Duke - Baylor 2nd half

Some people have been complaining that Duke got all the calls in the Baylor game on Sunday. Despite my beliefs that the game was called evenly I thought I would watch the 2nd half over again to see if those people had a right to complain.

• Duke's 1st possession - Scheyer hits a 3. Nothing close to a foul happens or is called.
• Baylor's 1st possession - Lomers hits a layup. No foul called or happened.
• Duke's 2nd possession - Bad pass about Zoubek leads to a turnover. No foul called or happened.
• Baylor's 2nd possession - Looks like a possible moving screen by Lomers leads to an open 3 that is missed, but rebounded for an easy dunk for Udoh.
• Duke's 3rd possession - Thomas misses an easy shot. Zoubek with a rebound and a put back. No foul called or happened.
• Baylor's 3rd possession - Anthony Jones hits a wide open 3. No foul called or happened.
• Duke's 4th possession - Smith finds Singler underneath. He pumps fake and gets two Baylor players up in the air. They come down on him as he is shooting and a foul is rightly called. Singler hits the first free throw and misses the second. The second one goes long and Scheyer gets the ball. He shoots a 3 pointer and obviously gets fouled by Lomers. Replays are clear on this Clark Kellogg remarks on Lomer's "poor judgement" and how that is "almost inexcusable." Scheyer hits all 3 free throws.
• Baylor's 4th possession - Dunn drives and shoots a wild left handed lay-up as Miles Plumlee gets called for a foul. It looks clear that Dunn initiates the contact with Plumlee who is just moving his feet next to Dunn as Dunn just jumps into him. Kellogg "he gets his body into the shot-blocker." I don't know how that is a foul? Dunn misses the free throw. Questionable call number one against Duke.
• Duke's 5th possession. Smith drives through the zone and gets fouled by Udoh. It looks like a foul, but there were no up close replays that conclusively show that. Udoh and Baylor don't seem to complain much. The announcers don't say anything about it. It would be a stretch to say this was a questionable call against Baylor. Smith knocks down both shots.
• Baylor's 5th possession. Dunn misses a contested three and Plumlee gets the rebound. No foul called or happened.
• Duke's 6th possession. Smith misses a shot. Duke gets the board. Singler misses a driving layup. No foul called or happened.
• Baylor's 6th possession. Carter misses a layup. No foul called or happened. (After this just assume no foul called or happened if I don't write any more.)
• Duke's 7th possession. Smith got the rebound and took it coast to coast before getting hammered by Dunn. This is a no question foul that leaves Smith on the floor as Dunn comes over to try and help him out. Smith hits both free throws.
• Baylor's 7th possession. Baylor misses a baseline jump shot, but gets the rebound. Udoh then takes the ball into Plumlee and gets and Mason gets called for a foul. Watching it at real speed I see no foul, but in slow motion there might be a foul on Plumlee's off-hand gently placed on Udoh's hip. The refs call a blocking foul, which seems questionable. I really don't see a foul, but I think the refs didn't like the fact that Duke was up 9 to 2 on free throws. Questionable foul number two on Duke. Udoh hits both two free throws with 15:35 left in the half.
• Duke's 8th possession. Smith hits a jumper from the elbow after Duke's breaks the press. No foul called or happened.
• Baylor's 8th possession. Dunn shoots another contested shot and Scheyer gets the rebound.
• Duke's 9th possession. Scheyer misses a 3. Duke gets the rebound, but throws the ball away for a turnover.
• Baylor's 9th possession. Udoh misses a jump hook. Duke gets the rebound.
• Duke's 10th possession. Singler misses a layup, but Zoubek rebounds it for an easy layup.
• Baylor's 10th possession. Off ball foul called against Lance Thomas as he is pushing Udoh out near the 3 point line. I would say this was another questionable call, but it really didn't matter that much, so I will let it pass. Zoubek then steals the inbounds pass/
• Duke's 11th possession. Smith misses a 3 pointer and Zoubek gets fouled for pushing a Baylor player in the back. Looks like a good call, even if it is rarely called. Thomas is upset, but I can't tell if he is upset with the call (Zoubek's 4th with 13:38 left) or the fact that Zoubek has to go to the bench now. Team fouls are now even in the 2nd half at 4.
• Baylor's 11th possession. Carter misses a 3 and Duke gets the rebound.
• Duke's 12th possession. Scheyer misses a 3 and Walton from Baylor gets the rebound.
• Baylor's 12th possession. Dunn misses a shot, but Udoh gets the rebound. As Udoh is going up for the shot you see a do a sideways dive into Udoh and a foul is called on Thomas. This is a blatant missed call. Replays clearly show Dunn shoving Thomas with two hands into Udoh. The only reason Thomas is falling at Udoh's feet is because he was pushed. Scheyer and Duke's players complain and point at Dunn, but the announcers don't mention anything. Definite wrong call number one on Duke. Udoh makes one free throw at the 12:27 mark.
• Duke's 13th possession. Mason Plumlee takes the ball into Udoh's body (similar to Dunn taking into Miles Plumlee's body earlier) and doesn't get the foul called. The ball goes out of bounds off Duke. This is the correct no call, even though in other plays it might be called a foul. Scheyer then gets the ball of a hand off from Plumlee and as he is bobbling the ball some fans want a travel called. Good no call though as Scheyer never had possession of the ball and you can't call a travel without possession. The possession ends with a missed 3 and a missed tip-in before Baylor gets the ball.
• Baylor's 13th possession. Dunn misses a contested 3 and the ball bounces off a Baylor player.
• Duke's 14th possession. Smith misses a running floater and the ball goes off Baylor. Udoh tries to get a charge call on Smith's shot, but nothing is called on his flop. The announcers say nothing about any no call. Off the inbounds Miles Plumlee then gets his shot blocked by Udoh.
• Baylor's 14th possession. On the break Jones from Baylor gets the ball and gets hammered by two Duke players. Good foul called. Jones misses both free throws.
• Duke's 15th possession. Smith hits a tear drop runner.
• Baylor's 15th possession. Carter hits an impressive layup over Mason Plumlee.
• Duke's 16th possession. Smith misses a shot and the Zoubek off the board gets his shot blocked by Udoh.
• Baylor's 16th possession. Udoh goes off a screen, gets the ball and dunks it in. Game tied at 51 as Duke calls a timeout with 9:39 left.
• Duke's 17th possession. Singler misses a 3.
• Baylor's 17th possession. Dunn has the ball cleanly stolen by Smith.
• Duke's 18th possession. Scheyer makes a good pass to Thomas, who pump fakes and gets a Baylor player up in the air. He then goes up for the shot and gets fouled by the player who was fooled by the fake. The Baylor player clearly hits him on the arm and the announcers don't mention anything as the replay is shown. Good call. Thomas makes both free throws with 8:48 left in the game.
• Baylor's 18th possession. Good pass by Udoh to Lomers for an easy layup. Baylor's home crowd (again playing in Houston) gets on their feet.
• Duke's 19th possession. Singler takes the ball into Lomers and gets the foul called. A replay is shown and Kellogg praises Singler from going right at him "to draw that foul." I guess you can't say this was definitely 100% accurate, but I also don't think you can call this a questionable foul. Lomers is shaking his head as he heads for the bench and I feel bad for all those Duke conspiracy people out there, so I will give this the first questionable call that goes against Baylor. Lomers is out of the game and the possession results in a turnover as Singler goes up for a shot. It looks like the ball is slapped out of Singler's hands by a Baylor player and then hits a Baylor's player foot before hitting out of bounds and then hitting Singler. It looks like the ref has a better angle than I do, so I will side with him.
• Baylor's 19th possession. A few missed shots by Baylor and Zoubek comes down with the board.
• Duke's 20th possession. After a sloppy possession and a few misses shots Zoubek finally comes down with the ball and gets fouled. No complaints and no commentary on the call. This was a great hustle play by Duke. Zoubek makes one of two free throws.
• Baylor's 20th possession. Dunn makes a layup that really shows you how talented he and all of Baylor is and how they could beat anyone on any given night.
• Duke's 21st possession. Thomas gets cleanly blocked by Udoh, but gets the ball back. This leads to a dumb reach in foul (you can see Dunn's hand on Thomas's arm) by Baylor. Thomas misses the front end of the 1 and 1.
• Baylor's 21st possession. Dunn goes up for a crazy shot in traffic and a foul gets called on Thomas. Looking at the replay two times I guess they called a foul on Thomas stepping on another Baylor's player foot. At first glance it looked like the Baylor player stumbled, but I guess that might have been a result of Thomas's foot even though replays are unclear. One thing that is clear is that Dunn was not fouled on the shot. Questionable call number three on Duke. Dunn hits both free throws with 5:44 left. Baylor is up 3 and the team fouls are 8 on Baylor and 7 on Duke.
• Duke's 22nd possession. Scheyer misses a 3, but gets another chance after Mason Plumlee gets a rebound. He reloads and hits this one to tie the game at 57.
• Baylor's 22nd possession. Acy slips the screen and is rewarded with an easy dunk.
• Duke's 23rd possession. Zoubek gets his shot blocked by Udoh.
• Baylor's 23rd possession. This is the possession that almost everyone is commenting about as Acy with 4:37 left in the game drives in (out of control for the record) and a 50/50 block or charge call goes Duke's way as the refs call a block. Kellogg "it was very close." Baylor's home crowd doesn't like the call. Questionable call #2 against Baylor. Baylor is up 2 with over 4 minutes to go and Duke's ball.
• Duke's 24th possession. Scheyer misses a 3, but Thomas gets the rebound and kicks it out to Nolan Smith who drains the 3 for a one point Duke lead.
• Baylor's 24th possession. Udoh uses his free hand to get separation from Thomas and knocks down a tough left-handed shot to put Baylor up a point.
• Duke's 25th possession. Carter fouls Smith by sticking his leg out to stop his progress. This is a no doubt tripping foul even if it is a "touch foul." Smith makes the first free throw. He misses the second one long, but Thomas gets another offensive board and passes it out to Smith who then hits a huge 3 pointer to give Duke the lead.
• Baylor's 25th possession. Jones drives and Zoubek tries to take a charge that is almost the exact same play that wasn't called when Udoh tried to take a charge on Smith back on Duke's 14th possession. Good no call. Udoh then misses a shot (as he is guarded by Scheyer of all players) and Zoubek gets the board.
• Duke's 26th possession. Off a Zoubek pass Scheyer knocks down the biggest 3 of his life as he gives Duke a 6 point lead with only 2:35 left.
• Baylor's 26th possession. Udoh drives to the basket and lowers his body into Zoubek to get his 5th foul called. Zoubek pleads his case with both arms held out wide to ask the ref what he did. I really don't know. Questionable foul #4 on Duke. Udoh makes the first free throw and then misses the 2nd, but gets his own rebound. Dunn then misses a 3 and Smith gets the rebound. Duke is up 5 with 2:13 left.
• Duke's 27th possession. Singler shoots and misses from the corner. Thomas follows up though and dunks the ball home as he gets fouled by Udoh. It is hard to see a foul on Udoh and even though nobody on Baylor complains and the announcers don't question the call (even after multiple replays) I will say this is the 3rd questionable call against Baylor. After the free throw Duke has an 8 point lead instead of a 7 point lead with 1:36 left.
• Baylor's 27th possession. Singler steals a really low percentage pass.
• Duke's 28th possession. Scheyer is trapped and as he is getting fouled calls a timeout. he flails his arms a little bit and Acy from Baylor takes offense to that call and runs up and bumps Nolan Smith. This is a no doubt contact technical foul in my mind, but it doesn't really matter though as Duke already has an 8 point lead with 1:19 left. Even if a T isn't called the game is all but over. Jim Nantz calls this an "enormous call." It isn't. Scheyer hits 2 free throws and then Singler turns the ball over.
• Baylor's 28th possession. After a few missed shots Udoh hits a tip in with 47 seconds left and Baylor is down 8.

Game Over. Duke shoots 8 more free throws the rest of the game as Baylor intentionally fouls since they are down with not much time left.

Recap:

• Questionable calls against Baylor: 3
• Questionable calls against Duke: 4
• 1 blatant missed call against Duke.
• Duke's free throws (before intentional fouls) - 19 attempts
• Baylor's free throws - 19 attempts.

Duke won the game because of rebounding and 3 point shooting. They are and were the better team. I challenge anyone to watch a replay of the game and question my analysis of any of the possessions. I know I am biased towards Duke, but I really don't believe an objective person could find much validity with the argument that the refs favored Duke.