BALTIMORE, Maryland February 1, 2014 - Duke and Syracuse did battle tonight in the Carrier Dome, and the final score will show the Orange with a two-point win. It was a tremendous game. Two great college coaches at the helm of two really fine teams, the biggest crowd for a regular season game in NCAA history, and a contest that went down to the final buzzer in overtime. What mars the final score and indeed the outcome is a totally embarrassing no-call by the three game officials. The play-by-play dude on ESPN tried to say the call was debatable. But the elder statesman of college basketball announcers, Dick Vitale, would have nothing of it. "It was a foul," said Dickie V. It certainly was. It came in the final seconds of overtime with the homestanding Orange clinging to a one-point lead, and as the Blue Devils' fine redshirt sophmore forward, 6' 8" Donald Hood, exploded down the lane and right through the Orange zone. In an instant he elevated high into the air and began to slam the ball downward toward the basket. Jeremi Grant, the 6' 8" Syracuse forward leaped to challenge, but Hood had caught Syracuse by surprise and Grant's effort succeeded only in hacking Hood hard on the arm, the arm with the ball. Oh, it stopped the ball from going in. A foul that hard almost always will. Instead of going through the hoop, Hood's slam hit the back or heel of the rim and richocheted away. It was out in the open for all to see. It was extremely obvious. It wasn't called despite immediate incredulous reactions by everyone connected to Duke. As for Hood, the instant that he landed he spun and threw his arms out in a plaintive gesture that said the obvious, "how could you not call that?"
The entire Duke coaching staff jumped out of their seats. A game so magnificently played wasn't going to be decided by such an outlandish screw-up, was it? In the next second, thousands of eyes shot to the other two game officials, who in that instant looked like deer caught in the headlights of an on-coming car. There was no call coming. In the next few seconds, the tremendous advantage given to Syracuse by the non-call was not wasted. The Orange survived.
There is this sad idea in sports, among those who cover the games, that events such as the non-call are ignored in the final analysis, as if the incidents didn't occurred. There is also a belief that a great game should not be decided by an official's call. If the call in question is close, or if it was off the ball, that is a belief that has merit. But when the incident in question is in the wide open court, is obvious, and favors a team that doesn't deserve the break, it is a travesty. Duke had a win stolen from them.
Maryland rides another Dez Wells Masterpiece to Decisive ACC Road Win: For the second time since Dez Wells arrived at Maryland in 2012, he didn't start. He was late for a team breakfast meeting, apparently by only a minute or so, and coach Mark Turgeon made a point of it. Wells checked into the Terp attack after 55 seconds. He went on to lead Maryland to a second straight ACC victory, an 80-60 cake walk win at Virginia Tech. Wells poured in 19 points, including 6 for 9 from the floor and 7 for 8 from the foul line as the Terps improved to 5-4 in the conference and 13-9 overall.
At the Duke-Syracuse game Saturday night, ESPN flashed up the top-of-the-conference standings, and gosh darnit, there were the Terps, in sixth place in the 15-team conference. Here are the standings :
1. Syracuse 8-0, 21-0
2. Virginia 7-1, 16-5
3. Pittsburgh 6-2, 18-3
4. Duke 6-3, 17-5
5. Clemson 5-3, 14-6
6. Maryland 5-4, 13-9
7. North Carolina 4-4, 14-7
8. North Carolina State 4-5, 14-8
9. Wake Forest 4-5, 14-8
10. Florida State 4-5, 13-8
11. Georgia Tech 3-6, 12-10
12. Notre Dame 3-6, 12-10
13. Miami 2-6, 11-10
14. Boston College 2-6, 6-15
15. Virginia Tech 1-8, 8-13
In other scores Saturday, Notre Dame, playing at home, beat back Boston College, 76-73, in overtime, Georgia Tech surprised Wake Forest, 79-70 at Winston-Salem, North Carolina downed North Carolina State, 84-70 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, Clemson went to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, 53-49, and Miami broke a three-game losing streak by beating Norfolk State in a non-conference game in Miami. On Sunday, Virginia plays at Pittsburgh. The game starts at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time. It will be televised on ESPNU. On Monday, Notre Dame is at Syracuse, a game to be televised by ESPN at 7 pm. Maryland swings back into action on Tuesday when they invade North Carolina, the last time these two teams will play in-season in the ACC. The ACC network will televise at 8 pm. Also at 8 pm, Georgia Tech goes to Clemson, also on the ACC network. At 9 pm Tuesday, Wake Forest goes to Duke, a game to be televised on ESPNU.
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