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  1. #61
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Good explanation

    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    Paulus was, only in the loosest of senses, going for the ball. He was slapping down with the intent of preventing an easy layup for Costner. I'm sure Paulus HOPED he would get all ball, but his intent (and thus the force with which he swatted) was to prevent the bucket in whatever means necessary. If that meant a hard foul across the arms, so be it. The fact that Paulus hit Costner in the head (which is far from where the ball was) indicates that he wasn't being very discriminate in his effort. It is my personal belief that he was fully expecting to commit a hard foul there - if he got lucky and got all ball, so much the better. If not, well, mission still accomplished.

    I agree it's not an identical situation. But trust me; fans of State (and UNC, etc) would view that as an egregious foul by Paulus. And I'd actually agree with them. It was much more physical in nature and intent than what Spears did. The only thing worse about what Spears did was that it wasn't at any point within the rules. But just because what Paulus did could be construed as an attempt at a legal play doesn't change the fact that he had a disregard for the well-being of the opposing player as a result of his actions (similar to Spears).

    My main point isn't to equate the two. It's to state that what Spears did wasn't that bad. He committed a foul in preventing Henderson from getting to the spot. Henderson sold the foul by falling down. It wasn't thuggish - it was just bad (and lazy) basketball. There's a difference between thuggish play and poor play. Washington's kick to the face of Melchionni was thuggish. If Washington intentionally undercut Nelson, that's thuggish. But what Spears did wasn't thuggish - it was lazy. That's the difference.
    Thanks for analysis. Guess I'd prefer to have both of them called intentional.

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by MChambers View Post
    Thanks for analysis. Guess I'd prefer to have both of them called intentional.
    That's a fair stance. It's a matter of preference in that case, really.

  3. #63

    My last comment on this one

    I will defer in my assessment to those (Coach K on bench & TV replays) who perhaps had a "better" view of the foul on Henderson than what I had from upstairs more or less behind the BC bench. It looked pretty deliberate and unnecessary, at least to me and to those nearby.

    Re the "Paulus argument": One would think there would be a slight distinction between Paulus (in whatever manner) fouling a player going to the hoop (= expected) versus Henderson going to the deck at the top of the key (= not your normal defensive technique).

    I guess I am just a bit tired of the continuing thuggery (real/imaginary/intentional/unintentional) that now seems to occur regularly against the Devils. At least in my somewhat biased dark-blue opinion, it does appear that to the referees yapping is apparently a far more serious offense.

    And then, I may still have some unpleasant memories of Mr. Henderson getting ejected from the Dean Dome last year and then missing any ACC tournament play. Maybe the "carry some ketchup with you" idea is relevant.

    k

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    Paulus was, only in the loosest of senses, going for the ball. He was slapping down with the intent of preventing an easy layup for Costner. I'm sure Paulus HOPED he would get all ball, but his intent (and thus the force with which he swatted) was to prevent the bucket in whatever means necessary. If that meant a hard foul across the arms, so be it. The fact that Paulus hit Costner in the head (which is far from where the ball was) indicates that he wasn't being very discriminate in his effort. It is my personal belief that he was fully expecting to commit a hard foul there - if he got lucky and got all ball, so much the better. If not, well, mission still accomplished.

    I agree it's not an identical situation. But trust me; fans of State (and UNC, etc) would view that as an egregious foul by Paulus. And I'd actually agree with them. It was much more physical in nature and intent than what Spears did. The only thing worse about what Spears did was that it wasn't at any point within the rules. But just because what Paulus did could be construed as an attempt at a legal play doesn't change the fact that he had a disregard for the well-being of the opposing player as a result of his actions (similar to Spears).

    My main point isn't to equate the two. It's to state that what Spears did wasn't that bad. He committed a foul in preventing Henderson from getting to the spot. Henderson sold the foul by falling down. It wasn't thuggish - it was just bad (and lazy) basketball. There's a difference between thuggish play and poor play. Washington's kick to the face of Melchionni was thuggish. If Washington intentionally undercut Nelson, that's thuggish. But what Spears did wasn't thuggish - it was lazy. That's the difference.
    As someone who was at the game (1st game as an alum!), I'd agree that what Spears did wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. Henderson does a good job of selling fouls, and while he was fouled, he sprinkled a little acting into that particular play. No doubt about it.

  5. #65
    I was mos def concerned that we would have an emotional let-down game vs BC on the heels of our destruction of the mighty UNC (snicker-snicker). It appears that we came out in the 1st half in sort-of let-down mode, although we have come out in the 1st half and played worse, so relatively it wasn't a let-down compared to some other games.

    The Good
    • The PF Position - Singler put together back-to-back 2x-double and has acclimated to D1/ACC play remarkably well. I also like that he doesn't feel the need to defer to his older teammates, not that he has been too shy this year. LT once again put in a solid game, nothing spectacular but worthwhile. It's too bad his FT shooting has gone in the dumps lately b/c he could be even more effective if he could shoot strait from the line. I agree with Jumbo (IIRC) that McClure must be hurt, he can't score and he's not rebounding. This indicates that he just doesn't have lift or power out of his legs.
    • The Captain - DeMarcus kept his on/off 20+ streak going with a phenomenal 8-10 FG but accompanied by a miserable 6-12 FT. Just when it looks like DN is getting his head on strait at the line he falls back. This is not to overshadow the rest of his excellent play, pulling in 8 rebs and posting a 5/2 a/to.
    • Ball Control - As a team our a/to was very good with special props going to The Captain for leading the team in assists w/only 2 TOs. We also forced BC into a - a/to.
    • Rebounding - Once again Duke outrebounded a bigger frontcourt by being more aggressive from the wings, but also picking up 15rebs from the PF position.
    • 3pt Shooting - We started off rather slow, but finished above 33% from 3. It's nice to see TK get in the scoring column again, but he was not particularly effective with a 1-4 night from deep.

    The Mediocre
    • Focus - It's hard to quantify this but after going to UNC and putting on an affirmation of the team's quality, they came home and just didn't bring it for a while. Jumbo posed the q as to whether Duke could go from just beating teams to destroying them, and I agree that we just haven't seen that quality from Duke in the last 2 years. Still a double-digit win in the ACC is nothing to cry over.

    The Bad
    • FT Shooting - 60% from the line is bad, not as bad as some other games this year, and it kept the game closer than it really should have been. Gerald actually put in a good night at the line, going 3-4, but DN couldn't find the bottom of the net from the charity stripe. Both of these guys have styles that are so well designed for getting to the line and neither of them is reliable. The biggest weakness in the perimeter oriented O that we run is that the 2 guys that get to the line the most are leaving around 5ppg on the floor by missing so many FTs. Plus, LT (and Z) is mos def a liability at the line so we can't afford to run any crunch time O thru him.
    Last edited by JBDuke; 02-10-2008 at 08:25 PM. Reason: fixed error at poster request

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