A game that will live in the storybooks of UCONN fans until the end of time and in the nightmares of Duke fans just happened. Somehow, someway, the Huskies pulled off an improbable comeback, toppling the Blue Devils with a last-second three-point shot that was nearly at half-court. It was amazing, and it was impressive, and then Dan Hurley went full Dan Hurley.
He had a psychopath moment in which his jacket is hanging off his shoulder, and he walks up to the ref with a feral look on his face and goes forehead to forehead with the ref. It was weird, wild, and mostly just insane. Oh, and there were still 0.3 seconds left on the clock, so the game wasn't over.
Fans are arguing online whether this should be a technical or not, and whether that ultimately would have changed the game, giving Duke the win. What's the right call here? Sam Dekker offers his opinion as a former D-1 college basketball player who has gone all the way to the National Championship Game.
I have no bias here.
— Sam Dekker (@dekker) March 30, 2026
This is a tech 10/10 times. For multiple reasons… it would have lost the game for his team and he would have tried to fight the officials like he did nothing wrong. I just don’t understand it at all.
Also, referees need to grow a spine in instances like… https://t.co/Zo053LZpn1
Sam Dekker can't believe the ref didn't call a technical on Dan Hurley, "refs need to grow a spine"
Dekker says that 10/10 times this is a technical for touching a ref, especially purposely. That Duke should have been given two shots, and the outcome of the game would have been changed because of that exchange between Hurley and the ref. However, the reason this is controversial is that many disagree.
That a game shouldn't be decided by "who's nicer to the ref," but by which team "plays better basketball." Yet, the rules are the rules, and Hurley knows that. He could have cost his team the win right there in that moment. It took a bold ref to just let it go; maybe the ref had a spine by ignoring Hurley, who knows. Regardless, how do you let the game be decided by the players, and how do you punish a coach who has gone too far?
That's the real dilemma here, and it's being heavily debated on the internet, with former Wisconsin greats weighing in. What do you think? Should Dan Hurley have been given a technical or not?