Chronicling the incompetence…turning the page

I hope that after this entry we will be turning the page to bubble talk and hopefully NC State’s impending bid to the 2012 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Before we do, I wanted to quickly consolidate some of the national and local media reviewing & discussing yesterday’s debacle in Atlanta so that we can go back to it in the future.

First, the following links are to some message board conversations:

* Of course, it all starts with the gross disrespect from Brian Dorsey that SFN reported yesterday in this entry.

* Brian Dorsey (Link)

* The two moving picture files in this thread is nice to see side by side. I think they are taken from this entry on Business Insider asking if NC State was robbed in the ACC Tournament?

* This thread discusses the awful mistake it was for the ACC officials to publicly show the appearance of impartiality by their boneheaded decision to pay homage to Karl Hess’ absence by taking ‘KH’ on their shoes.

Compared to everything else on the internet, the following video is the closest thing to what I would have put together if I had the talent (and time) because this video doesn’t focus on just the most obvious (and discussed) calls/no-calls on Leslie and Kendall Marshall…but it also tries to set up some of the other inconsistencies of the ’50/50′ block/charge that set the tone throughout the game.

Here is another one that focuses exclusively on the two ‘big calls’ that have garnered the most attention. It is in this one where the positioning of Brian Dorsey and his obvious eagerness to call Leslie for a charge becomes most obvious as there is NO WAY he can see through Leslie 15 feet away to see if the UNC player was set.

You know something is up when the News & Observer allows Caulton Tudor to write that ‘Inconsistent Officiating Hobbles Wolfpack’. Tudor is a master and maybe the best ACC writer at leading more educated readers to conclusions without having to say ‘too much’. Note how he specifically calls out Brian Dorsey’s inconsistency.

It was an important day for North Carolina, but it was more important for N.C. State and unfortunately, the first ACC Tournament semifinal game Saturday in Philips Arena got skewed by officiating.

That has to be a part of the record, simply because the fourth and fifth foul calls on Wolfpack forward C.J. Leslie were as pivotal in the outcome – Tar Heels 69, State 67 – as the jumpers, follows, fouls and turnovers.

When official Brian Dorsey irrationally read an offensive foul into a Leslie spin move with eight minutes, 35 seconds left, the game changed some. It then changed radically 32 seconds later when Dorsey whistled a fifth foul on Leslie, sending the standout sophomore to the bench with 22 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes of playing time.

Had Leslie been allowed to play on, there’s a good chance State (22-12) would be playing in today’s championship game.

But it’s also a fact that State coach Mark Gottfried said miscommunication among coaches on the Pack bench resulted in him not being advised that Leslie had four fouls.

“I would have taken him out, if only for a minute or two, so that’s our responsibility,” Gottfried said.

In defense of the Pack coaches, Leslie could have not have been taken out of the game unless a timeout had been called instantly after his fourth foul. There wasn’t a clock stoppage between fouls four and five.

Since Leslie’s fourth foul didn’t result in a free-throw situation, Gottfried either would have had to call a timeout immediately, yell at the ref that a sub was on the way or would have had to have a sub at the table before the whistle. Had it been a defensive foul on Leslie, there would have been a second or two for more reaction time by State’s bench.

The overarching point on Dorsey’s calls has to go to consistency – the one aspect of officiating that coaches say they value most.

That fourth foul call on Leslie (offensive move) wasn’t interpreted the same way later when UNC’s Marshall hit the winning shot after a collision that left Alex Johnson on the floor.

Officials make mistakes and that’s fine. But if you’re an official charged with calling a State-Carolina game in the ACC Tournament, you at least need to be consistent.

[snip]

And it wasn’t like the opponent was Boston College or even Florida State for that matter. The Pack went at Carolina with the sort of effort that Jim Valvano would have applauded on what would have been his 66th birthday.

In the long run what we saw Saturday was a landmark afternoon in the State-Carolina series despite the officiating. After two easy Tar Heel wins in regular season, the Pack showed the sort of commitment that once made the rivalry among the best in the nation.

The two old enemies made the game memorable. For the first time in a long time, we can say that State is moving in UNC’s direction.

The Charlotte Observer has a slide show this morning called ‘calls and no calls’ that focuses only on CJ Leslie’s 3rd foul and the Kendall Marshall play at the end of the game. You read that correctly, the Charlotte Observer.

ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan joined Yahoo’s Dan Wiederer and many other national basketball bloggers lambasting the officiating in real time on Twitter. This link to Yahoo’s college basketball blog will represent some of the national media

If North Carolina State misses the NCAA tournament for the sixth straight season Sunday, the Wolfpack may remember a disputed non-call in Saturday’s ACC semifinal against North Carolina as the play that cost them a bid.

With the score tied at 67 apiece and 10 seconds to go, North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall appeared to lower his shoulder into Alex Johnson in an attempt to create space, knocking the NC State defender to the ground. Referees didn’t whistle a foul, so Marshall sank a wide-open bank shot in the paint, providing the final margin in the Tar Heels’ 69-67 victory.

That NC State coach Mark Gottfried and his team were so incensed about the non-call was a product of the implications of the game. Not only could the Wolfpack have advanced to the ACC title game and snapped a 12-game game losing streak to their hated rivals, they also could have essentially locked up an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Because of the loss, however, North Carolina State (22-12, 9-7) will have an angst-ridden 24-hour wait until Sunday’s selection show.

An ACC quarterfinal win over Virginia and a regular season sweep of fellow bubble hopeful Miami may yet earn NC State an at-large bid, but the Wolfpack’s tournament resume is hardly unassailable. Their lone non-league win of note came over youthful Texas in November and they went 0-for-5 against the ACC’s power trio, North Carolina, Duke and Florida State.

Having a key call go against North Carolina State will surely inspire conspiracy theorists to note the public tiff between the school and the ACC over referee Karl Hess ejecting Wolfpack legends Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from a February game. Gottfried slammed both Hess and the league afterward, calling the ejections “weak” and “completely out of line 100 percent.”

“I’m disappointed quite frankly in the ACC because not only did he throw out two of North Carolina State’s greats, he threw out two of the ACC’s greats,” Gottfried said at a pep rally. “The league is supporting an official rather than supporting former great players. The former great players, in my opinion, were embarrassed and wronged when they shouldn’t have been.”

Tempting as it may be for NC State to put all the blame for Saturday’s loss on the call that went in favor of the Tar Heels, the reality is the Wolfpack made costly mistakes down the stretch that contributed to the loss.

C.J. Leslie, NC State’s leading scorer, fouled out with eight minutes to go in the game after getting two quick fouls in less than a minute. The Wolfpack stayed in it behind the play of Lorenzo Brown down the stretch, but costly turnovers by Johnson and Scott Wood on their last two possessions contributed to the loss.

Now that we’ve done national and regional media….let’s let a local media member have a say. (Link)

Journalistic integrity aside, sometimes you just have to call it as you see it. And, boy did we see it today.

Let’s be clear, things sometimes look different on television than they do in person. I’ve been very fortunate throughout the ACC Tournament to have a front row seat, on the court. I appreciate it, and truly try to enjoy every moment. This seat allows me a very up close view of the game in progress, and often times the same angle as the official along the baseline.

Sitting beside other media members, it also allows me the opportunity to compare thoughts on the game. Sometimes, I’ll make a comment and a fellow media member will tell me that I am flat out wrong. But, today we were all in agreement. NC State got jobbed.

The ACC is not going to admit it, the officials are not going to admit, and most media members won’t write it, but I will.

Now, I’m not going to say that the entire game was swayed toward North Carolina. I also understand that the Wolfpack put themselves in the position to lose the game, and if they had done things differently, they could have walked away with a win.

But, there were certainly spurts during the game that the officiating looked one sided, in the Tar Heels favor. Again, keep in mind that I’m a Tar Heel fan. Not a bandwagon jumper, a lifelong Tar Heel fan.
A couple of examples come to mind along press row. The first is during the 2nd half when NC State’s Lorenzo Brown was dribbling down the right side, Kendall Marshal came flying in from the left block to right block. The whistle blew, and to everyone’s surprise, the call went against Brown.

Later in the second half, similar plays by opposing teams resulted in opposing calls. As the Tar Heels drove the ball into the lane from the right side, a jumble of players occurred, UNC missed the shot and a
Wolfie was called for the foul. No, problem. But, on the very next play, the Wolfies dribbled into the paint from the left side, a jumble ensued and despite the body, and arm bashing, no call was made. It was obvious that things simply weren’t going to go NC State’s way.

Certainly, these are just two instances, and they don’t make a game either way. But without going through the game play by play, I can only offer an opinion of the game. And my opinion is that NC State got screwed.

A fellow broadcaster from Asheville, NC and admitted State fan said “I’m tired of playing 8 on 5. Any time you play North Carolina or Duke, the calls go the other way.”

When NC State Coach Mark Gottfried, was asked to comment on the officiating, he simply said “I can’t, they’ll fine me.” When he was asked if it was safe to say that official Brian Dorsey wouldn’t be receiving a Christmas card from the Gottfried family this year, Gottfried replied, sternly and glaringly, “I’m not answering that.”

During the press conference, a fellow media member noticed my excitement about the Tar Heel win, and asked if it bothered me that the Tar Heels won it that way. My answer to him was “No, that’s just the way it is. The Tar Heels get the call. Sometimes you are on the short end of the stick in life, and sometimes you are not.” The Tar Heels always seem to get the calls and that’s just the way it is.

So, let me say to the Wolfpack faithful, courtside it seemed obvious to me that your team got the short end of the stick. I don’t know if you would have won the game or not had it been any other way. But, I do know that you have a valid case. Make it, welcome in your highly ranked recruiting class next year and come back and give it another shot. But, remember this, you’re going to have to play even harder than the Tar Heels if you are going to win, because life just isn’t fair sometimes. You know it, and the Tar Heel nation knows it too.

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91 Responses to Chronicling the incompetence…turning the page

  1. SaccoV 03/11/2012 at 12:54 PM #

    The poor Tarheels? I know most of the country feels sorry for them! WTF! Bringing up the call is one thing but pandering to a national power is completely another. What a pile of tripe.

  2. Moose Hunter 03/11/2012 at 12:59 PM #

    I also think that winning creates respect, which creates you getting the benefit of the calls. Gott is well on his way here like K was all those years ago. There is some truth to the saying “You make your own luck”. Despite all of the BS this year, things are certianly loooking up.

  3. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 12:59 PM #

    The Bonnies are rolling, FWIW. Lunardi thinks that would bounce Drexel, I say it bumps Seton Hall.

  4. ancsu87 03/11/2012 at 1:00 PM #

    SaccoV I think she brings up a good point. Back in the 60’s – early 80’s the conference tournamanet meant a lot. Used to be that only the conference tournamnet champion made the NCAA T. Then it was only the tournament champion and 1 or at most 2 other teams. Now days the conference tournament is only important for those on the bubble or a bad team that gets on a run.

    Anyway it was nice to see a national media article write that the “Heels got every call”. You cant buy PR as good as that.

  5. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 1:01 PM #

    The worst thing in the world is a hypocrite.

    We absolutely must NOT be like Duke. What we demand is a fair shake for ALL, not being cut in on the grift.

  6. MARinRVA 03/11/2012 at 1:02 PM #

    @wilmwolf80, Carolina fans need to shut up. A thought experiment: What if Carolina had lost to Duke the way we lost to Carolina? Would Tar Heel fans nod at the sage wisdom of Vitale, Bilas and Gminkski saying, “Carolina has no one to blame but themselves. Too many TOs.”

    That’s what I thought.

  7. TLeo 03/11/2012 at 1:06 PM #

    . Any good points about the crooked officials totally erased by the comment–“feel sorry for unc”. Feel sorry for unc my ass. I hope FSU pounds the living crap out of them today (physically and on the scoreboard)

  8. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 1:11 PM #

    That win at St. Bonaventure just looks better and better. Those guys are good. Seriously.

  9. nav 03/11/2012 at 1:11 PM #

    I watched ESPN college bb live late last night(rather very early this morning) and the head coach analyst on there was ripping ACC officiating for the end of our game and also for some seemingly pro Duke calls at the end of their game. He could not believe how a charge was not called in our game.

  10. GAWolf 03/11/2012 at 1:12 PM #

    To the barricade, BJD!

  11. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 1:17 PM #

    Vandy is whipping Kentucky. That’s a shock.

  12. ancsu87 03/11/2012 at 1:17 PM #

    So having a writer state on a national media page “the Heels got all the calls” is bad for us because she says something positive for the Heels also?

  13. MARinRVA 03/11/2012 at 1:22 PM #

    ACC Championship update: FSU’s raining 3s, up 16. Refs forecast to rain fouls in second half.

  14. beeeejay 03/11/2012 at 1:22 PM #

    Woke up today and am still angry about what we saw yesterday. Also the national media is drawing attention to it but it seems on twitter, which I know isn’t a great source, but lots of people are just saying how crazy we are yet again. Anyways after what went down yesterday I just have a terrible feeling about it happening again at about 6pm today

  15. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 1:23 PM #

    After Kentucky and the Holes, I challenge you to find a team with more athletic and skilled forwards than the Bonnies. They run the floor and have old school finishing moves in the lane.

  16. projectwentynine 03/11/2012 at 1:36 PM #

    I haven’t missed an ACC Tournament game since I was in high school, but I can’t even bring myself to watch basketball today. Much less ACC basketball.

  17. tuckerdorm1983 03/11/2012 at 1:40 PM #

    turn the page. we make the NCAAT and move on. Goal: win and keep winning. 1983 team was a 6th seed. 1985 Villanova was the 8th seed and won it all. I am not crying about the loss yesterday. 4 games in 4 days with possibly only 3 days rest and one of those traveling is tough. Now we get 4 or 5 days rest. I think the game yesterday will be the reason CJL returns and that is to beat UNC and Duke. Shocked if Henson or Barnes stay and will be pleased is Marshal goes on also. 2 more years of Zo will be awesome. I promise you that when any game is close at the end HE WILL HAVE THE BALL.

  18. packistanbul 03/11/2012 at 1:41 PM #

    I am a Pack fan who is away a few too many thousand miles and an ocean inbetween so i can only watch a few games a season. However I do follow all games via gamecast, sfn and other media.
    Since I am pretty removed from the heat of the moment, I used to think that you guys are, well not the ‘lunatic fringe’, but rather biased and not very objective. However after watching the game last night (night for me) this has all changed. We watched the game with my teenager son who is not so much into basketball but soccer, even he was furious with the late game calls or no-calls…

    Now I believe you have every right to go mad. Yes, We could and maybe should have won even with these calls, but this is another story. The refs have a very strong bias towards the ‘better’ teams, making it an unfair and uneven field.
    Being involved in the higher education I feel especially bad for our kids who have worked hard and put all they have into the field and lost, getting the message that the mighty will always prevail, even when they do not deserve…

  19. sardeenz 03/11/2012 at 1:44 PM #

    Did anyone notice the Semi-finals Geico play of the game? The video comparison in this thread could be a 3 way comparison with an almost identical play in the first half of the FSU game. Carolina got the charge of course.

  20. 4PackinMB 03/11/2012 at 1:47 PM #
  21. beeeejay 03/11/2012 at 1:47 PM #

    BJD how can you say that the Bonnies winning is good for us….Every thing I see says it puts a bubble team out and my gut tells us that we would be that bubble team

  22. Lumpy 03/11/2012 at 1:52 PM #

    Look, we got jobbed plain and simple. We know it, they know it, and if there’s any justice in the world, we will make the tournament and go farther than they do after running into a a hot shooting team with an officiating crew that isn’t wearing UNC boxers.
    I would also hope that from now on we play these guys like a Knicks team from the early ’90’s and make sure if they are gonna call a foul, we make them earn it. Make them afraid to drive the lane. Also, if there’s ever a time we have a big lead on the Heels, we run it up. Blatantly. Make it obvious. And then Gottfried can tell the media that you can never leave a game against UNC in doubt.

    That is my dream.

  23. BJD95 03/11/2012 at 1:53 PM #

    I said it makes our win there look better. I think there’s zero chance we get seeded above the First Four or get left out. Think that a Bonnie win bumps Seton Hall and their 61 RPI. I think that’s just and thus I want it to happen.

    Shit, there should at least be a tiny bit of justice this weekend.

  24. 93Pack 03/11/2012 at 1:55 PM #

    ancsu87,

    Coach Gott did make a substitution between Calvin’s 4th and 5th fouls. He did not have to take a timeout to get Calvin out of the game. He said that he would have taken him out but he didn’t know it was Calvin’s 4th.

    8:35 CJ’s 4th foul
    8:27 Substituted Painter for Wood
    8:03 CJ’s 5th foul

  25. wolfpack_grad 03/11/2012 at 1:55 PM #

    Lunardi seems to have us securely in the last four in, but Palm has us as the very last team in. If Palm is right, and Bonnies win… it may be a bad situation for us.

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