Originally Posted by
Sixthman
IMO the common factor among the teams advancing this year is the ability to rise to, respond to or take advantage of the more physical game which the refs allow during the tournament (particularly compared to the ACC regular season). The tournament is called this way because it is is an equalizing factor for disparities in raw athletic talent and, perhaps, it is more appealling to not have free throw shooting or star players in foul trouble decide games. There are, of course, different ways to capitalize on this, UNC players, for example, do not respond very well to a physical game. However, they have smartly (particularly against USC) used their depth to punish other front lines, eventually physically draining them or drawing them into foul trouble. Unfortunately, our Blue Devils could not have responded worse to physical play this year. I believe the impression was created that Duke could be "punked" -- effectively taken out of its game with physical play. When Greg Paulus responded to VCU's physical play we a little very minor message I was right there with him cheering him on. Unfortunately, I suspect that's also when the VCU bench knew they had us.