No I did not. But then again Valentine is from the East and there is a philosophy I have heard from guys out there (like a Jim Burr) that the shorter the whistle the more confident you make it seem your call is. Not to say I agree with that, but Valentine seems to use his whistle very short and quick. Then again, I did have the TV turned up. ;)

Peace

There were a couple times it was too short or too soft - or both, I'm not sure. I definitely wasn't sure it had actually been a whistle.

Now, this was through the TV, not on the court, and I never saw anyone on the court that seemed to not hear the whistle. So, maybe it was just a slightly different pitch that would have been easy to hear in person but didn't get picked up well on TV.

+1

There were any number of experienced officials qualified and competent to do this game. Valentine was but one of 'em, but he definitely was one of 'em.

JMO.

I don't think Valentine was the R. Although he tossed, Cahill administered the throw in to start the 2nd half. BTW, I thought the crew did an excellent job.

I thought the crew did a nice job overall!! The big men on both teams got into some foul trouble, but it is what it is. The calls were solid & very obvious. I did notice the faint sound of the whistles at certain times of the game. But I thought that was due to the 70,000 strong. As for the shortness on the pop, I liked it... I'll start working on that tonight in preperation for the camp season!

Cahill did administer the 2nd half throw in. I'll admit many years ago I thought Valentine was a show-boat but his style grows on you and he can flat out ref a game. Now I enjoy watching him.

She is one of three reasons I KNEW I would marry a brunette...the other two being Annette and Sally Field.

Agree. He has some mannerisms that I'm not that fond of either, one being too many extraneous and needless signals. I've seen him giving the big hand-on-hand good block signal. While doing so, he's fllat-footed, the play's going the other way and he's now put himself a few steps out of getting into the best position he could be in if something happens in his zone. He sureasheck isn't the only one though.

The bottom line is still that it really doesn't matter how you get there; it matters that you do get there. And Valentine usually ends up doing what he's been hired to do. And he did so last night also, imo.

I've got mixed feelings about the game because I really respect the crew that was out there. I thought the game was too physical and not a lot of John Adams' POE's were called. There were a few block/charge plays with players on the floor with no whistle by the crew. High hedge screens from the backside off-ball with illegal contact were not called. Drives to the hole with a foul were called "no shot", not allowing continuous movement to develop. These are things that observers point out on games that I work so I tend to watch for these things on TV.

There were great calls by the crew as well and I thought they did a good job dealing with the coaches. Of course in the end I realize it's easy to say things watching it on TV than being on the floor itself.

I saw a lot of "incidental" contact out there last night. Crew did a great job recognizing and passing on calls.

I agree on the screens...there were some horrible screens being set by both teams. Especially the Duke big guys going out high and turning to pick the defender off with their butts as the defender was going past them. But they were consistent at both ends of the court...

This move ought to be called a zoubek.

Not the R?
 

I don't think he was the R on the game. He tossed, but Cahill handled the seconnd half throw-in. Minor point, but it caught my attention.

There may be different opinions on how they called the game, but they appeared to be consistent in their approach.

I thought the crew did a good job and Teddy was Teddy.

Ted Valentine was NOT the "R" in this
contest...