Billy Packer Has To Be Blind
Many of you know I'm a Maryland fan. Obviously, I hate Duke. Everyone at Maryland does. I had a boner when they swept Duke this year. Because of that, I'm sure I was a tad biased when watching the video of Gerald Henderson's hard foul on UNC's Tyler Hansbrough.
But even though I hate Duke, I believe I'm not one of those overly biased fans, and I can still call something fair. I'm the guy who will say "He may be ugly as sin, but Coach K is still a really good coach." Sure, I have to shower right after I say that, but since it's true, I'll admit it.
After watching this foul over and over again, there's no doubt in my mind that it was a dirty intentional foul. Yes, I understand that it's hard to change your course in midair at high speed. However, in this case, it wasn't too late for Henderson to veer off. Look at the play in slow motion. Hansbrough loses the ball before Henderson brings his hand down. If you're going for the ball, you're going to notice that the ball isn't there and then at least lighten up your motion of bringing the hand down. He brought the hand down as hard as he could. Hell, he was still on his way up as Hansbrough lost the ball and probably didn't need to bring his hand down at all. He did though.
It was sad to hear Billy Packer insist it wasn't an intentional foul over and over again because it was so blatant that it was. Packer came under fire last year with Jim Nantz when they were so vehement about so many mid-majors, especially George Mason, who made the Final Four, getting tournament bids. I didn't fault them for that. Many people said that. I said that. Fortunately for everyone, no one was on video saying that except for those two. However, this incident, the evidence was in front of his face, and he just ignored it. I know announcers are supposed to make college sports seem like some perfect institution, but he just looked stupid. It's a shame that once again, CBS will be covering the NCAA tournament because, frankly, CBS shouldn't be allowed to cover sports at all. It's shitty video quality, their announcers are stupid, and they never show the good games during the tourney.
As for Duke, I'm glad they finally aren't holy any more. All year they got rankings much higher than they deserved just because they're Duke. In fact, when Maryland and Duke met, they had the exact same records but Duke was ranked #14 and Maryland wasn't ranked at all. Duke lost four ACC games in a row and only then lost their rank. Then they won one game and were suddenly #17 again. The Blue Devils just aren't that good this year and will be an early exit in the tournament. And that's not my biased side speaking. That's just the truth this year.
