Doug Gottlieb Re-Education Camp?

[licc85]

I thought Gottlieb was great. People are too sensitive about stuff like this. The guy gives his honest and usually-educated opinion as an analyst. When he thought Duke looked bad (e.g., against Arizona State when we looked unathletic) he said so. When he thought we looked good (e.g., his praise of Zoubek and picking us to go to the championship game later that same year) he said so. He's just very opinionated (which is part of his job) and very brash.

As a play-by-play guy, I think he's fantastic. He actually pays attention to the game. He actually discusses the merit (or lack thereof) of calls made throughout the game, and he's almost always right. He actually provides wit and humor. And he actually provides insight into the game being played. I think he's the best color commentator I've seen in a while. Better than Knight, who has forgotten more than I'll ever know about the game, but is getting less sharp at analyzing the actual game being played. Better than Bilas (who is getting too preachy for me). And obviously better than the other guys who are really bad (Elmore, Vitale, etc).

I actually agree that he did a decent job with these 2 games, but I think he's just wronged us too much in the past for us to forgive him. I also just don't like him period . . I mean what kind of guy constantly brings up the fact that he once played Div I basketball just to give himself some credit? (And yes, he DID mention his playing days when he said that he played against Darko Milicic out of nowhere when he was talking about Wang Zhelin; I knew he would throw it in there somewhere) And then he threw up his picture next to his top 5 NCAA team rankings . . . was that really necessary? I guess he's a bit insecure about it or something, but just do your job . . as an analyst, if you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will respect you. No need for the excessive self-aggrandizement.

[Acymetric]

He acknowledged that the shooter kicked out his legs and performed a "Reggie Miller" to draw the foul call and said that sG shouldn't have gotten close enough to allow him to draw the foul through a somewhat deceptive tactic similar to a flop or a Punter falling down to draw a roughing to kicker penalty. There was nothing biased or even inaccurate about what he said IMO.

I don't see how he could have even pretended to contest the shot from any further, hard to criticize the defensive player on that play.

[94duke]

No, the quantum tunnel teleporter. The one the physics department keeps next to the invisibility cloak.

Yep. It's down the hall form the weather machine they use for parents' weekend.

[UrinalCake]

I don't see how he could have even pretended to contest the shot from any further, hard to criticize the defensive player on that play.

I agree; announcers criticize Duke shooters all the time for kicking out their legs and trying to draw a foul. Scheyer got called out on it all the time. Now when we're defending we're supposed to stand so far away that the shooter has space to do that? I personally don't think it should be called a foul when the shooter initiates contact like that, and I can't blame a defender for trying to get a hand in his man's face.

Anyways, with that said I'm not really all that sour on Gottlieb. He's critical at times but also can be complimentary of Duke. His "alarmingly unathletic" comment didn't really bother me all that much because to be honest there was some truth to it.

[oldnavy]

I think it would be hard to call the games in China. I think announcers try to avoid bad mouthing the officials, but in these games you would really have to bit your tongue. The officiating was laughable, literally I was laughing out loud at the calls. Now had this been an ACC game I would not have laughed, but what could one do??

I liked the way that the Duke kids just rolled with the bad calls (for the most part, Dawkins needs a little work in this area IMO). Glad Gottlieb and the world got to see a game where a team really did get "all the calls", not that I think it will do much to change the anti-Duke crowd's opinion.