The greatest NCAA Tournament in recent history rolls on. LSU continued its amazing run behind Tyrus Thomas and Big Baby Davis. UCLA became the first team that I can remember to reach the Final Four without needing to play well even once in the first four games. Florida made me look like a genius (for calling them "this year's 2003 Syracuse"). Okay, maybe not, but they did indeed emerge as a legit power over the past two weeks. And then there's George Mason.

The mighty Patriots continued the most improbable run in March Madness history by knocking off UConn in a thrilling overtime game. They were tenacious. They played with heart. They made every big shot. They left me dancing in my living room.

The crazy part though is that they should have been doing all of that against a different team.

I've always felt that the Sweet 16 round of the tourney, particularly the Friday games, is the segment that always slips under the radar. There isn't as much media coverage heading into the weekend and with higher stakes contests coming right on the heels of the Sweet 16 games, there just isn't time for reflection. Texas' thrilling win over West Virginia? Long forgotten. JJ Redick's 3-for-18 shooting night? Remembered only as part of the "LSU story." Things that seemed epic when they happened are now just bits and pieces of the large puzzle leading to Indy.

The shame of that is that one of the most surprising and determined and exciting teams in this field got absolutely screwed on Friday night and nobody seems to remember or care. I'm talking about the University of Washington Huskies. I'm talking about the one game in this tournament where the referees absolutely dictated the outcome, where they stole a game from the more deserving team and gave it to the other guys. If you don't believe me, find yourself a tape of the game and watch it.

I won't go through the entire list of blown calls and inconsistent whistles, but here are a few key miscues:

1. Brandon Roy was given two fouls on one play, at the worst possible time, for doing absolutely nothing. First, Roy gets whistled for one of the dozen "phantom fouls" that UW was tagged for during the game. Supposedly, he "held" Rudy Gay going around a screen, but the replays showed that they barely even bumped each other. Then, after he and Gay jawed at each other a bit, some wannabe superstar referee comes flying in and gives them both a technical foul. (All he had to was just break them up.) Now Roy has four fouls with almost 13 minutes to play. He has to go out of the game. Not surprisingly (you know, since he's one of the best players in the country and all), UW saw its 12 point lead disappear with Roy on the bench. By the time he came back in, UConn was up one. As Seth Davis noted, if Roy hadn't been forced out of the game with two ridiculous foul calls, UW might have won by 20. I can't remember an instance that was more blatantly unfair than this. Honestly, it was a travesty.