It appears Charleston got robbed against Auburn (Video)

No one picked Auburn to get upset, but all of our brackets should probably be busted had it not been for a blown call.

Twice in one day, March Madness brackets hung in the balance as officials dictated what would happen. Earlier in the day on Friday, officials may or may not have blown a call that cost Wichita State a chance to win its first-round game.

Brackets were busted as a result.

Later in the evening, Auburn was on the ropes against Charleston and it looked like just about everyone would be busting out the red marker. That was until officials blew a foul call that should have sent Charleston to the line for three (potentially game-tying) free throws.

It wasn’t called, and brackets remained intact.

This is how the bracket gods operate — the giveth and taketh away with the blow of a whistle.

It was pretty clear in the Wichita State game that the Shockers should have been given possession of a ball that went out of bounds off a Marshall player’s fingers. The same thing can be said for the no-call for Charleston — it’s not hard to see.

With just seconds left to go in a three-point game, Charleston’s Grant Riller was fouled on a three-point shot that should have sent him to the line to tie the game. The call wasn’t made, however, and the Cougars lost the game.

It doesn’t take a slow-motion replay to see that this was pretty clearly a foul. Unlike the call that didn’t go in favor of Wichita State earlier in the day, this didn’t go to review.

Swallowing the whistle is usually what we want officials to do when big games are down to the wire. But it’s pretty clear that this was a foul, and the result should have been Charleston’s chance to tie the game with free buckets.

The difference is, almost no one picked Auburn to lose this game and some people have them making a run to or beyond the Sweet 16. So circumstance dictates that this was the right call and we can all carry on highlighting our brackets without having to feel dirty about it.