news-record.com

DURHAM — The game of basketball was shoved backward again Sunday night in a pitched battle at Cameron Indoor Field.

Duke defeated Wake Forest 90-70 on a channel opposite the NFL playoffs and affirmed David Cutcliffe's decision to remain at a football school. In a week in which physical play in the ACC became a subject of discussion among the coaches, the league's two most physical teams collided in a mid-January scrimmage.

Bodies slammed against the hardwood as officials attempted to keep some semblance of order in a game that was just not going to be about order. The first game of the season between the two best Big Four teams in the conference was going to be played the way it's usually played.

Brutally.

The first half was played in a blur of fast breaks and whistles, mostly resulting in missed shots and coaching anguish. The teams missed a total of 51 shots in the opening minutes as midair collisions and flying arms and elbows produced less than calm conditions.

"That was ACC basketball at its toughest," Mike Krzyzewski said.

Players threw themselves into each other, sometimes missing and flopping onto the Cameron hardwood, and eventually they began limping to the benches in various forms of convalescence and anger. Through it all, Krzyzewski and Wake coach Dino Gaudio screamed for retribution and, yes, more whistles.

"It was like a football game," Gaudio said. "The game's getting incredibly physical. It's unbelievable. I've been to see a couple of NBA games, and I don't think it's as physical as it was tonight in the league."

He was talking about the NBA, not the National Football League.

Earlier in the week, several ACC coaches were asked to address the issue of increased physical play in the league. Most coaches agreed that the game has become more physical in recent years, and most also agreed that nothing can be done about it.

"He has big, strong kids and we have big, strong kids," Gaudio said.

Enough said. The game has changed, and Sunday night's was just another example of how the game has changed in recent years. Coaches said this week that in a conference where teams are otherwise evenly matched, physical play is going to become more and more of a factor.

"Players are bigger and quicker, and the court's stayed the same size, so it's going to be more physical," Maryland's Gary Williams said. "It's a very difficult sport to referee now because of that. I don't know what you do to tell you the truth. If you called every foul, it wouldn't be a very good game."

The referees Sunday did what they had to. The early minutes of the game were called closely as limits were imposed on the teams. Of the 25 fouls called in the first half, most were the result of collisions at the rim. But not all.

Chas McFarland, the dramatic Wake center, took down two Duke players in meaningless collision at midcourt before the ball was even inbounded. In the second half, he took down Duke center Brian Zoubek, only to see Zoubek return the favor the next time down the floor. At least it seemed that way. It's entirely possible McFarland simply dove. In any event, there was no call. He somehow managed to not foul out, though three others did.

The officials tried their best not to slow the game in the second half, but the players would have none of it. As the game wore on, the fouls became harder. Players came out of scrums holding body parts and checking for blood. Words were exchanged. And the game just got more intense.

John Clougherty, the ACC's supervisor of officials, periodically sends out videos for the league's referees to study. The one coming out this week will focus on post play, an issue the NCAA took up more than a year ago when it asked officials to pretend there's a little line under the basket as there is in the NBA. That seems to have caused more problems than it addressed. Officials have it hard enough already, and it's unlikely anything from this game will show up on the video.

"It was really physical," Krzyzewski said. "I don't think that's the way games are always played."

Sunday night was impossible to officiate. With the Duke students chanting their usual chants about refs being blind and deaf, it was a night no one wanted to be a ref. The game's marquee play, with Ish Smith blocking a breakaway dunk, was probably an impossible play to call. But then again, most everything was impossible to call in this one.

ACC basketball dove headfirst into itself Sunday night, the result of a physical game becoming more physical before our very eyes and all parties involved agreeing there's almost nothing that can be done about it.

And it's only January.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com