The ACC is Going to Hate the ‘Internets’

General Headscratchers NCS Basketball43

You think that Lee Fowler and the dinosaurs at NC State hate the ‘internets’?

Wait until savy fans become more active in benchmarking horrible officiating on YouTube and the internet. It is something that we wish that we had more time to around here. (Note: if you are a young, tech-savy fan with a desire and ability to painlessly transfer video to the internet, then drop us a line at [email protected]. We’d love to be more active in chronicling inconsistent officiating).

Section Six highlights this travesty of a no-call from Josh McRoberts at Duke. One of the videos on YouTube titles this “Duke player moonwalks”. So appropriate.

‘Poor Duke.’ They get spoiled by this kind of officiating treatment all regular season and then they wonder why they can’t more National Championships when their games are called by zebras who aren’t as intimidated or bad as the ACC refs. Because of this I fear the worst on Saturday.

State has managed to play 17 games without experiencing any game-altering foul trouble. I sure hope that the refs don’t take McCauley or Costner out of the game on Saturday in match-ups against Josh McRoberts. Additionally, if the Blue Devils are allowed to hand check and physically smother the Wolfpack’s thin squad on Saturday we may have 35 turnovers and lose by 30.

For a little more clarification of ^these comments, allow us to elevate BJD’s comments from our discussion section below:

To be honest, I think the only team that REALLY gets extra benefit from the refs is Duke. I think you can say that b/c of the OBJECTIVE results in the NCAAT, where recent Duke teams have had trouble adjusting to neutral officiating (Duke gets into foul trouble with a short bench, and also doesn’t get FTs on every flop). IMHO, there is no similar effect with respect to UNC. Yes, a few of their guys (cough, Hansbrough, cough) get “star” treatment, but not really any different than star players on other teams.

And no, I don’t think NC State gets disproportionately screwed. Not in the least

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General Headscratchers NCS Basketball

43 Responses to The ACC is Going to Hate the ‘Internets’

  1. packbackr04 01/19/2007 at 2:00 PM #

    yeah branjawn, send in the football players to send a msg… make some hard fouls on em and make em think twice about going hard to the rim next time.

    they call me the bus driver kid… cuz im about to take you to school

  2. choppack1 01/19/2007 at 2:12 PM #

    “Fight fouls with fouls.”

    I don’t think that strategy works. You have to be aggressive, but play your game. I think if we play like we played at Wake, but take better care of the ball, we can take these guys.

    Also, I don’t blame Coach K or Roy or Pitino for playing a very aggressive, slapping and handchecking D – I blame the officials and the ACC for not having the guts to call it.

  3. branjawn 01/19/2007 at 2:13 PM #

    …and I don’t want anyone to think of that strategy s lowering ourselves to Duke’s level, or not being who we are, or whatever cliche you want to use. Think of this, a boxer makes adjustments depending on the type of fighter his opponent is. He doesn’t play the same way (e.g. Sendek) no matter what the opponent or his situation in the late rounds. A successful fighter (businessman, basketball team, parent, etc.) makes adjustments and picks a strategy that will give success given the outside variables which aren’t in his control.

  4. packbackr04 01/19/2007 at 2:15 PM #

    cojones chop, cojones, the refs dont have the cojones to make those calls

  5. branjawn 01/19/2007 at 2:15 PM #

    Oh, I’m stoked that the game is going to be on network tv here in NY!! I guess there’s one thing I can thank D00k for, getting me a State game on tv up here. :o)

  6. redfred2 01/19/2007 at 2:19 PM #

    Well, if the State are not playing just as aggressively back, and aren’t pushing to see if they can’t get away with it too, then you can’t really bitch about the officiating. You can boo it, but you can’t really compare it.

  7. Dan 01/19/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    Chop is right. Fighting fouls with fouls wont work.

    You have to match their intensity each and every play. And that is no easy task with Duke. K is the best in the business at keeping his guys from taking a possession off. And that’s on offense and defense. I’m not saying its 100% perfect, but its better than anyone else right now.

    I’m really going to be watching how are guys pass the ball. The way Duke overplays their man on defense demands crisp and accurate passing. Our guys have been lobbing passes this year more than they havent. That would spell doom.

    and, btw, I freaking love Sid, but the NBA style of play just doesnt demand the type of intensity that the college game does. And remember, Sid wasnt with the Pistons when they were winning with D. I’m not saying this is a “test” for Sidney. With the roster he has that is just not fair. Its just going to be interesting to see how we respond to what Duke does.

  8. shellnc 01/19/2007 at 2:35 PM #

    I think if you are going to get called for the fouls, then at least get your money’s worth. Then if it gets out of hand you can blame the refs. A little clipping and blocking behind the back never hurt anybody. If Duke wants to play football, the by golly let’s play some football.

  9. branjawn 01/19/2007 at 2:37 PM #

    “You have to match their intensity each and every play.”

    Well, I think sometimes their “intensity” is what we are talking about in phantom charges, hacking at the ball, going over the back leading to a fast break dunk. They seem intense b/c of the very calls we are talking about here.

    LOL, I’m not saying what I just wrote is fact, but I just wanted to be devil’s advocate on that one. No pun.

  10. Dan 01/19/2007 at 2:47 PM #

    bran, that is fair point. I’m just saying when you watch a Duke game watch the difference between the Duke players’ hands and feet on defense and the opposition’s hands and feet on defense. Most of the time (not all mind you) you’ll see them moving noticeably more. They are just more active when it comes to most opponents.

    SFN: It’s hard for them to move their hands when they are placed firmly on the opponent.
    🙂

  11. redfred2 01/19/2007 at 2:48 PM #

    “Fighting fouls with fouls wont work.”

    Not right now, not for us, it will not. But some where along the way some player has to think back to last trip down where he thinks he was possibly fouled, and then try to closely imitate less severely on our end. You have to try to make the officials look bad, and give the fans a reason to boo, or you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.

  12. JimValvano 01/19/2007 at 3:12 PM #

    The reason these other teams can pull off their rough housing in the lane is because their players are physically stronger than ours. They push our guys around, but it doesn’t look to be that bad because it never really takes extended arms or a whole lot of effort…so its not that obvious, but when our guys try to get physical back…it looks more obvious because we’re not quite as physically developed yet and with all the effort it takes…it makes it too obvious. That is what happened against BC the other week. Boozer and Sheldon Williams both used to kill us with that.
    I will say that I can’t wait to see our boys Costner and McCauley go against McRoberts…I keep thinking that both of our boys are every bit as talented as McRoberts and I can’t wait to see our boys prove it.

  13. choppack1 01/19/2007 at 3:23 PM #

    RF – You see, that’s just the problem – there are 2 different standards.

    IMHO, the best way to beat Duke and Roy’s Heels (who play a very similar style) – will be w/ depth, intenisity, toughness and taking care of the ball. Last year, we did that on the road vs. both UNC and Duke even though the outcome wasn’t favorable. Now, at home vs. UNC – that’s a totally different story.

  14. vtpackfan 01/19/2007 at 4:45 PM #

    All of this explains why we need Atsur so badly tommarrow. He can be gritty and not let officials or hand checks unravel him, and I suspect that would rub off on guys like Horner and McCauley.

  15. redfred2 01/19/2007 at 5:28 PM #

    “there are 2 different standards.”

    Chop, I know that, but you can’t run and hide from it or let it just continue to happen throughout the course of the game. That’s why the momentum and crunch time calls seem to always go Duke’s way, they were building up to that for the first 35 minutes. Wisely setting stage for their own good fortune, coming by way of the slanted late game officiating.

    The earlier they are called on it on the court and the more obvious it’s made in the beginning, the more chance it will change. Say for at least two or three minutes anyway.

  16. bTHEredterror 01/19/2007 at 8:55 PM #

    Dan was right on. The holding analogy was perfect. In the NFL, the hold is almost never called unless it is at the point of attack or blatant. Duke’s hand-checking and moving screens are similar. They do it every play, so you can only call it when it is obvious or impacts the play (and granted, sometimes they don’t call it then). I consider this and the four corners strategy to be cut from the same cloth. It is an (arguably) brilliant coaching tactic, though I find it cowardly and dishonorable. Such is the state of things in our current sports climate. The Patriots had a similar approach a few years ago, and since the NFL is run much more professionally than the ACC, they amended the rules to counter the tactic. Swofford and the Baby Blue Mafia would never have the drive or guts to make such a statement as to force Duke to obey the rules.

    As much as I hate to say it, a lot of the calls we see as biased are earned. Better players who are well coached tend to put lesser players in positions where they have to foul. Recently, the ‘holes and Dookies have clearly had better talent than us. There have been some horrid calls I grant you, and I believe there is a bias to the higher ranked team in any game. But I see nothing pernicious, just basic human nature.

    The effect the refs have on the game is not deciding who wins, as much as how the game is played. If they allow Duke to batter us on the perimeter it will get ugly for us. If they call it tight, I think we have a better than average shot. Good comments by most.

  17. Packaholic1 02/02/2007 at 8:20 AM #

    Wake me when the revolution starts…

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  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Frank Haith Gets It (Updated with Video) - 02/01/2007

    […] Updated: 2/1 @ 2:15pm Thanks to the N&O for this blog entry. They have turned our attention to the following YouTube video from last night. We TOLD YOU that the ACC is going to hate the internets! Folks, this is only the beginning of a revolution. […]

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