After the game, the Kentucky people were complaining about the last
regulation call on Prince. As we said yesterday, he hand-checked Dunleavy
and Williams and didn't get called for either offense, despite the supposed
emphasis on that infraction. But if you can watch the tape, ask yourself
this: how does Jason Williams go from a slight angle forward to a position where
his head, rather than being at the front of his mass in motion, is at the back
of it? It defies the laws of physics to assume that a guy who runs and
jumps forward can, in mid-air, go backwards. You can get away with a lot in
Lexington, but even there, you have to obey the laws of nature.
Quotes:
- ''A couple of those calls were ridiculous." Keith Bogans.
- ''He's a great player, but he's not what they make him out to be.'' Bogans
(on Williams) - ''We lost fair and square, but man, I didn't foul him at all.'' Tayshawn
Prince - ''When you're the No. 1 team in the nation and have the No. 1 basketball
player in the nation, what can you say, he got the call. I thought it
was a clean block, but he's the No. 1 player in the nation -- supposedly.''
Rashaad Carruth.Duke UK Total Fouls: 25 22 Fouled Out Jones No one Four Fouls Dunleavy Bogans, Fitch Three Fouls Boozer, Duhon Prince, Camara, Hawkins
News flash to the aforementioned: you don't get to be top dog just because
Kentucky is on your jersey.
Here's a little breakdown. As you can see, the total differential in fouls
was three. Since Kentucky went 12 deep and Duke wasn't nearly as deep, it stands
to reason that fouls are less important to UK than Duke (Marvin Stone only
played three minutes, for instance - that's depth). Daniels had two fouls in 8
minutes, and Stone had one in 3 minutes. Duke's bench got 8 fouls in 28 minutes,
for what that's worth, or one every 3.5 minutes. Duke starters were were
whistled every 2.64 minutes; Kentucky's every ....2.64 minutes. Hey, wait a minute, that has to be biased!
Compare these stats to another game which caused much discussion - UNC's victory over Georgia Tech. Tech was called for 29 fouls, to UNC's 15. Three players fouled out, and one in just nine minutes. Tech didn't get a free throw the entire second half.
We didn't see the game, so we don't know what to think, but we know these were the things that people talked about.
Much like Maryland last year, who said they were robbed even though they failed to box Nate James out in two game-ending situations and gave up two huge leads, Kentucky says nothing about Jason Williams scoring 23 points in the final 12 minutes. He singlehandedly kicked their ass. If anyone could have defended him, nothing else would have mattered at all, because Kentucky would have won, no ifs, ands, or buts.
The good news about people who get suckered into this type of defeatism is that they are suckered into this type of defeatism. In other words, if you are consumed with the idea that you can't get a break, you won't really be able to make a break, either, and if people think that they're losing before they start. It's not like Duke is untouchable. Ask Cincinnati, or UConn, or Florida. But you have to close the deal to do it.
More Duke-UK links: