Being the huge N.C. State Wolfpack fan that I am, needless to say the 2012 ACC Men's Basketball tournament had more than it's share of Maalox moments for me...Most of which were courtesy of a group that have become known as the Hessian Army...
But in order to get the full back story we have to travel back in time a couple more weeks to that fateful day, February 18th, when the Wolfpack were taking on the Florida State Seminoles in the RBC Center in Raleigh. Official Karl Hess couldn't take the heat from former Wolfpack greats Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani sitting court side. After a day of assaulting and undressing Wolfpack three point ace Scott Wood, the FSU defense was finally whistled for a foul by Mr. Hess. At that moment Gugliotta stood up and shouted "it's about time"...Well Mr. Hess to exception to this oh so harsh language and called for a security officer to escort Mr Guliotta from the premises. There's only one problem with this. The on-court game officials can't just ask security to escort someone out...
ACC Supervisor of Officials John Clougherty released a statement:
Under Rule 10, when circumstances warrant, an official has the authority to request home game management to eject fans when the behavior, in the officials' judgement, is extreme or excessive. It's unfortunate in this instance that ACC protocol of communicating directly with the home game management was not followed, and instead, a building security officer was solicited. We will re-communicate this policy with all officials to ensure proper protocol is followed.So it would seem that Mr. Karl Hess broke the rules...His punishment for breaking said rules? Well best I can figure the ACC Supervisor of officials John Clougherty waved his index finger at Mr. Hess said "Karl don't do that again...that's a no,no"
Fast forward to the ACC tournament...where we learn from the ACC ACC Supervisor of officials John Clougherty that Karl Hess won't be working the ACC tournament because he was afraid his mere presence would be a distraction and detract from the tournament.
WHAT! so now good ol' Karl Hess thinks he is as big or bigger than the ACC tournament! This tells me all I need to know about this man...He is not looking to work basketball game adjudicating the rule book providing non-biased officiating. He wants to be the show...
Moreover, several other officials decided they would wear KH on their sneakers to honor Mr. Hess...
I have always heard those much wiser than me say that the mark of a game that was officiated well is one where you don't even know that there are officials on the playing field or court...
Apparently the ACC basketball officials never subscribed to the aforementioned theory, they all want to be part of the show...So now we have this whole Karl Hess thing hanging over the ACC tournament and in addition there were several other games earlier in the season where the Wolfpack was seemingly victimized by biased officiating, including the Duke game at Cameron and the UNC game in Raleigh...and conspicuous by there presence at both were officials Brian Dorsey and Ray Natili...
Bias by ACC officials, especially in basketball has been a hot button topic for decades dating back to the days Dean Smith constantly bent the ears of ACC officials. Everyone knew back then that Dean had the refs in his pocket...and so it continues today...it's just a little broader spectrum than yester-year...Coach K at Duke gets his share as well as good ol' Roy at UNC...
And if you don't believe referees go into games with preconceived bias read this: http://espn.go.com/blog/north-carolina-basketball/post/_/id/4912/lack-of-fouls-key-for-unc Sure in the article Mr. Clougherty goes out of his way to say the officials don't favor anybody...To this I call B.S...If a referee goes into a game with a preconceived notion or idea about whether a team fouls or not, I don't care how you slice it the man already is biased...
My whole argument is a foul is a foul is a foul...It has nothing to do with whether a team typically doesn't foul in games or if a player is prone to foul nor does it change based on how much time is on the clock...the rulebook doesn't change based on the time on the clock the rule for a charging foul called in the first minute is the same as the rule for a charging foul in the last 10 seconds of a game...You can't change the way you officiate a game in the last few seconds of a game...Herein lies a BIG, BIG problem...There are those in the sports world that espouse the theory of let the players decide the game..."Let 'em Play" and based on their feeling apparently they want the rulebook thrown out for the closing seconds of a contest...
So now we move forward to Saturday in the ACC tournament and N.C. State has made it to the semi-finals and they have to face their nemesis the UNC Tar Heels. But this day the Heels were without John Henson, ACC Defensive Player of the Year...but they did have their ace in the hole...the Hessian Army (the band of officials with KH on their shoes). Led this day by Brian Dorsey and Ray Natili...
The Wolfpack played what may have been one of their best games of the year but were still victimized by questionable officiating and lost their star C.J. Leslie when he fouled out with over 8 minutes left. One of the fouls a questionable charge called by none other than Brian Dorsey...However, the 'Pack rose to the occasion and had an opportunity to win the game going into the final minute. However, with the game tied at 67-67 a turnover with 43 seconds left gave the ball back to UNC. Predictably the Heels ran the clock down as far as possible then Kendall Marshall drove towards he basket, bowled over Alex Johnson and scored to make the score 69-67...
Earlier in the game on several occasions charges were called on collisions identical to that of the Kendall Marshall /Alex Johnson collision with 10 seconds left on which the game winning basket was scored. Please watch the video...If the call on C.J. Leslie is a charge then Kendall Marshall's knock-down of Alex Johnson in the final 10 seconds IS A CHARGE!
However, this time, there was no call...and the official in position to make the call had he been so inclined? Yep you guessed it Brian Dorsey...When State coach Mark Gottfried told Mr. Dorsey that he felt that Kendall Marshall charged, Mr. Dorsey promptly told Coach Gottfried, "Shut your F#*&!ng ass up!"
After the game Kendall Marshall had the balls to say "in that situation they are not going to call a ticky-tack foul"...A "ticky-tack" foul is like a hand-check or the like, not a foul where one player bowls over another...
No! This was a very clear case of an official changing his rulebook for the final 15 seconds of the game...the same type of offense was whistled multiple times during the games first 39 minute, 45 seconds...to the benefit of UNC and Mr. Kendall Marshall...
Moreover, Mr Brian Dorsey not only showed his true colors by his spineless no-call on the Kendall Marshall charge in the last 10 seconds of the game but he showed he is a class-less individual by his profane outburst at Coach Gottfried.
Brian Dorsey should be sanctioned by the ACC and the NCAA for his profane outburst at Coach Gottfried. This type of thing completely inexcusable.
Not sure anything will ever get done about the bias in ACC basketball officiating as UNC tends to be a very large beneficiary of a large share of it and the ACC is currently run by a UNC alumni, John Swofford. I suspect it will be status quo just as it has been for the past 35-40 years...
As for the ACC tournament congratulations to the FSU Seminoles for winning their first ACC Men's Basketball Championship...In the future I may forget that FSU won the tournament in 2012 but I will always remember the year the Hessian Army invaded and took over the ACC tournament...
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