Alex Johnson - Florida State University's star power player did too good of a job of covering Duke's Shelden Williams. The refs - who often favor the Duke Blue Devils in close games - decided to retire Johnson early. After getting fouled to the floor - Shelden Williams got up and tried to pick a fight with Alex - Alex put his hands up and turned away - but it did not stop the refs from calling two fouls on Johnson - one for the hack - and a technical for fighting. Johnson fouled out at that moment. Duke went on to win the game in overtime without Johnson's help. The next day - the ACC suspended the refs for a game - but the damage was done. Duke - unfairly got the victory. The whole thing plays to a national consensus that referees favor Duke almost all the time. In this game Duke got to shoot 43 fouls versus FSU only shooting 11. If Duke did not get all those "free" calls - they would have lost by 20 points on their Cameron Arena home floor.
I like Duke - but fair is fair.
I predict that in the NCAA tournament - where you lose one game and you are done - that a couple of refs will decide to make a name for themselves - and unfairly end Duke's and Shelden's season.
....And unfair is unfair.
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