I caught the very end of the first half and the rest of the game. Looked like Whiskey was going to win and then went cold towards the end. The Duke guards won the game. Never bet against Coack K and the Dukies!
Duke has 4 losses on the season, two of which were to ND. Makes me feel pretty good about the state of our program.
I rarely ever cite officiating as a factor, even when it goes against ND. I don't know if the result would have been any different if the second half officiating had been better, but IMO it was terrible. Teams don't change their stripes at halftime, yet the officiating was 180 degrees different in the second half. It seemed like they couldn't get anything right, even an out-of-bounds touch. Havng said that, congratulations to Duke, whose freshmen led the team to victory. Funny how going into the tournament everyone thought a team with super freshmen would win it all. They did, but it wasn't KY. This is the first time in a while that I liked both teams in the final game.
Well Bo wasn't very happy with the officiating and said so in the post game. He also made an ill advised comment about Duke having Rent a Players and he had true students who stayed 4 years..or something to that effect. I couldn't believe that the refs couldn't get that one out of bounds play right when everybody else in America could see it, I think for the Final Four they need a replay ref up in the booth that can watch the replays on high resolution monitors and advise them of the correct call. It's not jus this game but pretty much all basketball. The whole offensive player jumping into the defensive player and getting the call. It's been that way forever, but I completely dislike the call/rule. So often the defense, esp the post, the defensive guy is standing their hands straight up and the offensive player jumps into him and draws the foul. I'd like to see this fixed.
In tight defensive struggles, free throws are a much easier way to put points on the board. In the second half, Wisconsin shot 3 foul shots, Duke 16. End of story.
Athleticism creates a disparity in fouls and Duke's freshman guards owned anyone who attempted to guard them. Way to quick for Wisconsin.
But it was the opposite in the first half. Okafor and Winslow both had 2 fouls and Okafor sat a good portion of the 1st half. If the officiating was bad, it was bad for both sides.
Good game and I would have been happy with either team winning. I do agree the officiating was inconsistent.
I was fine with either school winning and I often root for Duke. That being said, the officiating was atrocious in the 2nd half last night.
See, again I disagree. The refereeing in the first half was just as bad. It was consistent throughout the game. Everyone remembers the last call and even the announcers weren't sure about that last call until about 7 or 8 different angles. I don't know what resources the refs have at courtside but there seemed to be only one camera that was definitive. It was a very good game. Neither team played their best game of the tournament but they did not disappoint....me. 8)