This week has been one of the most exciting in recent Duke basketball history, but most people have failed to notice.
The Blue Devils played three thrillers, including one against archrival North Carolina. But the majority of the postgame discussions did not revolve around Duke's hard-fought victories. Instead, the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was the allegedly poor officiating that helped to decide these contests.
These whiners should put a sock in it. Just because Duke gets a call here or there does not mean there is some sort of conspiracy.
The standard theory is that Duke gets an inordinate number of calls because Mike Krzyzewski is the highest-profile coach in college basketball. The main piece of evidence these conspiracists use is that Duke almost always makes more free throws than its opponents attempt. But that statistic alone does not validate the conspiracy theories.
The Blue Devils get to the line more than their opponents do because of the style they play. Even though J.J. Redick is one of the best shooters in the history of college basketball, Duke is not a jump-shooting team. The majority of its three-pointers come from penetration and kick-outs rather than players creating their own shot. Jump-shooters do not often draw fouls, while penetration and motion-staples of Duke's offense-frequently do. The majority of Redick's free throws come from his penetration, rather than his three-point attempts.
On the defensive end, Duke doesn't foul because it simply cannot afford to. The Blue Devils usually play no more than seven- or eight-man rotations, so these players know they must avoid fouls at all costs. You've seen Shelden Williams and Josh McRoberts back away from confrontation countless times this season because there is no one to replace them if they foul out.
What's more, this anti-Duke conspiracy theory has been taken completely out of context. Those lighter-blue fellas down the road? They've made 343 free throws and their opponents have attempted just 326. The same goes for No.1 Connecticut, which has a 54-free-throw margin between its makes and its opponents' attempts. So don't feed me any more baloney about Duke getting some special treatment. What makes teams good-discipline and attention to detail-is exactly what gets teams to the free throw line.
And Coach K, of course, knows this better than anyone.
"Teams that attack get fouled if the other team's trying to play defense," Krzyzewski said after Duke's win over North Carolina. "Sometimes there's a disparity in fouls but if you go below the surface of the stats, you'll usually find a reason for it. It's just that a lot of people don't like to do that, and they just don't want to because they might find a different answer. Tonight, they got us into some foul trouble because they attacked us."
The whining about the "Blue Bias," as an ESPN graphic put it this week, has become unbearable recently thanks to two seemingly suspect games. After losing to Duke, Boston College head coach Al Skinner spoke out.
"How does [Craig Smith] play 35 minutes and not go to the free-throw line?" Skinner said. "Are you saying there was never [any] contact? There was as much contact for him as their post player received."
Well, coach, if that were true, it'd be one thing. Unfortunately, you're wrong. Smith attempted a total of nine shots. Of these, six were jumpers that came from outside the paint and three were layups. You don't get fouls called simply because the other guy gets fouls called. When your All-American big man is shooting 15-footers, he is not going to be touched.
Coaches like Skinner need to get real. His squad is not playing the officials, just a better team.
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