Another Duke Flop Found

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I hate to pile on Duke fans but I can't believe no one brought this up over the weekend. Gerald Henderson took a pretty measured cheap shot on a WVU rebounder with the game out of reach and what happened next just blew my mind....



Haha. The slow motion instant replay is the best. I can understand you're frustrated, but hitting a dude in the back for no reason and then flopping just makes you look like a poor sport. And they wonder why everyone hates them.

This Would Not Qualify As a Duke Flop (Mister Irrelevant)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 4:04 PM

23 Comments:

Flopping needs to be made a technical foul, just as it's (theoretically, anyway) a yellow card in soccer. That would cut down on this kind of bull real quick.

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 4:17:00 PM  

The Duke player did make a cheap shot, a thrown out of the game worthy cheap shot. But unless the definition of the word flopping has changed, taking an intentional shoulder to the chest will cost most people to fall. Usually the retaliation gets called and the ref was clearly looking right at it. So much for that refs being pro-Duke theory.

testing thing said...
Mar 25, 2008, 4:22:00 PM  

I thought that at first too Phil, but when I looked again the WVU kid barely made contact. Maybe I'm blind, but it looked like a flop to me.

Mar 25, 2008, 4:26:00 PM  

I dunno. Being the lone Duke fan as usual, I'm going to back my man Gerald.

In high school at least, a flop is supposed to be a tech, but i dunno if that's a rule in college. They'd never call it either way.

Didn't really seem like too much of a cheap shot hit in the back to me, that sort of thing happens day in and day out. Going for the rebound. Certainly not a thrown out of the game, come on, he barely moved the guy.

And it didn't seem like too much of a flop to me. Granted, he may have fallen a little too hard, but getting hit that high will make a person fall to the ground.

Either way, it was a shitty game for Duke all the way through. I was disappointed, but at least I don't have to listen to people bitch and moan about the refs until next year, haha.

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 4:57:00 PM  

Good thing this is the first time anyone's ever accused Henderson of a cheap shot...

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 5:02:00 PM  

Yeah Hansbrough would've been proud of that WV kid for that shove.

Cam said...
Mar 25, 2008, 5:15:00 PM  

Eh. Didn't look like a flop to me. Love the WVU player's shove, though

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 5:23:00 PM  

Do you really want referees deciding what constitutes as a flop on the fly? Hell no, they've got enough to deal with out there as far as judgment goes. Calling T's on flops is ridiculously stupid to even think of. 2 shots and the ball for someone trying to draw a charge??? Get the hell out of here.

GMoney said...
Mar 25, 2008, 5:35:00 PM  

didn't look like a flop to me either. i don't think henderson was even looking at that man, and his head was turned away towards the ball. it must have caught him off guard.

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 6:02:00 PM  

It's a flop. His feet are in already in the air when the kid hits him with the shoulder.

Mar 25, 2008, 6:06:00 PM  

Flop or not, love 'em or hate 'em, it was a smart basketball move late in a game and down 8. Coach K should be proud. If the ref had called a T, Duke gets 2 free throws and ball and a sliver of a chance to make it to OT.

JoelBasket said...
Mar 25, 2008, 6:32:00 PM  

Flop? Where? And where is the cheap shot? Henderson pushed the guy--happens on every play. And then got a shoulder that knocked him down...are we just fishing for Duke hate stuff now....

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 7:10:00 PM  

There's no need to fish for stuff to hate Duke about; they bring it on themselves.

UnHoly Diver said...
Mar 25, 2008, 7:24:00 PM  

i'm not even a duke fan but i see no way in which that is a flop. his feet are on the ground until he's hit too hercules.

Anonymous said...
Mar 25, 2008, 8:30:00 PM  

Hmm...I still think it was a cheap shot to nail a guy in the back with your elbow and it looks like to me the guy tries to pull up before hitting Henderson.

I guess we'll just....AGREE TO DISAGREE!!!

Mar 25, 2008, 8:39:00 PM  

Isn't Henderson the guy who threw the cheap shot against Hansbrough in the Duke/UNC game last year? I think he is.

If he played for WVU, ESPN would be pointing that out and showing this replay on a freaking loop calling him a thug.

Jay said...
Mar 25, 2008, 9:20:00 PM  

if that contact were to have happened while the wvu player was driving to the hoop, then it's not a flop.

fact of the matter is that it's under the opponents' basket after a made field goal. it was completely henderson's intention of standing there when the wvu player turned to go back up the court. he gave the guy a cheap shot, then stood there hoping for a reaction and FLOPPED to the ground when the wvu player turned around.

a scumbag move by a scumbag player on a scumbag team.

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 12:59:00 AM  

Wait - Gerald Henderson is a dirty prick? Weird.

The Blue Devils were in a myriad of "scrapes" and "tussles" this year. I think even more than normal. On one hand, it is difficult knowing that everyone outside your home state thinks you're a bunch of racists, rapists, and latent homosexuals. But they go there willingly so I can only feel so sorry for them. They flop. They take cheap shots. And they are the most protected team (in terms of officiating and media coverage) in all of sports.

All I know is that Duke is now 0-4 against the spread in its last four NCAA Tournament games, losing three of the games outright as a solid favorite. From a gambler's perspective the Blue Devils are a gift because the lines on them are so often skewed due to the fact that they are such a public team. The only thing more fun than hating them is getting paid off on a bet and hating them.

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 1:06:00 AM  

gmoney: 2 shots and the ball is a perfectly reasonable "punishment" for flopping. Right now, there's virtually no risk (at worst you give up a free throw because you get called and they make the shot) but plenty of upside (wipe out a basket and get their guy in foul trouble). In order to make it stop, you have to make the punishment enough to outweigh the reward. If you get lucky and get the call, you might take away two points, so why not give them a shot at two free points if you get caught?

Flopping to try to draw a foul is no less unsportsmanlike than swearing at the refs, and that gets you a T every time. I do think referees should be careful about giving them - it's not always obvious whether a player flops intentionally or actually gets knocked off balance - but they need to have some power to rein this in. Adding the "diving" penalty in hockey has worked wonders to cut down on such inanity in the NHL (even if there are times where the ref gets it wrong, as will happen).

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 1:45:00 AM  

Calling that a flop is absurd.

1.The WVU player pretty clearly lowers his shoulder.

2. I dunno where you see the WVU player try to pull up.

3. The fact that Henderson was standing there has nothing to do with trying to flop, I don't think. Don't you think they might have been trying to set a press?

4. His feet are in the air when he gets hit? Seriously?

5. WVU isn't the cleanest of teams. Last season one of the players dove at Jon Wallace's knees during a game at the Verizon Center.

I'm sorry, but this post is ridiculous. You should have just rerun the video of Paulus, an actual flop.

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 10:03:00 AM  

duke plays with 5 white players on the court including Henderson because he plays white. i hope they never win another title.

madnice said...
Mar 26, 2008, 11:11:00 AM  

But he didn't make a Scheyer face!

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 11:58:00 AM  

Sure looks like a flop to me. The West Virginia player tips forward like he was planning on putting his weight into Henderson but Henderson disappeared before he got there.

Can't make it a technical, though, because my alma mater appears to be devoted to advancing the science of flopology...

Anonymous said...
Mar 26, 2008, 3:11:00 PM  

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