Yes, it's hard to comprehend the paranoia of some UNC fans. While there were certainly a few questionable calls that went against them (including that Hicks play late), reality is that college officiating is so poor that every team is going to be the on the wrong side of some bad calls from time to time. You just have to play through it. For whatever reason, a segment of UNC fans seem to be under the delusion that they root for the only team in America that is constantly being victimized by a corrupt and unfair whistle -- often driven by overzealous coaches who "intimidate" the refs to give them a call. I can certainly understand their frustration with that Hicks play -- and would probably be whining about that call if it had gone against us. But it's certainly hard to understand the reactions of some.
While I thought UNC played an outstanding game last night, IMO, Nova was clearly the better team for much of last night. In fact, I highly doubt this game would have come down to the last possession if it were not for an astonishingly good shooting performance (11 of 17 from 3) from a UNC team that normally doesn't shoot the ball well at all. 11 of 17 would be a historic night for a 3 pt. shooting team like Duke. It's incomprehensibly lucky for a team like UNC that didn't have a single 40% 3 pt. shooter on its entire roster. Joel Berry, for instance, entered last night with only one performance on his resume where he made more than 3s -- and that was a game where he went 5 of 9. Last night he was 4 of 4 from 3. That's insane. UNC would have been run out of the gym the way they were playing had it not been for their 3 top perimeter players being as hot as they've been the entire season.