Refs Blatantly Steal Game From Clemson (Update: ACC “Handles Internally”)

06-07 Basketball General Headscratchers NCS Basketball95

SFN commentary: Just yesterday Duke Basketball Report took a shot at SFN for daring to discuss officiating in Duke games. LOL! and kiss our ass.

January 26 Update: The ACC does acknowledge the mistake, but nonsensically, it appears no discipline is forthcoming. Quote from Clueless Clougherty:

“At this point, as with most league officiating matters, this situation has been handled and resolved internally.”

I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am. This was no run of the mill judgment error. A strong statement needed to be made for the integrity of the league…and we didn’t get that. I can only imagine how incensed the Tiger faithful must be. Oh, and hat tip to one of my rare work colleagues who is a fellow Wolfpack fan (and SFN lurker).

(Original post follows.)

I don’t know how many of you saw what I just saw. The ESPN announcers (Mike Patrick and Len Elmore, I think) completely soft-pedaled it. The game recap doesn’t even mention the clock change as questionable! But Clemson just got screwed worse than any team since Missouri lost to Colorado on the infamous “5th down” play.

Watch the video on YouTube.com

Here’s the scene – Duke inbounding the ball, up 3, with 5.0 seconds to play. McRoberts throws the ball directly to Tiger guard Vernon Hamilton. Hamilton steps one foot back and nails a 3 to tie the game. However, there is a delay in both starting and stopping the game clock. The teams go to timeout with 1.8 seconds on the clock. However, the officials look at the replay and either stupidly or crookedly decide that there was a timing error and the previous play really only took 0.6 seconds total – laws of physics be damned. Given 4.4 seconds, Duke runs a play to get McClure a runner in the lane, released with 0.2 seconds on the clock.

I’m serious – if you are a Duke fan, you should be ashamed to call that a win. If you are Oliver Purnell, you had better complain as loudly and publicly as you can – to hell with fines and the league office. If you are ACC Commissioner John Swofford, you must suspend the official who made that decision for at least the rest of the season. Otherwise, the credibility of the entire league should come into question. It’s one thing not to call the perpetually hand-checking Devils for any fouls (Paulus had to foul intentionally in the last minute to ensure that Clemson would be in the bonus should Duke need to foul later), but to give them at least 2 extra seconds for a final shot in a tie game? You are entering the 1970s USA/USSR Olympic gold medal game territory.

As a departing shot, thanks to 850TheBuzz for reminding us all that ‘Duke is too good to be celebrating like that’. I wonder how Coach K justifies the hypocrisy?

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

06-07 Basketball General Headscratchers NCS Basketball

95 Responses to Refs Blatantly Steal Game From Clemson (Update: ACC “Handles Internally”)

  1. 66pack 01/26/2007 at 12:22 PM #

    agree with the dapackster

  2. jhmd2000 01/26/2007 at 12:37 PM #

    Danny Ferry, Trajan Langdon, Cherokee Parks, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Jason/Jay/Jasmine Williams, Steve Wojohow?ski, Chrstine Collins, Ala Abdelnabby, Shane Battier, J.J. Redick, Michael Dunleavy, Eric the Meek, Daniel Ewing, Louise Deng,…heck, everybody except Carlos Boozer and Elton Brand played their best basketball, relative to their peers, in front of ACC refs.

    No one on the above list (or any other list you can compile in the last 25 years who played at Dook) started for an NBA champion.

    Fizzle, fizzle, fizzle…for shizzle.

  3. cpwolfpackfan 01/26/2007 at 12:42 PM #

    doatesjr, the VA-UNC game was UNC attempted 41 fts, UVA attempted 11 free throws, i just went back and looked. I don’t care what you say about every fan complains about calls, but 41-11 is just damn crazy, there is no way there should be that big of a difference and everyone knows it

  4. Packaholic1 01/26/2007 at 12:45 PM #

    Dreaming of the day something like this happens to tarjoles…

  5. cpwolfpackfan 01/26/2007 at 12:46 PM #

    I know there is a talent difference in the teams, and I am not taking anthing away form UNC and DUKE, they are great programs, but as long as they are good, we as in the acc gets the big TV deals and such. SO you can not sit there and tell me that the heads of the ACC want them to be good, and When there is a chance to “help” them out a little it is done and every one knows that. The acc with a good duke and UNC, is more attractive money wise that the acc with CLemson and Va Tech as the top two teams. I am not saying it is a all out conspiricy, but the world is run by money. YOu can take from that what you want

  6. doatesjr 01/26/2007 at 1:04 PM #

    Well, the poster said FOULS (actually founls :-), not free throw attempts, so sorry for trying to be accurate. Sure, that ‘s a big difference, no doubt. Again, a large portion of that can be attributed to UNC’s efforts to get the ball into the post, with UVA’s more jump shot oriented offense. Singletary and Reynolds (guards) attempt most of UVA’s free throws, Hansbrough and Wright (forwards/centers) attempt most of UNC’s.

    Nobody’s trying to say that teams like UNC and Duke don’t get a lot of calls, but there are reasons involved other than conspiracies. Notice that successful teams usually get the benefit, esp. at home. Officiating is a difficult and subjective process, and always will be. If a great player on a great team goes against an average player on an average team, who do you think gets the call if it could go either way?

    That’s what makes the Clemson call so frustrating, that in this instance it was NOT subjective and could have easily been called correctly if the officials would have taken the time to do it.

  7. choppack1 01/26/2007 at 1:09 PM #

    “Nobody’s trying to say that teams like UNC and Duke don’t get a lot of calls, but there are reasons involved other than conspiracies. Notice that successful teams usually get the benefit, esp. at home. Officiating is a difficult and subjective process, and always will be. If a great player on a great team goes against an average player on an average team, who do you think gets the call if it could go either way?”

    Doates – actually – if the refs give the better teams the benefit of the doubt, there IS a conspiracy.

  8. doatesjr 01/26/2007 at 1:44 PM #

    According to Wiktionary: Conspiracy – act of working in secret to obtain some goal. So I doubt giving a better team the benefit of the doubt in a close call is a conspiracy, unless you think that the refs are “out to get you” in secret (which a lot of people who post here seem to think). If anyone truly believes that officials are secretly out to make UNC/Duke win and everyone else lose, then there’s no help for you (and beware of the little green men).

  9. gumbydammit 01/26/2007 at 2:08 PM #

    Look on the bright side. At least it wasn’t State getting bent over by the ACC on this one.

  10. Lee Fowler 01/26/2007 at 2:37 PM #

    Relative parody over 40+ years is what made the ACC great, not the inflated Nike contracts exclusive to Duke and UNC. Remember how competitive games were top to bottom from 1972-1989? You never knew who was going to win on any given night, and it made our league absolutely AWESOME.

    This blatant rigging of games that is condoned (if not sanctioned) by the league office has to stop.

  11. choppack1 01/26/2007 at 2:50 PM #

    “So I doubt giving a better team the benefit of the doubt in a close call is a conspiracy, unless you think that the refs are “out to get you” in secret (which a lot of people who post here seem to think). If anyone truly believes that officials are secretly out to make UNC/Duke win and everyone else lose, then there’s no help for you (and beware of the little green men).”

    If there’s a conscience decision to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but not offer it to the other – THE PLAYING FIELD IS NOT LEVEL.

    ACC officials DO NOT ADMIT THEY DO IT. AS A RESULT, IT IS SECRET.

    I don’t know if refs are intentionally doing this or not. It is just strange that there are 2 sets of rules. If one side gets the benefit of the doubt – your rationale for this disparity -then that’s wrong.

    I will say this, the only time I felt officiating was fair in a basketball was when I was coached a Y team for a year. I didn’t like the way the first game was called – but after that, I was thrilled w/ the officiating. If I wanted the refs to call something, I’d alert them to it. I went as far as counting out loud when a kid was in the lane too long once, but once I got that call – it was unnecessary to do it again.

    One thing that is lost here is that Coach K and Dean Smith both work the refs very hard. I’ve stated it before that it’s entirely possible you must treat refs like you would a disobedient dog in order to get satisfaction in this area. In that respect, perhaps it’s the coach’s fault for not humiliating the officials in such a fashion that they respond accordingly.

  12. Gene 01/26/2007 at 3:07 PM #

    So I doubt giving a better team the benefit of the doubt in a close call is a conspiracy

    Duke has been getting the benefit of calls, even when they play other good teams, for several years now.

    The league is turning a blind eye to bad officiating, which benefits Duke (and UNC) and puts other teams at a disadvantage.

    When you constantly watch a team get away with fouls, there is something fishy going on and it needs to be addressed. Close games are won or lost by non-calls or bad calls, at times. When one team is the constant beneficiary of these calls, it hurts the competition in this league.

    I agree with the belief about T.V. revenue dictating Swofford, et. al., turning a blind eye towards this kind of thing. ESPN whore’s themselves out, every time Duke-Carolina play, like no other rivalry in college basketball. The game’s been hyped beyond all other rivalries, by ESPN.
    Kentucky – Louisville is a hotly contested rivalry, by two schools, with great traditions, but isn’t given anywhere near the kind of attention Duke-UNC gets.

    We’re going to get stomped by Duke and UNC this year, but hopefully, when we are in close games, we won’t be the victim of phanton fouls, no-calls on things like offensive goal tending, Dookie’s doing the two-step with their pivot foot, screwed up clock management, etc. because those things will be the difference between us losing and winning.

    We need to keep up – for whatever it’s worth – some public focus on the “benefits” Duke gets by the way its games are officiated.

    Interesting analysis of Duke’s basketball program.

    http://www.coachksucks.com/

  13. Gene 01/26/2007 at 3:09 PM #

    *EDIT: because those things will be the difference between us losing and winning. Replace: will with can

  14. Rick 01/26/2007 at 3:30 PM #

    http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/index.php?title=acc_admits_to_error_in_duke_clemson_game&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

    They admit error but do not publicly punish the officials. What kind of message does that send. Screw up and we will “handle it internally”. Just like UNC has always done. HMMMMM

  15. Keystone 01/26/2007 at 3:32 PM #

    The News and Observer just posted an article stating that the ACC coordinator of basketball officials acknowledges that a timing error was made. Of course, everything’s being handled internally.
    At least this issue is finally getting some attention and not being swept under the rug.

  16. Woof Wolf 01/26/2007 at 3:36 PM #

    “1st and 10” on ESPN did a three or four minute spot on “the call” and “the Duke conspiracy.” Their opinions are about the same as ours.

  17. choppack1 01/26/2007 at 3:39 PM #

    Well, whoopty f-in doo…This seems to happen at least once a year – and it just keeps happening. I

  18. BJD95 01/26/2007 at 3:42 PM #

    I view the blogs as critical in highlighting travesties like this – and the underlying seedy pattern. The “internal discipline” likely involved a reminder to be less obvious when cutting Duke a break in the future (maybe set the clock to 3.8 instead).

  19. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 01/26/2007 at 3:46 PM #

    I will probably get some of the details of this story wrong but I remember Valvano’s story about an annual meeting of ACC coaches. V was saying the league thought teams should provide tickets for officials for the games they are working. Dean replied something like, Tickets? Hell we take care of their hotel rooms and meals too.

    Someone may remember the story better than I but I thought the story was appropriate for this subject.

  20. TNCSU 01/26/2007 at 4:17 PM #

    ^^Relative parody over 40+ years is what made the ACC great, not the inflated Nike contracts exclusive to Duke and UNC. Remember how competitive games were top to bottom from 1972-1989? You never knew who was going to win on any given night, and it made our league absolutely AWESOME.

    Couldn’t agree more! Ralph Sampson and the UVa teams, Lenny Bias and the Maryland teams, State, Ga Tech, Wake (every so often) etc. top to bottom, those teams were all competitive with Dook and UNC — now, it’s not the competition they want, it’s the $$$$$$$$ that the Dook and UNC games bring. If they start to lose to the Clemson’s and FSU’s, well…then Kentucky or UConn might get the publicity.

  21. beowolf 01/26/2007 at 4:24 PM #

  22. choppack1 01/26/2007 at 4:31 PM #

    I view the blogs as critical in highlighting travesties like this – and the underlying seedy pattern. The “internal discipline” likely involved a reminder to be less obvious when cutting Duke a break in the future (maybe set the clock to 3.8 instead).

    I agree 100%…In the past you wouldn’t have seen such a quick apology/acknowlegement.

  23. BJD95 01/26/2007 at 4:32 PM #

    ^^ Thanks, Beo. I have copied your brilliant work into the main text of the post.

  24. vtpackfan 01/26/2007 at 4:45 PM #

    Primetime withe Pacman may have put it best so far.

    “You couldn’t pick up a shot gun gun and an fire a hole through the backboard at 19’9″ in .6 seconds”

  25. tractor57 01/26/2007 at 4:47 PM #

    I don’t really know if there was “funny business” as I was half asleep when the events happened but it surely did look strange.
    The answer from the conference office was basically what I expected “Nothing here, move along”.
    It certainly isn’t above reproach – remides me of some of the Lenny Wirtz calls over the years.

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