What the Heck Happened to the Floor on Armando Bacot's Injury?

Tom Pennington/GettyImages
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North Carolina's Armando Bacot was a beast all tournament and was in position to score a title-clinching bucket before a cruel twist of fate took the opportunity away from him. Driving the lane down a single point with 40 seconds remaining, Bacot slipped and fell, resulting in a turnover. Kansas would convert on the other end and the Tar Heels' desperation heaves would miss the mark to give the Jayhawks a national championship and leave Carolina blue.

It was a shame to see an injury play such a crucial role. And replays seem to indicate something odd happened on Bacot's fateful step. Take a look at the floor, which seems to shift upon impact. I will readily admit that I am not a floorologist, but this doesn't look normal.

Brutal.

The floor in New Orleans was obviously temporary as the dome is used for football. They are not going to play Final Fours in basketball arenas because that would cut attendance dramatically. So there may be thinkpieces about changing things today yet it will be nothing more than shouting into the void. It appears something very unfortunate happened at a very unfortunate time.

Or perhaps some hardwood expert will log on to explain that the floor is actually supposed to do that. Nothing can change what happened. This isn't Lost. We can't go back.