DeCourcy: Suspending ACC officials was the wrong call

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DeCourcy posts his take that suspending the ACC officials was the wrong thing to do.

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30 Responses to DeCourcy: Suspending ACC officials was the wrong call

  1. choppack 02/08/2006 at 3:18 PM #

    Billy Packer knows where his bread is buttered. If there’s a conspiracy here – I imagine it’s between the ACC office, the media, Duke and UNC-Ch. I’m sorry – but to me it’s very strange that virtually all of the media is falling all over themselves to say basically – “this is foolish. Duke doesn’t get good calls.”

    Maybe it’s one of those understood things – like if you ever want to interview Coach K again, you won’t write anything critical about these refs. Or maybe you’ll lose that media pass to cover the ACC tourney. But this is an area where I am very suspicious.

  2. HeelsFan 02/08/2006 at 9:14 PM #

    ^
    “If there’s a conspiracy here – I imagine it’s between the ACC office, the media, Duke and UNC-Ch”

    First of all my neighbor is a prominent N&O sportswriter and I’ve asked him many times over the years if anyone from the ACC has EVER mentioned “tweaking” what he writes to accomodate Duke or UNC (or to demean NCSU………… It’s a ridiculous scenario he says. But people will always want to find an excuse to bring down those “on top”

    Basketball speaking, it’s interesting that SFN bloggers like to talk about the officiating during the Dean Smith era. Remember that Dean’s offenses were motion offenses with lots of screening DESIGNED to take low block high percentage shots or get fouled. His defenses were (like zone traps) were innovations that many players or teams had never seen, creating the modern day “charge” call for example. Of course Dean “worked the officials”…….another innovation.

    With Duke the scenario Coach K has taken “working the officials” to a new low or high however you want to look at it. With Duke over the years, they certainly have great basketball players that play with an intensity not many teams can match for a few minutes, much less 40. Coach K has been a master at playing defense “right at the edge of the rules”…….. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not.

    Bottom line, there is NO conspriracy, just superior basketball at Duke and UNC over the years. The years NCSU was on top, well, I’ll bet DT and Tommy B. drew the fouls, and went to the line much more than their opponents.

    A great article is in ACCToday, by Al Featherston.

  3. class of '74 02/09/2006 at 8:02 AM #

    ^”Of course Dean worked the officials another innovation.” NOT TRUE!!! This “innovation” goes back to the days of “The Baron” at UK. Long before Saint Dean.

  4. ncsslim 02/09/2006 at 9:13 AM #

    I don’t have a significant recollection of officiating in David’s sophomore and junior seasons, but I vividly remember two games in his senior season that illustrated the difference between Sloan and Smith in regard to control of the “situation”: one at Clemson where David was taken out with 5 tick tacks with very minor playing time, and the other in the ACC championship game (which cost the defending champs a return to the Dance) where freshman Phil Ford assumed the role of the darling. I don’t recall where a multi-time POY superstar was treated with such disregard in his senior season, either prior or since (not that there have been significant numbers to compare with David at any time).

    With the point being: even in the glory days, there was a pecking order, only with Dean ruling the roost instead of K.

  5. SaccoV 02/09/2006 at 9:45 AM #

    “Working the officials” is an innovation? Look, although I agree with ncsslim that the index card will not account for calls not made and other various calls which could sway momentum (like a jump-ball for instance), the real issue is free-throw disparity. It’s the only indicator that really tells the story. Now, of course there are athletic players on all the ACC teams, none of which is more athletic in my opinion (especially at the guard position) than Miami. Post-physical presence in the conference is dominated by Boston College. We have already seen instances where the calls definitely hurt both BC and FSU (another athletic team) in games against Duke. The other point to mention is that Duke is not nearly as deep as they have been in the past. Without that depth, Duke is vulnerable to foul trouble, which miraculously, they are never in (even in Chapel Hill the other night). Considering that Carolina made a living under Dean Smith by shooting more free throws than his opponents attempted, it’s not too difficult to see how he won so many games. Like turnover ratio in football, if your defense gets more turnovers than it gives up, you will win a majority of your games. Media outlets are always quick to criticize football referees for noted incompetence, but ACC basketball referees are never held in check for inconsistencies in officiating. The suspension was a nice gesture, but even it didn’t help much in the Miami/NC State game because lots of fouls went uncalled both ways. Only 36 total fouls were called with 50 minutes of play. State only attempted ONE more free throw than Miami. Even though the calls could have been better, one team (neither home nor road) benefitted too greatly from such a wide free throw margin.

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