I’m not fixated on the no-call on James Robinson’s score with 11 seconds left. Really. I am merely interested in how the moment is viewed.
Pittsburgh media:
Robinson scored despite drawing contact from Virginia forward Akil Mitchell that knocked Robinson to the floor to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to one point with 10 seconds left. To the protest of Pitt fans, whose chorus of boos echoed in Greensboro Coliseum, officials didn’t call a foul.
“What can you do? What can you do?” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Everybody saw it.”
And:
What happened next was one of those controversial plays that stands out in a close, grinding game. The Cavaliers tried to run down the shot clock, but Robinson made a steal before they could get a shot off.
Robinson then took the ball the length of the court and made a layup to pull the Panthers to within 49-48 with 10 seconds to play. It appeared that he got bumped by Virginia’s Akil Mitchell, but no foul was called.
“We just saw the video,” Dixon said. “What can you do? Just watched it. Everybody saw it. Obviously I can’t comment about anything else besides that.
“I can’t state the obvious.”
Mitchell said he was “a little bit” surprised there wasn’t a foul called.
“I wanted to contest it as best as I could,” he said. “I definitely didn’t want to foul. But, you know, they let it go.”
Again, I get the argument that one play doesn’t decide the game. That Pitt missed some free throws that cost them. Just as Virginia made theirs (and just to rub salt in the wound, are missing plenty against Duke right now). Still, even last year that was a foul.
So, how did the Virginia media mention the moment?
Here:
Robinson drove and hit a tough layup with 10 seconds left, cutting U.Va.’s lead to 49-48. U.Va.’s Akil Mitchell avoided getting a foul called on him during Robinson’s layup, even though Robinson appeared to have a significant gripe if he’d chosen to balk.
“I didn’t think I fouled him,” Mitchell said. “I thought I contested it pretty well. … If I was going to foul him, I should’ve fouled him harder, so he couldn’t have gotten it up on the glass.”
Hmm. A little different comment from Mitchell than how the Pittsburgh media mentioned it. But a fair observation, if somewhat softened for the local audience, that it looked like a foul.
And a little more on what Mitchell said that the Pittsburgh media used:
Following a lay-in by Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson, Brogdon had the ball stripped by Robinson, who raced down the floor for a layup that trimmed Virginia’s lead to 49-48 with 10 seconds left.
It could have been worse. Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon fumed on the sideline in search of a foul on Cavaliers forward Akil Mitchell as he challenged Robinson at the rim. Even Mitchell conceded after the game he may have committed an infraction.
“The referees definitely weren’t calling a lot of fouls today because I know a couple times I fouled a couple guys [and] they didn’t call it; I was really surprised,” Gill said. “But I guess it worked out for our benefit.”
Then this:
Brogdon’s driving layup put U.Va. back up by five, 49-44, but Lamar Patterson made a layup with 50 seconds to go. And when Brogdon lost his dribble to Robinson, who converted his steal into hit a twisting layup over Mitchell, Pitt was within 49-48 with 10 seconds left.
Nothing to see here. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the score.
Refs today again show the level of inconsistency in the ACC. Did it affect the outcome, who knows but the disparity between teams today and the various game make you say WTF?
It doesn’t make me feel any better about Pitt that they’re able to play Virginia close. The games between two teams that play such a gritty style can’t help but be close.
What does make me feel a little bit better is that Dixon seems to have realized that when the offense stagnates, he has to put Newkirk in.
What also makes me feel a little bit better is that Zanna isn’t playing like a wussy. The NC game and the first half against UVA were a revelation. I just wish he’d developed a post game, because it’s tough to ride a player who completely depends on second shots and rolls to the hoop for his points. Because those are the only ways he scores, you can’t run an offense through him on the block. Oh well…..I’ll take the improvement and just be happy he’s woken up.
Buffalo:
7) Gonzaga
10) PITT
2) Villanova
15) Weber State
7) Pitt
10) St Joe’s
2) Villanova
15) Albany
I honestly was not upset in the least that they lost. 4 games in 4 days leading up to the big dance seemed like a recipe for disaster and they played very well. But in a 3-point loss, 3 blatant missed calls is hard to digest.
Thinking Florida can’t help but be a little nervous. Can’t wait for Thursday.
I also kinda liked Julius Page flying over
Bouga Bouga Boulie, or whatever his name was.
Julius!
Right there with you.
There was also a walk that was not called on a made layup by Harris. Zanna walked (not called) during a missed layup on a subsequent possession. Subtract Harris’ two and assume that Artis or Robinson make one FT on the uncalled fouls and you have OT at the very least.
There was another walk by a VA player on a trap in the backcourt that was also uncalled.
I just wish the refs would call the games straight up. A lot less ambiguity and speculation. By NOT calling fouls and violations they can also make themselves part of the game.
Anybody old enough to remember when there were only two refs and they wanted to add a third to catch everything?
Wow….
Although later in the day I saw several game highlites on ESPN and whoever was doing the highlites, said on that play, ‘no contact’. lol
I can imagine the uproar had Robinson been on one of their ‘fav’ teams like Duke or Syracuse. You would have seen the highlite a hundred times, they would have the pic, zoom in, etc.
Studio announcers, would have been saying things like ‘how could a referee not call that’, etc. etc., ‘one of the worst non-calls of the year’, etc.
Some things never change !
