*yawn* Duke vs Carolina for ACC Championship

ACC College Basketball31

The Clemson Tigers held a ten point lead at the start of the second half of Saturday’s ACC semi-final against UNC-Chapel Hill. It was then that StateFansNation tweeted the following:

Poor Clemson. They actually know what is getting ready to happen to them. It’s happened dozens of times in the past.

Like clockwork, it began (again).

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what was coming; only someone with an IQ above 75 who had ever watched a few ACC Basketball games (and aren’t biased towards the North Carolina Tar Heels).

Before you could blink, three of Clemson’s star players had been whistled for three fouls each. With 13:44 to go in the game – just 6 minutes and 16 seconds into the second half – the Tigers had been whistled for seven fouls and the Tar Heels were shooting one-and-ones. (Compare this to multiple games – including Carolina’s hosting of Clemson and the Tar Heels visit to the RBC Center – where the mighty Tar Heels managed to play more than 19 minutes of the second half without getting close to being called for the most minimal of seven team fouls.)

Not that any of that would be a surprise –North Carolina shot 48 MORE FREE THROWS than Clemson in the three games the teams played against each other this season. We all knew.

Who really f*ing cares anymore?

Want to know why a large majority of longtime ACC fans don’t give a shit anymore? Just look at today’s rematch for the ACC Championship between…who would’ve guessed it…Duke and Carolina. Since 1997, only Maryland and the belligerent Gary Williams have been able to crack the strong hold that the color blue and the vertical black and white stripes of officials have had on the conference tournament.

It is at this point where strongly encourage you to read this conversation for a lot more on the topic of the broken ACC.

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ACC College Basketball

31 Responses to *yawn* Duke vs Carolina for ACC Championship

  1. bradleyb123 03/13/2011 at 10:13 PM #

    “While Duke and UNC do get alot of calls, it is not the reason they win. The reason they win is recruiting and coaching.”

    I won’t argue with that except to say that if a team constantly gets a little help from their friends, it makes it a little easier to get those wins. Over time, the team develops a mystique, and gains a mental advantage over their opponents. I believe the league likes it’s pet teams, and bends over backwards to accommodate them. The result is a few extra wins here and there. I still remember the infamous “eight point play” Carolina got against State several years ago with about five minutes left in a game (I think Damon Thornton was here then). Seems like they hit a three, the refs called a foul, and I think a technical, too. When the dust settled, Carolina and the refs had turned a 7 point State lead into a 1 point Carolina lead. Sure, it was still just a one point game. But it may as well have been a 20 point lead. The managed to kill every bit of our momentum, and we certainly had it until that point. Sure, if we had been a little better team, we could have overcome that and still found a way to win. But the damage was done. The advantage was given to Carolina, and they won the game.

    I’m convinced that the refs give a timely “helpful nudge” to the Heels when they need it most. Like someone said earlier, it seems you have to beat them by 15 to beat them by one. There’s a lot of truth to that.

  2. bradleyb123 03/13/2011 at 10:16 PM #

    “Another odd call was the “holding” on Curry. As is usually the case, it was quite mild compared to what had gone on for both sides during the game, but UNX was building momentum and the call seemed out of place.”

    I thought the same thing at first. But I believe Curry put both hands on the UNC player simultaneously, and I think that’s an automatic foul. But it was weak. And not long after that, I saw Zeller put his hand all over the shoulder of a Duke player, too. No call.

    Zeller got his third foul against State before halftime. I remember thinking (no… KNOWING) that there was not a chance he’d foul out. Of course, he didn’t. I don’t even think he got his fourth foul until pretty late.

    Uncanny, isn’t it?

    It’s too uncanny, and happens too often, to be legit. It’s like reading a script. You can almost predict it.

  3. NCSU84 03/13/2011 at 11:08 PM #

    So its a conspiracy. The officials get together with league management in back rooms and scheme to give UNC the benefit of the doubt. Officials are told to give UNC any break they can. Please, give me a break. Let’s not become whiners just because our teams have not been able to consistently beat UNC or Duke for the past 20 years. Real losers always claim they have been cheated out of games – makes them feel better I guess. Let’s not fall into that category.

  4. wufpup76 03/13/2011 at 11:56 PM #

    ^That’s a fair point, NCSU84, but I think it’s dismissive to just say it’s *all* ‘whining’ or ‘jealousy’.

    I think there’s something to that; at the same time, all this stuff is supposed to be objective and I don’t think the ACC has been objective for a long time.

    Certain teams do get “all the breaks”. And they get them each and every time. Tried and true. Yeah, you make your own luck, but no team gets all the breaks all the time. Unless you’re blue. And you play in the ACC.

    I don’t think it takes too much to change it though. Duke lost Coach K for a season and all of a sudden they weren’t getting every call and they sucked. Doh lost his last two teams at the Hole and those teams didn’t get every call for sure. I think a lot of it gets down to who’s *supposed* to be good.

    A loose analogy – once the Braves had established Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz did they or did they not get the benefit of every corner of the plate / off the plate strike call? Most of the time, overwhelmingly yes. Does anybody remember the Braves getting calls or the benefit of the doubt in the late ’80’s? He** no.

  5. wolfpack4ever 03/14/2011 at 12:03 AM #

    Sure UNCheat and Duke have better or a larger number of highly sought recruits but I am with the ones who believe that there is not a level playing field for all of the league.

    The ACC and Swofford are all about the money. Where is Swofford’s allegiance? He is a tarhole to the core. TV money comes from viewership. What ACC teams (at the present time) give the ESPN’s and NCAA tournament TV the highest ratings? Duke and the holes.

    We may not call it a conspiracy, but I do believe there is a wink and a nod, unwritten rules so to speak. There are reasons that most feel that the ACC officiating is, well, let’s say not good. As someone mentioned earlier, far too many times do the holes and Duke get benefits of marginal or bang bang calls. JMHO

  6. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/14/2011 at 6:31 AM #

    I remember reading in Valvano’s book a little story he told about UNC and the officials. I have not seen the story in years but as I remember…

    The coaches were at their annual meeting and the ACC had requested that the teams should start providing tickets to the official’s family at team’s home games. Valvano writes that Dean responded: tickets? We already provide tickets AND hotel rooms.

    I’m sorry if I have this incorrect but this is how I remember the story.

    Jim Valvano, on assistant coaches who take over for a fired head coach: “Are you saying that the assistant had the answers all along, he just wasn’t telling anyone?”

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