ADOB: A true show of character

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. | Samir Doughty could have hidden in the bathroom.

He could have sought exile in the coaches' suite to avoid the lights and the questions and the scrutiny after the Tigers' 63-62 loss to Virginia Saturday. After all, it was his foul with six-tenths of a second remaining that allowed the Cavaliers to turn a two-point deficit into a national semifinal victory.

Yet Doughty instead retreated to the one place guaranteed to deepen the pain. He sat down at his locker, pursed his lips, let out a deep breath and began answering questions about the defeat and his role in it.

"I didn’t feel any contact," Doughty said. "I didn’t think I fouled him, but the refs thought otherwise. I trust their decisions at all times. That’s why they’re reffing the Final Four. I’ll get a chance to look at that myself and I’ll judge it myself. I’ll be my own ref."

There is no protocol for moments like these. Doughty, a junior, played a very good game Saturday night. He'd led the team in scoring with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting. He'd been an inspirational aggressor against the Cavaliers' pack-line defense that often spawns passivity from opponents. It was a culmination of sorts for Doughty, who struggled throughout the first three months of the season before raising his level of play during his team's remarkable March run.

Yet one decision put all that into the rear-view mirror.

Virginia, down two points, had 1.6 seconds to create a miracle. It arrived in the form of a relatively unsupervised curl in the corner from UVA guard Kyle Guy. Doughty hustled to get himself in position — paying particular attention to remaining upright and not interfering with Guy's follow-through.

While Doughty's successfully avoided contact with Guy's hands, referee James Breeding called a foul when Guy flailed his legs after releasing an errant shot. Did contact occur?

That's a matter of interpretation.

And Doughty's opinion?

"That ain't no foul," he said.

Now Doughty is left to ponder the meaning of that moment for days, months and surely years. The sting will subside — either thanks to the salve of time or grand successes that replace the bad memories — but Doughty's decision to answer every last question during the darkest moment of his career says more about him than a controversial call ever will.

"I know everybody in here’s got my back 100 percent. I’ve got everybody’s back," Doughty said. "I have tough skin. I definitely would have loved to win. Things are going to happen. I’m going to put all my trust into God and live like that."

As the horde of reporters filed out of the locker room after player availability expired, Doughty was still doing what he could to clarify his position on things.

"Anybody else? I’m up for all questions," he said.