That call

 You want to listen to Paige Bueckers this morning, because the young woman is as right as ham on rye. You want to listen to the kid because her head's screwed on straight and, even in the immediate aftermath of a crushing defeat, her wide-angle perspective is 20/20.

That offensive foul on Buecker's UConn teammate Aaliyah Edwards that Iowa's Gabby Marshall sold and the game officials bought?

Didn't cost UConn the game.

Didn't cost it the game even if it happened with 3.9 ticks left, UConn down one with the ball and plenty of time for hero shot.

Buecker's take on that?

"Everybody can make a big deal out of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game," she said after Iowa won 71-69 to reach the national championship game for the second straight year.

 Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am with a cherry on top.

First things first: The call on Edwards was one of the worst calls you're ever going to see. Marshall's chasing Bueckers, Edwards steps out to set a hard screen ... and, whoa, Marshall runs into it and bounces off it like Ricochet Rabbit (an admittedly ancient reference, so no geezer jokes, please). Even exercised a little dramatic license by flinging her arms up in the air.

Yeah, she sold it. And the refs bought it. And it sealed the W for the Hawkeyes.

But it didn't decide anything, as Bueckers said. It certainly contributed to the decision, but it wasn't the only thing that did.

Every athletic contest is a ladder of "what-ifs", see, and there are any number of steps to that ladder. What if UConn, which had a 12-point lead with 5:24 remaining in the first half, hadn't gone the next three minutes without scoring, allowing Iowa to cut the lead in half by halftime? What if Caitlin Clark doesn't go 3-of-5 from the 3-point arc in the second half after  missing all six of her tries from Threeville in the first half?

What if Clark doesn't score 15 of her 21 points in the second half? What if Iowa doesn't outrebound UConn by eight? What if Edwards does a better job inside against Hannah Stuelke, who led all scorers with 23 points?

What if Bueckers hits one more three? Or Edwards one more two?

Then the bogus call doesn't matter. Then Marshall makes her Oscar bid for nothing.

But because none of the above happened, it did matter. And it wasn't for nothing.

And we're all talking about it.