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BKBRef,
I'm not going to let you, or any other Carolina or Maryland fan bait me into blaming the game on the refs. Indiana took the game from Duke, and they were very deserving of that victory.
That said, I will respond to your 'extreme disappointment' in Duke's players and coaches. As for the coaches, i don't know what the hell you're talking about. Matt Christensen definitely stepped out of line by yelling at Benedict as he walked past the end of the Duke bench toward the locker room. Coach K noticed what was going on, and walked down to restrain Matt and tell him to calm down.
As for Christensen, I will not defend his actions. What I will do is try to step into his shoes for a moment, and ask you to do the same. He watches Chris Duhon get whistled on what was obviously a guess with 11 seconds left. I know it was a guess because the replay clearly showed a clean rip of the ball. Then he watches Boozer get fouled at the end, with no call. How do I know boozer was fouled when replays were inconclusive? Because in the post-game press conference, Jarred Jeffries said, "I grabbed him and got a little piece of the ball."
Duke lost the game. Indiana took it from them. Whatever phrase you want to use. The point is that somebody who's given a tremendous amount to the program was very hurt and disappointed. Certainly, he could have channeled his emotions in a much better way. But I, for one, would appreciate it if you would come down off your moral highhorse, allow some humanity to factor into your analysis and righteous indignation regarding this event, and cut the kid some friggin slack.
Furthermore, of all of the fan bases in college basketball, I would expect Carolina fans to be the last to comment negatively on the behavior of any other team's bench players. Carolina's cheerleaders, er, bench warmers, have been the laughing stock of the ACC for as long as I've been watching college basketball, until this season of course, during which there was very little worthy of cheering about. Sleep safely in your glass house.
I hope your criticisms of our program make you feel better about the failures of your own. And if you're planning to respond to that line by ripping off a list of all of Carolina's great accomplishments over the last 35 years just for my benefit, don't bother. I'm well aware, as that's all most of your fans have had to talk and write about this year.
jb
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