Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Live-Blogging the Davidson-Duke Game


Jeff Van Gundy? Are you kidding me? Why do they allow him anywhere near a microphone?

This is going to be a long night.

UPDATE 7:20 PM: What a bunch of little ticky-tack bullshit fouls! And, as I know the good Angus agrees, how in the world can they call that crappy charge with the defender camped out basically right under the basket? Get out the damn way, son! It's dangerous when guys set up to undercut someone jumping for a basket. Ten feet out, sure, a charge. But no charges right up under the basket.

The refs are going to call 30+ fouls in the game, at this rate. Swallow the whistle for a few minutes, fellas. Let the young men play.

UPDATE 7:28 PM: Jesus on a stick. Four trips down the floor, each way: 4 travels, and 2 absolutely phantom charges. One of them has the Davidson player jumping to a spot under the basket as the Duke player was going up. It's a foul on Davidson, but the idiot calls a charge on Duke.

Look, I'm rooting for Davidson here, but this may be the worst refereed game I have ever seen. I was kidding the first time, but I'm serious now: Angus could do a better job reffing this game. Really.

UPDATE 7:41 PM: Okay, I was wrong about Van Gundy. He's hilarious. Nicely done.

The latest reffing outrage is ANOTHER charge, UNDER THE BASKET AGAIN. And this time the defender is still doing the FREAKIN' ELECTRIC SLIDE step just to get there. That wasn't a charge if it was at mid FREAKIN' court! And no way you call it under the basket.

I seen better refs in intramurals, back at Wash U, watching Trout's Raiders play.

UPDATE 7:52 PM: Announcer Mark Jackson just said that Curry is clearly going to be an NBA point guard, because he passes so well, as we can see.

This after Curry had four turnovers: three passes to no one, and one pass right to Kyle Singler, under the basket. Now, it's true that Singler was open. But he also plays for Duke. This, I submit, is a drawback.

Then, less than 60 seconds later, Mark Jackson said that Duke's guard Paulus is a "true professional, at the college level." Does he mean that Paulus is going to play professionally? I hope not. Does he mean that Paulus is getting PAID to play for Duke? That is a pretty significant allegation. I am mystified.

Halftime. I can't stand it. Going to the gym. Post mortem after the mortem.

FINAL UPDATE: Back from the gym, 9:42 PM

Post-mortem--

1. Davidson's Lovedale could play off the bench, or even starting small forward, for quite a few teams. Not top 10 teams, but he is a perfectly solid player.

2. Mark Jackson persisted in this "Stephen Curry is going to be the best point guard in the NBA" thing. But Van Gundy (I now love Van Gundy; sue me) totally ripped him, no mercy. Excellent television. Mark Jackson should ONLY get to speak if Van Gundy gets to correct him.

3. Second half was pretty fun to watch, after the refs appeared to leave their whistles in the locker room. There were muggings, and several times somebody lowered their shoulder and played "bowling for fouls" running down the lane, knocking defenders aside like the 1-2-3 pins. And the refs NEVER called charging. Much better.

7 comments:

Nathanael D Snow said...

My wife just asked, "Why are they talking sooo much?"
Duke really shut Stephen Curry down in the first half though, and that is all a credit to Coach K and team discipline.

Angus said...

1. "drive home safely". very nice. One of me and Mrs. Angus' best memories of our year at Duke was getting to go to a game at CIS.

2. Van Gundy is the BEST!

3. I was a bball referee. took a class in college, then took the Ohio test and worked games (jr high, jv, girl's varsity). Wouldn't call charges. Just don't believe in them. Coaches would scream at me. I'd say "tell your squad to play basketball tonight coach".

4. Is anybody besides me sick of Mark Jackson saying "mama there goes that man?"

Anonymous said...

Van Gundy was hilarious. He spent the last 3 minutes commenting on the cameron krazies instead of announcing the game. He was most impressed with "Our House" and "Drive Home Safely". He seemed pretty amused/scared of the students.

Anonymous said...

The problem isn't with refs, but with the sport itself.

Basketball: the worst invention by a Canadian ever.

Marsosudiro said...

Thanks for the entertainment. Better than being there, I think, considering that I didn't have to drive/park/drive/sit-through-the-boring-parts.

John Thacker said...

And, as I know the good Angus agrees, how in the world can they call that crappy charge with the defender camped out basically right under the basket?

Because it's the rule in college?

EvanZ said...

It's pretty funny to read this almost 5 years later. That Curry kid turned out alright, and clearly Mark Jackson knew it all along.