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Title game

Right, and the announcers said that he made" classy" comments when they returned from his interview. Did they even listen to it? I'm glad that he called out the refs.

-Scarlet Jerry
 
Nice officiating wit the Phantom Phingertip, Stepping out of bounds on the and one, even in the first half when Okafor, with 2 fouls, crashed into Kaminski on a pump fake but no call.

But still Wisconsin shouldn't allowed Duke to come back down 9, refs or no refs.
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Agree Tico. Dekker being icy cold and Kaminsky gassing is ultimately why they lost.
 
If the offense continued to flow through Okafor, Wisconsin would have won. When he went out, the offense switched to penetrating guard play, and Wisconsin didn't have the horses to defend it.
 
Originally posted by RUChoppin:
Bo Ryan taking some shots at the officials in the post game comments.
And as soon as they go back to Greg Gumbel he inexplicably says Bo Ryan classy and gracious in defeat. As soon as they go to the other panelists they all mention his blaming the officials right off the bat. LOL
 
I have 0 interest or connection to Wisconsin but man was i disappointed they lost, that hurt, cant imagine how those kids feel. As someone else said I think its time for Rafferty to retire, his schtick is getting old and I know some like it but I just find it silly.

Best tweet of the night was right after the game, "Duke wins, America loses"
 
Fell asleep somewhere early in the 2nd half of the game. It was a very good game and didn't think it was the usual 8 on 5 of the refs against Duke up through where I was watching it. I thought Coach K did a good job managing the foul trouble of some of his guys.

Reading things this morning though, it sounds like the refs kicked it up a notch later in the game in the typical Duke fashion. Sounds like Bo Ryan wasn't too happy with the refs and all the contact on his guys and there was a controversial call in Duke's favor. If it was like that, it's too bad cause I really didn't have any issues with the refs up until I fell asleep.

I think I kinda of subconsciously don't bother to make an effort to see Duke games as much any more. I'll either not bother at all like the MSU game or not make much effort to stay up even in a good game. My mind is always expecting things to go their way with the refs and the frustration of seeing that time and again over the years has worn on me and it isn't worth it.
 
Originally posted by RUChoppin:
Bo Ryan taking some shots at the officials in the post game comments.
and he should have. Some non foul calls on Duke and then two blown possession calls. That hurts.
 
There was a very physical tone set early, which favored Duke's style of defense. They were letting a lot of contact go, especially on the guards, throughout the game. Most of the fouls in the early part of the game were pretty blatant, with some bizarre ticky tack ones thrown in for flavor.

If anything, I think Wisconsin was probably slightly ahead in the ref lottery at the half, but the style of play overall did not play well to their style.

Still, it was largely Okafor vs. Kaminsky, and Kaminsky was winning that fight. If the game continued in that vein, Wisconsin probably would have pulled it out. Duke was trying to run their offense through Okafor, who wasn't drawing double teams and wasn't making much hay against Kaminsky, either.

Then Okafor went out - and the game dynamic changed completely. Without Okafor in, Duke went completely away from feeding their bigs - because Okafor was their only post player who had a shot against Kaminsky. Instead, they turned to their guards - and their guards showed up big. Wisconsin's strength on defense is against big men, and it showed - Duke's guards were just faster and more talented than Wisconsin was able to handle, and that was allowing Duke to come back even with Okafor and Winslow on the bench.

And once it was tied late, the officials swung hard toward Duke. Winslow and Okafor should have both fouled out of the game. Winslow should have been gone before either of his out of bounds weren't called. Okafor should have been gone before the three point play. Kaminsky got yanked hard to the ground after a rebound. The refs were swallowing their whistle on some pretty big calls, and the physicality stepped up to a still higher level than it had been all game - and Wisconsin couldn't handle it.

The officiating impacted the outcome - but, it wasn't insurmountable. Wisconsin couldn't defend Duke's guards, they didn't adapt well to the more physical play the refs were allowing, they didn't handle Duke's zone very well when it appeared, and they didn't exploit their mismatches underneath when Okafor/Winslow were on the bench. Ryan got outcoached after Krzyzewski adapted to Okafor's foul trouble.
 
Refs to CBS after that non-reversal: "They just couldn't see anything."

Kind of reminds me of:
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Interesting Duke Championship(s) stat from ESPN's Mike & Mike:

In Coach K's previous 4 National Championships, Duke Freshmen scored a combine 23 points in those 4 Title Games (8% of all Duke Pts).

In last night's Duke National Championship Game, Duke Freshmen scored a combine 60 pts (88% of all Duke pts).

Coach K has been able to change his coaching style with the times...got to give him a ton of credit for doing that.
 
I didn't watch it because I was harboring irrational thoughts that the refs would push the game to Duke.

Glad I missed it.
 
Originally posted by ag67:
I didn't watch it because I was harboring irrational thoughts that the refs would push the game to Duke.
Don't think that is what happened...as refs missed a few calls on both ends of the court (just like in any other game).

Duke won because they were the better team...especially during crunch time.

You missed a pretty entertaining game.
 
Duke got some calls down the stretch, but Wiscy got some calls early. There's no way, with the style Wiscy plays, can someone complain that the refs jobbed Wisconsin when Wisconsin has only two fouls called on them the entire first half.
 
Originally posted by Ty Webb:

Duke got some calls down the stretch, but Wiscy got some calls early. There's no way, with the style Wiscy plays, can someone complain that the refs jobbed Wisconsin when Wisconsin has only two fouls called on them the entire first half.
Not sure what that means. Wisconsin's style of play doesn't draw fouls - they ranked 18th nationally in fewest fouls this season. Of teams with at least 20 wins, they were 3rd nationally in fewest fouls. Their style of play hasn't lent itself to fouls much at all this season - about 12.5 fouls per game. They usually get to the line for about 19.1 FT attempts per game.

On the flip side, Duke was ranked 211th in fewest fouls. That works out to about 15.6 fouls per game. They usually get to the line for about 22.4 FT attempts per game.

In last night's game, Duke ended up getting whistled for fewer fouls than their average and getting to the line at just under their average. Wisconsin got whistled for more fouls than their average and got to the line almost half their average.

***

As for the calls early vs. late, late calls are much harder to overcome than early ones. Especially when they come in bunches, as they did late last night.

Winslow's two out of bounds plays, both times Winslow plowed through a set defender wth no charge call, Okafor's moving screen, when Kaminsky got yanked to the ground by his arm after missing a rebound, the flop by Jones, the repeated heavy body contact on the guards which escalated late in the game (which was a point of emphasis in recent years, but Duke's guards got through the game with exactly one foul), etc.

***

Still, if Wisconsin had been able to make a couple of shots or better handle Duke's coaching changes (switching to a faster guard-oriented offense, dropping into a zone on defense), it wouldn't have mattered.

Got to give a ton of credit to Coach K in this one. Made the appropriate style changes, reacted to Okafor's absence perfectly, worked his substitutions brilliantly, worked the refs like a pro. A different coach at the helm, and Duke loses.
 
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