Kansas, 86 FF.
Possibly the beginning of the "Duke gets all the calls" narrative. Kansas saddled with foul trouble the entire game. Larry Brown whined for days afterward, read Legends by John Feinstein, an excellent account. Brown simply hated Duke, witness the frosty pre and post game handshake with Coach K. A harbinger of what was to come in the finals against UL, as Alarie and Henderson went cold and Dawkins was the only consistent offense. Alarie did have a good overall game, to be fair, and was actually named Player of Game. Amaker hit a couple of big shots in the 2 half.
To the OP, When the outcome is known, Duke losing gets a lot better ratings. The majority of people who tune into Duke games actually watch to hope they lose (the irony, they whine how much Duke is on tv but they are a big reason nearly every Duke game is on tv).
Anyway, Duke gets all the calls. First off, there is a myth foul and free throw counts should be about even. Nothing could be further than the truth. In fact, the worst reffed games i have seen usually involve this. Second, the majority of games Duke needs to be fouled at the end of games. There are 3-5 calls right there. Third, the Duke gets all the calls mantra really took off in the 2001 final four. The Maryland game, Packer complains about the calls minutes into the game with the foul count 2-2. WTH? He does not say anything about Duke gets all the calls until Baxter(?) fouls out. While a weak-sauce call, technically was a foul. And Duke was up 5 with all the momentum. Most likely made little difference. But we have to explain a 33-point turnaround somehow. On a side note, unless the refs are blatantly obviously making ridiculous call after call, there is no excuse for losing a game up 22. Louisville took there lumps and did not, at least wide spread, complain about the refs last year. But somehow the national narrative, perpetuated by national media where i though this was a no-no, was Duke gets all the calls.
Duke-Zona final. It all centers around Jason Williams. When he was over the Zona player, that in most circumstances would have been called his third. Not taking into account his previous calls were weak sauce, Williams is not actually in contact with the Zona player. The irony is if the Zona player simply tried to stand up, it probably would have been called.
Finally, the aggressor usually gets the benefit of the calls (see the first 30 minutes to the last 10 of the 2015 championship game). Duke is usually more aggressive.
