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The final bars of Luther Vandross' "One Shining Moment" are on TV meaning we're at the very precipice of the latest college basketball season. The victorious Kansas Jayhawks have finished cutting down the nets and now we're on to the late local news, followed by Letterman (I assume, that is, I never watch him).

Sigh.

It's the end of the greatest three week run in sports. Where the Cinderellas see how long they can stay at the ball, the pretenders are bounced out and the one true contender is crowned as the best of them all. College basketball's tournament involves more pageantry than almost any other sport in this country.

It's an event that truly brings the country together in the name of gambling, ducking out of work early to watch some games and getting caught up in the thrill of a potential buzzer beater sinking a powerhouse (like Davidson almost did against Kansas in the Elite Eight). Now we've got a little less than a year to wait it out until we can do it again.

But one thing that this year's Dance showed us was something that I've been saying for years: that the officiating in the ACC during the regular season is killing its better teams during the tournament. Duke is the prime example of this.

They have been accused ad nauseum of getting the benefit of the doubt more often than not. Their physical play during conference games on the defensive end does not get fouls called on them, while there is a propensity for them to head to the line when on offense.

And that doesn't make sense.

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