UConn's Paige Bueckers addresses tough call at end of Final Four loss

“Everybody can make a big deal of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game. I feel like there were a lot of mistakes that I made that could’ve prevented that play from even being that big,” she said gracefully.

“You can look at one play and say, ‘Oh, that killed us or that hurt us.’ But we should have done a better job — I should have done a better job of making sure we didn’t leave the game up to chance like that and leave the game up to one bad call [not] going our way and that deciding it.”

Her comments are remarkably level-headed for a player who, moments earlier, lived through their NCAA Championship dreams being crushed. Bueckers deserved nothing less than a tip of the cap.

Still, while Bueckers’ comments highlight her class, most fans believe that officials should not decide games with such significant implications. This issue has plagued all four major American sports leagues for years and will sour this instant classic forever.