This May Shock You...

You might remember Greg Paulus' acrobat save of a ball going out of bounds last night during Duke's one-point win over Belmont. He dove towards the Duke baseline to retrieve the ball, hopped in the air, tried to call timeout, didn't get the timeout (new rules prohibit that) and then threw it back to DeMarcus Nelson. At the time, it looked like Paulus was out of bounds when he made the throw, but seeing as how the ref was right on top of the play, Belmont didn't argue too much and the CBS announcers and directors completely ignored the play, it was quickly forgotten. Luckily, an enterprising Maryland fan wasn't satisfied with the call and went back to look. What he found could startle you. Seriously, you might want to sit down for this... Paulus was clearly out of bounds and the official looking at the play didn't call it.
I know, I know. We're all aware that officials would never miss an obvious call or favor a specific team. Clearly, this was just an honest mistake. Maybe the ref blinked for the two-tenths of a second Paulus' foot was on the ground while he held the ball. Maybe the ref continued his blink when Paulus clearly threw the ball back on the court while jumping back up after landing. Either way, it was a mere oversight. I refuse to believe that any referee would ever give Duke the benefit of a swallowed whistle. And I'm also certain the CBS didn't notice that Paulus was out of bounds either, which is why they didn't show the replay. Their broadcasts are impartial affairs; they don't care whether Duke or Belmont advances to play in the highlighted, nationally telecast 2:10 p.m. game tomorrow. Why would they? Belmont and Duke have the same sized national fanbase.
Check out this amazing YouTube job before it gets taken down: