This year, it seems to have changed to ABD.

Duke easily deserved to win the tournament this year. Their almost routine performance last night left little doubt that it were the best team in the coutnry.

But to the thousands in the Metrodome who booed last night, there was also little doubt that Duke got all the calls.

To be sure, the Blue Devils probably didn't need them. Jason Williams and Shane Battier are likely the two best players in the nation. When a third player--in this case, Mike Dunleavy--steps up, Duke is virtually unbeatale.

But just becuase the Duke players can win despite help from the officials does not mean that the zebras don't favor them.

Consider that Duke, a team that regularly hoists thirty threes a game, got to the foul line hundreds of times more than its opponets this year. This is without any semblance of an inside game--save for Carlos Boozer, who was inconsistent for much of the year.

It's not like there's some elaborate conspiracy going on. But officials are human, and superb, hard-working, talented teams like Duke tend to get the benefit of the doubt, just as superb teams do in the NBA. Michael Jordan traveled half the time--that doesn't make him any less of a player.