Not a farewell Cooper Flagg expected! Especially after the Blue Devils had a 9 point lead in the final three minutes of the game. But the Houston Cougars showed their defensive prowess once again as they came back multiple times during the Final Four clash. Ultimately, registered a 70-67 win over Jon Scheyer’s team. But fans complaining about the officials favoring the team marred the victory for Houston.

“Call on Flagg was atrocious. Game is brutally physical and they call displacement that doesn’t happen. Duke’s inability to break the press and rebound late did them in… but that call is Teddy Valentine charge call on Greg Anthony bad.” Doug Gottlieb, Head Basketball Coach UW Green Bay & Host of The Doug Gottlieb Show, vented his frustration on X. He was not alone, as another fan also felt the same.

With around 20 seconds left on the clock, Proctor was fouled and heads to the line for a one-and-one, which he eventually misses. But the officials called Cooper Flagg for the foul on the rebound attempt, which Houston’s J Roberts converted and gave his team the lead 67-68. This foul call did not sit well with the netizens.

If two players are going for a rebound and the player behind another player is able to grab it over the top of the player in front – that’s not necessarily a foul. However, in the case of Blue Devils, it was a foul which led to Houston taking the lead.

Cooper Flagg suffers on the last collegiate day, and fans shout, “Terrible call”

Despite the officials’ calls, Duke got themselves into this situation after they had no answer to the Cougars’ hard press. With 8 minutes 17 seconds to play, Jon Scheyer’s team was ahead 59-45. But Kelvin Sampson’s team did not give up and went on a 10-0 run to cut down the lead to just 4. This was the theme of the night, as whenever the Blue Devils went ahead, Houston would find ways to cut it down. “Bad call on Flagg….But eh…that’s ball….”

But in the end, they found the lead, thanks to the officiating call, which the fans did not like. For Flagg, a projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, this was likely his final college game—and for Sampson, it’s a step toward Houston’s first national title since 1984. With 19.6 seconds left and Duke clinging to a 67-66 lead, Tyrese Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one. As Cooper Flagg battled Houston’s J’Wan Roberts for the rebound, officials whistled Flagg for a foul—commonly referred to as “over-the-back,” though the term doesn’t appear in the NCAA rulebook. Replays showed minimal contact, leaving fans, players, and analysts frustrated and questioning the call’s timing in such a tightly contested game. Houston capitalized, hitting the game-winning free throws in a 70-67 victory that ended Duke’s season and silenced the Alamodome.

“Terrible call by the ref. That was not a foul on Cooper Flagg. Now Houston is in the lead thanks to them.” Duke had opportunities to win even after Houston took the lead, but Cooper Flagg missed a relatively close shot down one.

Houston got a pair of foul shots to go up three and Tyrese Proctor’s desperation shot was off. But the fans continued to call out the bad call against Duke, and one netizen even called the NCAA. “that wasnt a foul on cooper flagg lollll – being right is better than drama. ncaa is a joke rn.” The Blue Devils might feel hard done by the referee, but Duke made a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes of this game.

It did shift the momentum towards Houston, who fully capitalized. “Bad officiating big momentum swing Duke down 1 Who do you give the final shot too Cooper Flagg.” It was a huge night for Jon Scheyer, as even his predecessor, Mike Krzyzewski, was in attendance. But it ends in dismay as Flagg ends with no championship ahead of the NBA draft, where he is consensus number one pick.