DBR Podcast #392 -Duke Dunks Deacons

[DukieInBrasil]

First off, hat-tip to Jason and Sam (and Donald, but not this episode) the staying power to deliver almost 400 episodes. So kudos. Second, yet another excellent rhetorical exploration of the game and its details within the game, and the mile-high view of the game.
Just wanted to point out a minor fun point: Ben Swain was in my graduating class at a NC liberal arts college, and we were in the same social circle as Fr., and in fact we were friends due to being Duke fans in a sea of that wretched shade of blue. Our friendship faded as we made our way thru school, but i was pleasantly surprised to see that Ben is a locally known sports journalist/commentator, at least via Twitter. Anyway, props to Ben for carving out a space in the NC sports journalism scene and developing a following.

[UrinalCake]

Just wanted to say thanks to our hardworking DBR Podcast crew for putting out so much great content during the busy season with the extra rescheduled games added in too. By my count, just this week they recapped the BC game, responded to Ian O'Connor's biography around the K transition, and recapped the Wake game (twice!). I listen to every episode and thoroughly enjoy the discussion and humor.

[JasonEvans]

"If I say nice things about the podcast, maybe Jason will bestow sporks upon me."

[DukieInBrasil]

referring to the question Jason posed: which was the worst foul call? Least worst was the one on Wendell to fall into the backcourt, that could have been called but the player should never rely on the ref making a call to save one's bacon. The one that pissed me off the most was the double tech, because Sy performed a two-handed shove on Mark, that deserves punishment, and not some namby pamby bothsiderism b.s. that they eventually called. Absolute trash. But the foul call that had the biggest impact on the game was the foul called on Mark as A. Williams jumped into him to create contact, which was an offensive foul called on the defender. The reason why a foul was called was because there was so much contact that a foul "had" to be called. But b/c A. Williams already had 4 there was no way the refs were going to foul their star out of the game, so they gave it to Mark who defended the play to absolute perfection and still got called for it.
Mostly i just felt like the refereeing down the stretch was a clinic on cowardice. The refs refused in any way to call fouls on Wake even when they were the aggressors (Sy, AW). For most of the game they were letting a lot of contact go uncalled, and Duke definitely benefitted from that on the defensive end as they were able to disrupt a lot of what Wake wanted to do. OTOH, it seemed like Duke could/should have gone to the line a lot more due to the constant contact on shooters in the lane.

[UrinalCake]

Worst call to me was the double technical simply for the fact that they reviewed it and still botched it. The backcourt and the foul on Williams were judgment calls made in live action and you could argue as always that refs have a tough job making a split second decision. But to actually stop play and spend five minutes reviewing and still screw up a call requires next level incompetence. If anything they should have just not called anything on either player.

[JasonEvans]

I wish I had the original podcast recording as my volume was a tiny bit more... shall we say "elevated"... when talking about the 4 wretched calls in the final few minutes of that game.

[UrinalCake]

There was another shooting foul called on Paolo in which the replay shows there was a full 6 inch gap between his hand and the shooter's arm. I believe that one sent Wake to the line to tie the game.

In fairness though, I thought the third foul on Alondes Williams was very questionable, and that had a big impact early in the game.

[DukieInBrasil]

There was another shooting foul called on Paolo in which the replay shows there was a full 6 inch gap between his hand and the shooter's arm. I believe that one sent Wake to the line to tie the game.

In fairness though, I thought the third foul on Alondes Williams was very questionable, and that had a big impact early in the game.

agreed, for the level of contact being allowed, that play seemed to be rather par for the course.

[blazindw]

Worst call to me was the double technical simply for the fact that they reviewed it and still botched it. The backcourt and the foul on Williams were judgment calls made in live action and you could argue as always that refs have a tough job making a split second decision. But to actually stop play and spend five minutes reviewing and still screw up a call requires next level incompetence. If anything they should have just not called anything on either player.

They didn't just botch it, they made it worse. Mark got a tech for basically just being there, and that affected the rest of the game because he couldn't be as aggressive. Those are the techs that you wish could be overturned by someone in a studio somewhere, but it was a really bad call.

[Truth&Justise]

For convenience, here's the link to the podcast if anyone (like me) was looking for it.

[-jk]

There's a link in the DBR Boards menu, next to the ticket exchange.

-jk

[blazindw]

First off, hat-tip to Jason and Sam (and Donald, but not this episode) the staying power to deliver almost 400 episodes. So kudos. Second, yet another excellent rhetorical exploration of the game and its details within the game, and the mile-high view of the game.
Just wanted to point out a minor fun point: Ben Swain was in my graduating class at a NC liberal arts college, and we were in the same social circle as Fr., and in fact we were friends due to being Duke fans in a sea of that wretched shade of blue. Our friendship faded as we made our way thru school, but i was pleasantly surprised to see that Ben is a locally known sports journalist/commentator, at least via Twitter. Anyway, props to Ben for carving out a space in the NC sports journalism scene and developing a following.

Whoa, was I that bad on this episode? ;-)