This is one call folks are going to be talking about for a long time.
As No. 13-seeded Samford attempted to catch up to and potentially upset No. 4 seed Kansas on Thursday night, a controversial foul all but ended the dream as the Jayhawks squeaked by with a 93-89 first-round NCAA Tournament win.
After Jaden Campbell pulled the Bulldogs within one with a 3-pointer with under 15 seconds left in the second half, Kansas inbounded the ball, and Nicolas Timberlake went up for a dunk to try to put the Jayhawks back up by three.
But A.J. Staton-McCray caught him down from behind with what appeared to be a perfectly timed block, giving Samford a shot.
However, it was all for naught.
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Officials called Staton-McCray with a shooting foul, and Timberlake sank both free throws.
Replays, though, showed Staton-McCray appeared to block just the ball and should not have been called for a foul, leading to plenty of outrage across the college basketball world.
“With the game on the line that’s an incredible block taken away from Samford,” TBS analyst Brendan Haywood said.
Rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with Haywood’s assessment, as did a large swath of social media users.
Samford was called for a controversial foul at the end of their loss to Kansas. 
A.J. Staton-McCray #5 of the Samford Bulldogs is called for a foul on Nicolas Timberlake #25 of the Kansas Jayhawks with 14 seconds left during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Delta Center on March 21, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Getty Images “Ain’t tweeted in a min but that’s ballllllllll,” Lonzo Ball posted on X in the moments after the call.
“Samford was called for a foul…COME ON! This was ALL BALL,” former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel wrote.
On the roundtable show after the game, analyst Kenny Smith also blasted officials.
“We sat here and watched them review like seven calls, but they couldn’t review that one,” Smith said.
After all of the hullabaloo, Kansas will next play Gonzaga in the second round.
