Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl says he doesn't want the late foul on Kyle Guy to define the game and reflects on the Tigers' run to the Final Four. (1:47) MINNEAPOLIS -- A great Final Four game deserved a better ending. For three, maybe four seconds, Auburn thought it would be playing in the national title game for the first time in school history. The Tigers, who launched an explosive run in the final minutes to take the lead over Virginia in the Final Four, embraced one another and screamed in unison after Kyle Guy's go-ahead 3-point attempt over Samir Doughty's right-in-his-chest pressure clanked off the rim, and the final buzzer sounded. But the cheers of Auburn fans quieted and became stirring boos. As the officials gathered and walked toward the monitors afterward, Virginia began to half-celebrate, while Auburn simmered. And that's where this whole story gets crazy, as a missed double dribble with 1.5 seconds left and a foul call with 0.6 seconds left punctuated a stunning game. What the hell had just happened? Is the game over? Was there a whistle? Did someone get fouled? This game can't end this way! "I thought we had it," Doughty said in the locker room after the game. "And then they made the call." James Breeding, one of the three officials in Saturday night's Final Four matchup, called the foul on Doughty, who appeared to make contact with Guy on the 3-point attempt. Guy made all three free throws, and a desperation shot by Auburn's Bryce Brown in the final second fell short. Virginia 63, Auburn 62. A controversial foul call on Virginia's Kyle Guy (5) will likely be how the Auburn-Virginia Final Four game will be remembered. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images The emotions that followed depended on where you stood and whom you talked to at U.S. Bank Stadium. A Minneapolis police officer shook his head, staring at the final score. One Auburn fan stood with his hands on his head, mouth ajar, for 10 seconds before he slumped into his chair. Another Auburn supporter, who was seated in the family-and-friends section courtside, held her phone near her mouth and screamed. "These refs on some bulls---!" she yelled. At the postgame dais, Brown, who had fouled Ty Jerome with 1.5 seconds to play after the Virginia star double dribbled, respectfully disagreed with the call against Doughty. "I just didn't think it was a foul, but the refs thought otherwise," Brown said. "Can't go back and rewind it, so ..." His teammate Jared Harper said he questioned the call but didn't believe it altered the outcome. "I would just say that I think it was a tough call," Harper said as Auburn coach Bruce Pearl put his hand on his star's shoulder, "but that's not where we lost the game, I don't think." Virginia's Ty Jerome (11) appears to have double dribbled with 1.5 seconds left in the game, but there was no call. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson Pearl said he didn't discuss the call in the locker room with his players. "We didn't focus on that," he said. "We focused on how we were going to handle the defeat at Auburn: with class and dignity. There are lots of calls during the game. You're going to get some, and some you're not going to get." Pearl's emotions began to show as he continued on. "My advice, as an administrator of the game, is if that's a foul, call it," he said. "Call it at the beginning of the game, call it in the middle of the game, call it at the end of the game. Don't call it any more or less at any other time during the game. That was the call." The players in the Auburn locker room, where reporters stood six rows deep, didn't temper their emotions. "We couldn't believe it at first," Horace Spencer said. "The refs took the game for us. We really thought we had it. The refs took that from us." After the game, Doughty interrupted a reporter's question about the foul against him. "So you're saying there was little contact?" he asked. The reporter admitted he had not watched the replay. "I didn't feel no contact," Doughty said with bloodshot eyes. "I didn't think I fouled him, but the refs thought otherwise. And like I said, I trust their decision, man, all the time. That's why they're [officiating] the Final Four. But I'll get a chance to look at that myself, and I'll judge it myself. I'll be my own ref." But seconds later, as if someone else had actually made the previous comment, Doughty couldn't help himself. "That ain't no foul." he said. "That's it." As the previously subdued Brown returned to the locker room, he also revealed his true thoughts on the final call: "The NCAA needs to get some new refs." In Virginia's locker room, De'Andre Hunter said he and his teammates were confused by the postgame chaos, but when asked whether he agreed with the call against Doughty, he smiled and offered a shot response: "Yes." In a postgame statement, J.D. Collins, the NCAA's national coordinator of officiating, said the official made the right call because Doughty had entered the opponent's vertical plane. Because of all that, we might never revisit the brilliant action that preceded one of the most controversial finishes in Final Four history, as Virginia, which seemed to have the game put away in the second half, squandered a 10-point lead as the Tigers attempted, and nearly pulled off, a huge comeback. "This will be a memorable game, and I'd like it to be remembered for a great game," Pearl said. "Let's not remember this game because of just how it ended. Let's remember two teams that played really hard that only had 13 turnovers combined, didn't shoot it very well because there was great defense. It had nothing to do with the sight lines or the rims. We missed a lot of 3s. We missed some open shots, but we played against a great defense. It was a great college basketball game." But then, the call came. A collection of prestigious coaches -- Jim Calhoun, Matt Painter, John Beilein, Tubby Smith and Bo Ryan among them -- added their two cents after the game, too. "It was a foul because he jumped into him," one coach said. Added another: "Yes, that's a foul." But they all returned to what they believed was the real infraction: the missed double dribble call on Jerome as Brown tried to foul him with 1.5 seconds left. Had the officials made that call prior to Doughty's foul, they agreed, Auburn would have regained possession and probably won. But Jerome said he thought the foul was the ref's priority. "No, the ref didn't call a foul," he said after the game. "[Brown] was trying to foul me on purpose. I lost the ball. He let that one go, so I didn't think he was going to call anything else after that. I think the refs did a good job tonight. You're not always going to get a perfect whistle. But they definitely did a good job on both ends tonight. It was a more physical game, and refs aren't perfect just like players aren't perfect." Added Pearl: "We were in a situation late where we had some fouls to give, and I knew there was a disruption there. You've just got to get on to the next play." Years from now, we won't remember all the details of this thriller. The Cavaliers have advanced to Monday's national title game, where they will seek to complete college basketball's greatest postseason turnaround. Auburn will always be synonymous, however, with one of the most controversial calls -- and non-calls -- in NCAA tournament history.<doc-sep>The University of Virginia progressed to the NCAA championship game after a thrilling finish to its semi-final against Auburn in which three late free throws secured an astonishing 63-62 win. Down by two, Virginia’s Kyle Guy missed a three-point attempt which should have guaranteed victory for Auburn. But the referees correctly ruled he was fouled during his shooting motion — when Samir Doughty bumped his torso — and he had the chance to pull off a miracle from the charity stripe. Guy kept his cool and potted all three shots to give Virginia a one-point lead with 0.6 seconds remaining. Auburn ran out of time as it went for a Hail Mary bucket on the final play of the game and Guy was hailed as a hero. “I could lie to you and say I knew I was going to hit them, but I was terrified,” he said on-court after the final buzzer. “I had confidence in myself but this is what we dream of. “For me to be able to do this for our team, I couldn’t be happier.” Gene Steratore breaks down the crucial foul call. pic.twitter.com/qFyetJmt59 — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 7, 2019 However, while most agreed the refs got the call right with the foul on Guy, the win wasn’t without controversy. Just before Guy’s matchwinning play, Virginia’s Ty Jerome was allowed to get away with what CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore — and plenty of others — said was a double dribble. Had Jerome been pinged, Auburn would have got the ball and held onto it for the win. America went into meltdown over the controversial finish that sparked pandemonium among Virginia players, staff and fans at the game. Heart breaks for kids from Auburn at the same time you love it for the kids from Virginia.Pure madness! #MarchMadness — Sekou Smith (@SekouSmithNBA) April 7, 2019 Kyle Guy my goodness what a finish, feel for this Auburn team what a comeback — Tate (@tatefrazier) April 7, 2019 So the right call on the foul, but never should’ve come to that as CBS just plainly explains the missed double dribble on Virginia right before it. Just a nightmarish ending to a national semifinal. Officiating strikes again. — Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) April 7, 2019 #Virginia They missed a double dribble but the foul on the last shot was legit. Amazing display by Guy. — Mike Francesa (@MikeFrancesa) April 7, 2019 I mean, I’ll root for Virginia in the final because of Syracuse in the ACC and all, but man, that’s brutal for Auburn. No call on the double dribble then a probably justified call on the 3. Ugh. — Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) April 7, 2019 Uh anybody notice the refs missed a double dribble on Virginia in the closing seconds as they brought the ball past Hal court? — Kelvin Reynolds (@Fox6Kelvin) April 7, 2019 Wow. That was a college basketball game that defies adjectives. But one that will certainly lead to a flood of words (many unprintable from Auburn fans). Congrats to Virginia AND Auburn. Sadly, lots of attention will be on the refs. — Dan Rather (@DanRather) April 7, 2019 Auburn had erased a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes and led 62-60 after Guy made an off-balance three with 7.6 seconds left. The shot snapped a scoring drought of more than five minutes by the Cavaliers, who then sent Jared Harper to the line with seven seconds left. Harper made one and Auburn, with fouls to give, did so twice. With 1.5 seconds left, Virginia got the ball to Guy in the corner. He turned and fired and Doughty, hands straight up in the air, bumped into Guy’s hip. When the whistle blew, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl lost it on the sideline, pumping his fist and screaming. Doughty was just as baffled by the decision. “I was super surprised. They haven’t been calling those fouls all game,” he said in the locker room afterwards. “There were actually plays where there were fouls on three-point shots that weren’t getting called at all. “So for them to call that foul on that last play was surprising.” Guy swished the first two free throws to tie it and Auburn called a time-out to ice him. It didn’t work as he hit one more for the lead. Auburn threw a long inbound pass to Bryce Brown, but his desperation three was short. Virginia heads to the championship game of the prestigious college basketball tournament for the first time in the school’s history. It will face Texas Tech after it beat Michigan State 61-51 in the other semi-final. With AP<doc-sep>Kyle Guy reacts to the wild ending of Virginia's win over Auburn and playing in the national championship on Monday. (1:53) One year after suffering the most shocking loss in NCAA tournament history, Virginia will play for a national title. Here's how the Cavaliers got the job done and what comes next. The Cavaliers have pulled off back-to-back miracle finishes: First, there was Mamadi Diakite's game-tying shot at the end of regulation against Purdue, in a contest the Hoos went on to win in overtime. But even the victory over the Boilermakers might take a back seat in Virginia lore to what happened against Auburn. Tony Bennett's team was down by four points with 17 seconds left on Saturday, and it still trailed by two with 1.5 seconds remaining. That's when Ty Jerome inbounded the ball to Kyle Guy in the left corner, who was fouled by Samir Doughty in the act of shooting a 3 with 0.6 seconds left in the game. Guy made all three free throws, Auburn's attempt at a full-court miracle fell short and the rest is history. Virginia won 63-62, and the Cavaliers will play for the title. Kyle Guy made the decisive three free throws after a foul was called on Auburn's Samir Doughty. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Controversy was everywhere in the last five seconds It wasn't just the call against Doughty. With approximately 2.8 seconds left on the clock, Jerome was bringing the ball quickly up the floor as his team trailed 62-60. The junior attempted a behind-the-back dribble, when the ball hit the back of his right foot. As Jerome retrieved the ball after it had bounced away from him, he picked it up instead of continuing his dribble. The play should have been called a double dribble. Jerome and De'Andre Hunter played Virginia into the national title game In a game that will be remembered for Guy hitting three supremely important free throws, it was two of his teammates who put the Cavaliers in position to pull off another improbable finish. Jerome led all scorers with 21 points and was 4-of-9 on his 3s. Hunter came out strong after halftime. In the second half, he scored 10 of his 14 points in the latest Virginia game that came in under 60 possessions (59) and went down to the wire. Auburn mounted an amazing comeback The game actually looked to be effectively over when Virginia led 57-47 with 5:22 remaining, but the Tigers fought back thanks to three made 3s down the stretch by Bryce Brown. The senior finished the game with 12 points, but his heroics in the final minutes were nearly enough for Bruce Pearl's team to pull out the win. In particular, Brown and his teammates excelled at taking care of the ball and maximizing the number of chances they had to score. No Auburn player recorded more than two offensive boards, but as a team, the Tigers pulled down nine offensive rebounds. It was almost enough. Virginia will need better shooting at the line and more second chances Monday night Before Guy went 3-of-3 at the line in the last second of the game, Virginia had gone just 3-of-9 on its free throws. If not for the miracle finish, wasted chances at the line were going to be this team's last memory. Speaking of surprises, the Cavaliers rebounded just 17 percent of their missed shots. On a night when Bennett's team was recording its best shooting of the tournament since the Gardner-Webb game, the lack of scoring opportunities nearly cost the Cavaliers their season. Virginia will want to do better on the offensive glass on Monday night.<doc-sep>
Seth Greenberg explains that the foul call on Virginia's Kyle Guy was definitely a foul, but the referees missed a crucial double-dribble call on Ty Jerome. (1:54) MINNEAPOLIS -- A controversial foul call on a 3-point attempt by Virginia's Kyle Guy in the final seconds of Saturday night's Final Four game against Auburn allowed the Cavaliers to pull out a dramatic 63-62 win and left at least one member of the Tigers fuming. Auburn junior guard Samir Doughty made contact with Guy on the desperation heave in the corner and was whistled for the foul by official James Breeding. Guy coolly sank all three free throws with 0.6 seconds left, sending Virginia to Monday's championship game and Auburn home for the season. "NCAA needs to get some new refs," Auburn senior guard Bryce Brown said repeatedly as he walked in the tunnel to the locker room after the game. Brown was more measured in his reaction when he spoke with reporters afterward. "I just didn't think it was a foul," he said. "The refs thought otherwise, so -- can't go back and rewind it." Doughty said he disagreed with the call but that he ultimately "trusted their decision." "I didn't feel no contact. I didn't think I fouled him, but ... the refs thought otherwise," Doughty said. "And like I said -- I trust their decision, man, all the time. That's why they're reffing the Final Four. But I'll get a chance to look at that myself, and I'll judge it myself. I'll be my own ref." Virginia's Kyle Guy was fouled by Samir Doughty on a 3-point attempt in the final second of Saturday night's game and made all three free throws to give the Cavaliers the win. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Down by two points with 1.5 seconds left, Virginia inbounded the ball to Guy in the corner, and he turned and missed a 3-pointer but was bumped by Doughty, who had jumped toward him and made contact with his torso. Guy made two free throws before Auburn called a timeout. He then stepped to the free throw line and made the last to give Virginia the one-point win. "I heard them call it right away," Guy said of the foul. "They were asking me, did I know, because I put my face into my jersey, but that was me focusing. I knew they called a foul. I knew that I got behind the line for three shots because I practiced that. "I just literally told myself that we dream of these moments, and to be able to make one happen was special." NCAA Rule 4, Section 39.i "Verticality applies to a legal position and also to both the offensive and defensive players. The basic components of the principle of verticality are: The defender may not 'belly up' or use the lower part of the body or arms to cause contact outside his vertical plane or inside the opponent's vertical plane." Auburn coach Bruce Pearl didn't say whether he agreed with the foul call. "My advice, as an administrator of the game, is if that's a foul, call it," Pearl said. "Call it at the beginning of the game, call it in the middle of the game, call it at the end of the game. Don't call it any more or less at any other time during the game. That was the call." J.D. Collins, the NCAA's national coordinator of officiating, issued a statement explaining that the foul was called because Doughty "moved into the airborne shooter, making contact with Guy while taking away his landing spot." Collins cited Rule 4, Section 39.i, which states, "Verticality applies to a legal position and also to both the offensive and defensive players. The basic components of the principle of verticality are: The defender may not 'belly up' or use the lower part of the body or arms to cause contact outside his vertical plane or inside the opponent's vertical plane."