Not in first place? No foul for you.

What a terrible end to an otherwise hard-fought game.

As Monday's Georgetown-Villanova tilt at the Verizon Center entered its final moments - any by final moments, I mean 0.1 seconds left in regulation - the teams were tied at 53. That is, until Georgetown guard Jonathan Wallace was brushed by a Villanova defender during a loose ball scramble and granted a miraculous foul some 80 feet from his own basket.

Wallace, Georgetown's best free throw shooter, of course iced the game, sending Nova to their 6th loss in their past 7 conference games.

In a league where the refs view WWE-style takedowns around the basket as sound, fundamental basketball, this particular call was, as Bill Raftery would say, "a nickel-dimer".

In fact, I think he did.

Big East basketball. Excellence in officiating on display nightly at 7.