Samford Coach Bucky McMillan Is a Saint for How He Responded to Bad Call Against Kansas

Samford found themselves in a 22-point hole against Kansas last night but there was no quit in the 13th-seeded Bulldogs as they mounted a furious rally to trail by only one with 19.9 seconds remaining. The Jayhawks broke free from a full-court press and Nicolas Timberlake appeared to have a breakaway dunk before Samford's AJ Staton-McCray came flying in from behind like Tayshaun Prince or LeBron James to get a clean block. Unfortunately for fans of chaos, the officials called a shooting foul, Timberlake converted both free throws and Kansas hung on for a 93-89 win.

CBS-Turner Sports analyst Brendan Haywood spoke for everyone by pointing out that the block appeared to be clean and that the underdog got the short end of the stick.

So Samford had plenty of reason to be upset after coming up short. They were one swallowed whistle away from having the ball with a chance to win and become a beloved Cinderella like Oakland. But coach Bucky McMillan was calm and composed during his postgame comments.

"I have seen the play," he said. "I thought A.J. made an incredible play on it, you know what I'm saying? I'm not faulting the call. Some people can see it different ways. But I was really proud of our guys' ability to go make a play."

"That's how close the game was," McMillan added. "That's how well our guys played. What was the maximum we were down? We were down by 22. We're going to have the ball there with a great opportunity. It is what it is."

Pretty impressive stuff to shift the focus from something negative to something positive. Probably a more productive response long-term than pointing out the obvious but damn, still a shame we were robbed of great drama.