| Apropos that news, I recenly
found this c.1990s ACC perspective I'd posted to Free Republic.
|
SCROLL
If
you were in the stands during the 70's when Clemson, Virginia or
Maryland played any Carolina team, you were bound to hear the derisive
chant Carolina
Refs several
times during the game. Perhaps it was the debacle of the 1976
Olympic
Game loss suffered by team USA against Russia that made biased
officiating a focal point. And maybe we were all wrong, but it
seemed
real enough. At the time I handicapped ACC teams chances of
getting an
evenly called game from referees Hank Nichols, Jim Hernjak, Jim
Howell
or Lou Moser this way:
- UNC - Great teams, great records and always eight men
on the floor
- Duke - Could get away with murder, except against the
Heels
- Wake - lousy teams, but they had help
- NCSU - too blue collar for the refs?
- Virginia - not from Carolina, but snotty enough to
almost be from Durham
- Maryland - never forgiven for breaking the ACC's
color line
- Clemson - The USC Gamecocks were hated, but they
left. Clemson is from S. Carolina.
Of course, as a Maryland fan, it is their games I remember. Like
the
one in 1978 when Albert King was racing down the sideline for what
would have been the tying basket in a 66-64 loss to UNC. Phil
Ford (who could
not be
called for a foul of any kind) shoved King out of bounds. No
call. Turnover Maryland. Game over.
Or the 1980 ACC Tournament championship game when Duke's Kenny Dennard
tackled Buck Williams from behind as he was about to slam home the last
second winner in a 73-72 loss. Hey no harm (Buck lived), no
foul. Or
so it must have seemed to game officials Hantak, Sonnenberg, and
Barth.
Are
the good old days of Carolina Refs back?
I think one thing caused officiating to improve in the 80's. UNC,
primarily, would waltz through the regular ACC season every year, then
get their lunch handed to them in the first NCAA tourney game they
played. Being hand-checked, or even touched in an
NCAA game, would
leave the ACC's cream teams in a state of shock that usually saw them
dispatched early and often. Word went out that Carolina had to
learn
to play in the real world and the officiating improved. Or so it
seems.
All of this came to mind, for the first time in nearly twenty years, as
I watched the two Maryland-Duke games last year. Yes, I think
Duke had
the better team. But the calls - and non calls - in those games
were
disturbing. Then came this year's January 3rd matchup.
While the
final foul count was Maryland 25, Duke 18 - the message was sent early,
with Maryland getting virtually every whistle in the first half.
Am I looking for excuses? I don't think so, and hope not.
Please note
that in two games against good teams, not played with ACC refs, Duke is
1-1 (losing to Cincinnati and going into overtime against St.
Johns).
In the Saint John's game both Langdon and Brand fouled out.
Against
Maryland, Shane Battier - a very physical player - managed to go nearly
nineteen minutes with four fouls and never did foul out. If there
were
any 'away from the ball' touch fouls called against Duke - I
missed
them.
Next week I can only hope that the Terps play their best game, and Duke
theirs - and the officials leave any bias at home.
