That Laettner shot was deeply disturbing to live through. Part of the meaning of my handle. But the whole rest of the game was breathtaking to behold as it happened, as each second ticked off the clock and we were still playing at or above their level. Which should have been impossible by the mythos of the day. It was exactly like watching your best friend go toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson and actually have him on the ropes instead of come out of the ring in a bodybag.
I would have rather him shot FT with that pressure than that shot. He could not miss that game. Force the refs to call it.
Biggest puntang ever, his karma was only two titles for that BS strategy.
The fouls were 28 on UK and 23 on Duke. I could see whining and getting your panties in a twist if it was something like 5 fouls to 30, but c'mon. I fully expect someone to tell me that the fouls that were called on UK should not have been fouls and or that the fouls called on UK came at worst times, blah, blah, blah.
Lmao how many times have you watched that game?! I just about bet you watched it the one time, live. I’ve watched it 4/5 times since then. I reckon Cawood Ledford was “whining” too then. He mentioned the terrible officiating several times throughout that game. The foul numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
I have watched it once, I will never watch it again. So the officiating was only horrible toward UK. So how should the fouls have been? 5 to 23 in favor of UK? 1 to 23 in favor of UK? Lets just say the fouls were UK 20 and Duke 23 and Duke still won, would some UK fans still by crying into their little pity pot about the officials? I bet that if UK had won some Duke fans would also be whining about the fouls. There just always will be some of those kind of fans who need something to blame to make themselves feel better.
Only thing I can say is to go back and watch it again. I didn’t even realize it until I rewatched the game. Literally, Cawood said “they’re just not gonna call a foul on duke.” He said that a few times during the game, verbatim. We all know Cawood wouldn’t have stated as such without merit. He was as straight of a shooter as they come. The officiating was criminal.
That ain’t how refs tip the scales. Has nothing to do with # of fouls.
Wasn’t that Cawood’s last season on the mic? Maybe he’d just ran out of f*cks to give by that point. His commentary is VERY blunt during that game, hahaha
It actually was his last season on the mic. Always thought that fact was an interesting wrinkle into the legend of that particular game.
Meh, I just never am the type to blame the refs. If we had won that game, what would you say to any Duke fans that might have said that UK got away with a lot and should have been called for more fouls and the refs cost them the game?
There are a lot of us on here that aren't normally "blame the refs" guys; but that game was so obvious! To say it wasn't biased is just trying to get on this board and stir the pot.
I used love the weekend JP games.
I can imagine that being heartbreaking, especially not being able to do anything about it. Best rule changes ever outlawing that BS.
i just don’t see how anyone can ignore the impact officiating can have on a game. there is no argeuing it. they can and have had more impact on games than players at times. And they have very little accountability.
For me, nothing will ever be as crushing as the Texas Western game ... it took me a good while to get over it. I was 13 years old and watched the game in my bedroom on a 13" B&W Admiral Television that I bought with money from my paper route. I cried myself to sleep that night ...
www.bigbluehistory.com
Exactly and I am certain a lot of them either have grudges against certain teams or coaches and/or bet on games themselves.
For me, nothing will ever be as crushing as the Texas Western game ... it took me a good while to get over it. I was 13 years old and watched the game in my bedroom on a 13" B&W Admiral Television that I bought with money from my paper route. I cried myself to sleep that night ...
Kentucky vs. Texas Western (March 19, 1966)
I just don't see anyone can blame the refs for almost every loss. Fans of every team do it. The worst are UL fans I have seen them complain about the refs when they win and the other team was called for more fouls. I just find it a loser mindset to whine about the refs.
We were there too. When we went up 4 points with 3 or 4 minutes to go I was sure we had it.Was there and Wisconsin fans felt like they won the natty that night / into early morningseen some good fights that night too
Problem is, garbage foul calls put our best players on the bench, duke's best players got to play the full game.
You're acting like we're saying every loss is the refs fault, that's not the case.
Agreed! I’ll never get over that game either! Mercer was about 70%, due to fatigue of carrying us against Minnesota the game prior. The BEST Minnesota team in their history.
I’ve always wondered the same, my friend!
Meh, he was in love with Boston. He was leaving no matter what.
I believe you’re right. Had it been any other franchise other than Boston, it might’ve been different. Hell, they offered him the keys to the entire franchise. Would’ve been hard to turn down, no matter who it was.
For the folks who were online and actively following the behind the scenes in ‘97, was John Calipari a consideration after Rick left? He had kicked tail at UMass for years at that point and had a lot of Pitino comparisons by the media while coaching one of Pitino’s former schools.
You were five years old at that time though. That’s why I was asking my folks who were a little older. I was following back then, but I was a kid and a very simple fan —- definitely knew nothing about the behind the scenes. Sounds like most agree he was gone no matter what though.
Nope. Tubby was the only candidate.
All the Wisconsin fans stayed where we were too. Waking up and walking out of the room was like a nightmare lol..We were there too. When we went up 4 points with 3 or 4 minutes to go I was sure we had it.
That Sunday was Easter so we sold our Monday tickets to some Wisconsin fans at our hotel and went home.
