team defeated John Calipari’s Memphis squad in 2008, coming back from a nine-point deficit with 2:12 left in regulation to win 75-68 in overtime.
But Self said not to draw too many parallels from that victory.
“Cal gets a lot of credit for recruiting, but the thing that I think is sometimes lost is he’s one of the very best coaches there is in the country,” Self said. “He can coach. That Memphis team was really good, no question about this, but this Kentucky team, I think, is better than that Memphis team.”
Kentucky defeated Kansas 75-65 on Nov. 15 at the Garden in the State Farm Champions Classic.
Kansas guard Conner Teahan said the Jayhawks have exceeded everyone’s expectations this year.
“Everybody thought this would be a rebuilding year,” Teahan said. “They didn’t know what we had in this locker room. We knew.”
Travis Releford, who made four big free throws down the stretch, said they were among his biggest pressure shots “so far.”
“Nobody’s given us a chance all season,” Releford said. “That’s been the story of our season. We weren’t supposed to win the Big 12. We weren’t supposed to get to the Final Four. Now we’re not supposed to win the national championship. What else?”