Chait on today's game
Chait's take on today's game:
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1202476
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I found his remark on the "now-customary Blue devil officiating edge" interesting. Does it explain a huge chunk of their wins? Not likely, but if Beilein is complaining, it probably at least exists.
For reference, check out the "Duke flops" section here:
http://www.thesportsjury.com/20110114924/cbb/why-we-still-hate-duke
Yes, that's a Tar Heel complaining (a disclosure made early in the post).
March 20th, 2011 at 11:45 PM ^
I think Smotrycz really got screwed on a couple calls today, but the officiating wasn't that favorable to Duke. To be honest, I expected that we'd get screwed by the refs a lot more than we did.
Constantly trying to pin every loss on officiating takes much of the fun out of watching basketball. (Unless we're talking about Ohio State during the regular season....that shit was ridiculous)
March 20th, 2011 at 11:49 PM ^
and I don't think it's a Duke bias. I think officials just don't call hand checking and Duke is a beneficiary because they do it more than anyone else. But hand checking is a foul, and Morris couldn't dribble two feet in the first half without someone slapping his hand. That's a foul, and it wasn't called, and it really screwed up the flow of our offense early.
I don't think it's bias, but it's something they always say they're going to make a point of emphasis, and they never, ever do, and it's really frustrating.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:12 AM ^
To be fair, Morris does a lot of clearing out with his off hand. Not to the extent that it should be called as an offensive foul or anything, but if he's allowed to give a little bit of arm I don't mind if the defender gives him a little swat on it.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:58 AM ^
Honestly, Morris gets away with at least one blatant hook a game. He was getting called for it earlier in the season, but seems to have earned the benefit of the doubt at this point. Officials aren't going to call everything. I'm OK with that - I'd rather they let stuff go than nickel-and-dime everyone and turn the game into a FT contest.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:51 AM ^
Well, if they're not going to call the defender for hand checking, they shouldn't call the ball handler for clearing with their off hand.
I really thought the officiating would have been much worse, in Duke's favor. It obviously wasn't a Big Ten type of game. There were a lot of ticky-tack fouls called - on both teams.
March 21st, 2011 at 10:13 AM ^
Duke came out handchecking Michigan like crazy and getting away with it. I was screaming at the tube. Chait's hint is true as Duke always seems to get this slobbering favoritism from the announcers and the refs. It is subtle, but I think it got in especially Darius' head early and kept our boys from getting off to as strong of a start as they needed. I don't think M had a lead for almost any point in the game, was continually working to get over the hump, and I think this had a big impact on the game. After Beilien did some complaining (and probably almost a technical), things seemed to gradually even out a little bit, but some of the calls later on Smotrycz and Morgan seemed really one sided. When classy Beilein is bitching, you know something is up.
The boys deserve big time credit for fighting through this and almost shocking the world. Beating Duke would have been one of the biggest upsets ever and I am super proud of this team. They have been sooooo much fun to watch as they really play the game right.
March 20th, 2011 at 11:59 PM ^
was ridiculous.
March 20th, 2011 at 11:59 PM ^
I completely agree that its gotten to the point where we have to realize the officiating is bad in the NCAA but it is usually bad both ways and evens out of the course of a game. I think NCAA officiating definitly favors the more agressive team and Duke was getting beneficial calls by attacking the basket.
Smotcryz is going to be a very interesting player next year. I feel like today I saw flashes of his brilliance and how next year when he is much stronger he is going to create a constant mismatch for other teams. But at the same time I feel like he still makes plenty of mental mistakes. I don't know what realistic expectations are for this team next season, but I am excited to build a program that continues to compete and bring in quality players.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^
Agree, but he really needs to lose the undershirt if he's going to take the next step.
Maybe he got a free tattoo and he does not want his parents to see...
March 20th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
"Just moments from crashing through..."
Moments I cannot wait for. Oh, so close.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
This is exactly why this loss was so hard to take. Anyone who followed this team this year knows exactly how much this group of kids wanted this win. From the gut wrenching close loses of ohio state, syracuse, kansas, and wisconsin. This team has played its heart out time and time again without seeing the results of knocking off one of these 'elite' teams. You show me a player on dukes team who wanted that win more than anyone of our guys and I'll tell you to go shit a brick. It hurt me so much just to see these kids not get what they yearned for time and time again. You bet your ass they are still hungry for that first win that sends them over the hump, and I'll be dammed if they don't get a couple of them next year.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
It's impossible to analyze this game without mentioning the officiating.This is almost exactly what i said in another thread when someone mentioned "bitching about the refs." While officiating isn't the only reason Michigan lost, it definitely played a major role. And Duke has had the advantage of being allowed to play "Duke Defense" while opponents are called for touch fouls over almost every team it has played for around twenty years.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:14 AM ^
The officiating is not why we lost this game. I don't think we would have benefited if they had called it much looser. We don't have the bodies to bang down low, so if they were just letting things go I've gotta believe it might have gotten out of hand as the Plumlees, etc started tossing folks around.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:36 AM ^
March 21st, 2011 at 11:25 AM ^
I thought the reffing was fine. There were a few wtf calls, but overall it was even. The difference was that we are used to a lot of those calls being no-calls in the Big Ten and Duke is used to those being calls in the ACC. Maybe we'll face them next year and get Big Ten officials instead of ACC officials; then we'll see who is on top.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^
It wasn't just the refs but... If they call Singler for fouling Tim Hardaway jr. on that dunk early in the game or if they give Morris the same calls they gave Nolan on his drives, Who knows. The team played their guts out and Morris had a great shot to win it, It just didn't go. Can't wait until next year when those close losses will turn into big wins !!!!!
March 21st, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^
It's no secret that certain programs/coaches get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to rankings and officiating. I don't want to take anything away from those teams and coaches, because you have to give credit to the Coach K's, Dean Smith's, Bobby Knight's, etc when you have won 800+ games.
That said, (regardless of today's game) it's really frustrating for this to take place in the NCAA tournament. During the regular season, fine, but when you are playing a lose and go home tournament, it really sucks to see a team get an unneccessary benefit.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^
My only complaint is how physical they let duke play on defense but wouldn't let us play that way. If we had done what they had done to morgan they would have had way more fouls, not to mention of guard was doing hand checks all the time. It wasn't near the level of OSU calls though....
Try officiating from on the court. Until you do it, you have no idea how hard it is in all sports. I'm an official and I have nothing but respect for most of the refs. With the media and all of the coverage of games they are under more pressure than anyone to get the call "right". Clearly there are always calls that are questionable but they do get most things right and I think that is the best we can hope for.
I think we all agree that it is hard. Our complaint is that when faced with one of those hard, 50/50, could-go-either-way calls, Duke (and UNC, and a handful of other schools) tend to get the calls going their way more often than not. It isn't a conscious bias, nor an attempt to 'give the game' to Duke. But just like some pitchers get that 3-2 call on the outside corner, or Rasheed Wallace gets T'd up for coughing in the wrong direction, Duke gets calls.
It isn't just this game (though there were some head-scratchers, like DMo's second foul or the call on Morgan(?) where the Duke big man took two bunny hops before contact); it's pretty standard. Sometimes it matters, and sometimes it doesn't.
March 21st, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^
That second foul on Morris was a killer. He comes out with the game tied (or close) and Duke immediately runs out to a 7-point lead. The same thing happened when he came out in the second half. You have to wonder what that game looks like if he didn't get into foul trouble early.
There was also one point where one of our guys (I don't recall who) got called for a travel when a Duke guy landed on him and knocked him off of his pivot foot. That sucked too.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
I loved how instead of showing a replay of the second foul on Morris, they showed a little clip of Kyrie Irving's rehab while Nantz and Kellogg didn't say a word about the foul.
If you've ever watched the HBO Sports documentary, "The Battle for Tobacco Road", which discusses the Duke / UNC basketball rivalry, there's a part where Krzyzewski actually complained about Dean Smith getting favorable treatment by the referees, which seems hysterical now.