The Duke/NC incident...

[Doc]

I place all the blame for that mess on Sunday on the shoulders of Roy Williams. When you're up 12 with less than 30 seconds left to play in the game, you get your starters out of the game and you pull the ball out and tell your PG to dribble out the clock. If the shot clock is about to expire, then throw a shot up and have everybody retreat to go on defense. When Hansbrough got the rebound, he should have tossed it back out to the guard and let the clock run out.

On the other hand, the Duke player definitely deserved what he got and for Coach K to suggest that it wasn't intentional really is an insult to everyone who watched what happened. It should be very interesting the next time these teams play.

[TigerStripe]

I wouldn't say "all the blame."

Yes, I was wondering why many starters, including Hansbrough, were still in.

That was one of those intentional-unintentional act. I don't think Henderson set out to hurt anyone, but I certainly thought that he went into that play thinking that he's going for it hard and did not care who was in his way.




www.thecollegeendzone.com

[Spice1]

duke had Paulus (fouled out with 19 secs), McRoberts (in game until incident), Henderson (obviously), & DeMarcus Nelson in the game until the incident. Coach Gay called a full time out with 48 secs and didn't take his starters out. They continued to intentionally foul and put UNC at the line until Paulus fouled with 19 seconds in the game. Why does Roy Williams have to call off his dogs when duke is still trying to win the game with it's starters? Half of the UNC starters were out already and Hansborough had a sub waiting but he had to shoot the shots because McRoberts (duke's best player) fouled him and put him at the line.

[TigerStripe]

duke had Paulus (fouled out with 19 secs), McRoberts (in game until incident), Henderson (obviously), & DeMarcus Nelson in the game until the incident. Coach Gay called a full time out with 48 secs and didn't take his starters out. They continued to intentionally foul and put UNC at the line until Paulus fouled with 19 seconds in the game. Why does Roy Williams have to call off his dogs when duke is still trying to win the game with it's starters? Half of the UNC starters were out already and Hansborough had a sub waiting but he had to shoot the shots because McRoberts (duke's best player) fouled him and put him at the line.

I don't believe any coach should have to "call off his dogs" just as I don't agree that any team/coach should slow down to prevent a blowout.

I just feel that if I was Williams, I would take my best player out IF I thought the game was in hand just to prevent injuries. Maybe Williams didn't feel it was a safe lead; I don't know.




www.thecollegeendzone.com

[Univ. of Phoenix-Online]

Who the players were in the game had no bearing on Henderson coming in to do some damage. I don't think he was attempting to break anyone's nose, but he obviously had bad intentions on his mind.

I am shocked someone would think it is Roy's fault.

[UGA]

Let's review:

At the end of a 71-56 victory over Air Force
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, McRoberts, Nelson, Scheyer, McClure

At the end of a 57-45 win over Holy Cross
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, Zoubek, Pocious, McClure, Nelson

At the end of a 69-53 win over George Mason
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, McRoberts, Scheyer, Thomas, Pocious

At the end of a 86-63 win over Miami
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, McClure, Henderson, Pocious, Davidson

At the end of 62-40 win over Wake Forest
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, McRoberts, Henderson, Nelson, Scheyer

At the end of a 75-61 win over Boston College
On the floor for Duke when the final buzzer sounded: Paulus, McRoberts, Nelson, Henderson, Scheyer

End of discussion.

[Doc]

So coach K deserves some of the 'credit' as well. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of either of these programs.

[HellYeahHokie]

So coach K deserves some of the 'credit' as well. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of either of these programs.

The only person who deserves credit is the person who committed the foul. Not the coaches (because Coach K didn't send in a goon), not Coach Williams for playing his starters, and not the UNC player who had the audacity to try and score a basket in the game.

I'm sure the Duke player's intent wasn't to break the guy's nose. But it's clear his intent was to foul the guy hard to prevent a basket, when the game was over. It might not have been an intentional injury, but it was an intentional, aggressive, hard foul.

And the only one to blame is the player who did it.

Blaming victims is absurd.

[Spice1]

I don't see that Roy did ANYTHING wrong. He had plenty of non starters in the game. He plays 9 players all game long so the difference between starters and bench players is negligible. He had Stephenson, Frasor, Copeland, Ginyard & Hansborough in the game. Hansborough was shooting foul shots because he got the rebound on the previous miss and McRoberts fouled him immediately. He would have come out at the 25 second mark (duke fouled 3 times after that) but Williams was trying to get his 2 seniors, Terry and Wes Miller, an ovation on senior day. As has been established, Hansborough had a sub at the scorers table. To put anything on UNC in this case is absurd. I doubt that coach gay called for a flagrant foul or that Henderson tried to break his nose but any and all blame goes to them.

[Doc]

Why did Hansbrough feel the need to add another dunk on at the end? If he rebounds and throws the ball out to the perimeter, the clock runs out, no harm is done, he doesn't have a broken nose, its over. I guess 27 points isn't enough. There is enough blame to go around on this one. Personally, I don't think you should have your starters in when you have a double digit lead with under a minute to play but I guess that's not the way Roy Williams plays. And you call it whatever you want but trying to throw down a dunk with less than 15 seconds to play and you're already leading by 12 is nothing more than rubbing your opponents nose in the loss. I hope it comes back to bite them in the a$$. I dislike Duke more than I dislike UNC but I'd like to see Duke get in the same situation UNC found themselves in on Sunday and see if they like the fact that Josh McRoberts is out there trying to dunk late in a game that's all ready over.

Sportsmanship is something that has gone by the wayside and its a damn shame.

[HellYeahHokie]

There is enough blame to go around on this one. Personally, I don't think you should have your starters in when you have a double digit lead with under a minute to play but I guess that's not the way Roy Williams plays.

Sportsmanship is something that has gone by the wayside and its a damn shame.

As it has already been pointed out, Roy Williams has a substite waiting for Hansborough, and Duke had starters playing.

Ask yourself this question, before you cast any UNC players or coaches under your net of blame:

Why was Hansborogh on the on the free throw line with a 12 point lead with 15 seconds to play?

[Doc]

he was in a game he shouldn't have been in at the time and he got fouled.

C'mon. Admit it...if something would have happened to Hansbrough where he was seriously injured and forced to miss the NCAA tournament under identical circumstances Roy Williams would have been criticized by everyone associated with Tar Heel basketball...you know it and I know it. I don't care if a sub was waiting to come in (and with 12 seconds to play I'll bet that sub was ecstatic about going into the game!) Add to it the fact that Hansbrough had a monster game and was playing his last home game of the year and it would have been nice if he could have left the court to an ovation as opposed to his face covered with blood. it was wrong. I'll tell you this...if Thad Matta had Greg Oden in the game under the same circumstances...I'd be disappointed.

[Spice1]

As a Maryland fan, I have seen a double digit lead against duke evaporate in the final minute. Scheyer (duke starter who was still in the game)scored 21 points in 75 seconds at the end of a game last year. I respect your point about Hansborough dunking that final time but sometimes when you play hard the way he does (he also had a tooth knocked loose earlier in the game) it might be tough to turn off the instinct to dunk. That has nothing to do with Williams. As somebody earlier posted, McRoberts (and much of the starting 5) has been in at the end of plenty duke double digit wins this year.

[HellYeahHokie]

The question is: why was he on the free throw line?

Since you won't answer, I will.

He was on the free throw line because he was intentionally fouled by Duke to put him there.

Why did they foul him with the game out of reach? You say he should have just thrown the ball away after the rebound, but he should have never been taking the free throw if Duke didn't foul him intentionally to put him there.

You talk about sportsmanship, as if he did something to rub their faces in the loss. Duke could have let the clock run out, but since they decided that 15 seconds was enough time to keep competing, there is no reason why Hansborogh should be expected to do anything less.

[Doc]

You just didn't like my answer.

[HellYeahHokie]

I didn't ask you why he was in the game. I asked you why he was at the free throw line, specifically. And my explanation about the intentional foul shows why I think you are wrong. If Duke's still playing to win when the game is over, then there is no reason why UNC shouldn't keep playing.