ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
There is a famous painting that shows exactly how many people really love a basketball referee:
Whistler's Mother.
Even the zebras might laugh at that one, but probably not in the ACC, which often takes itself far too seriously anyway.
After two end-game altering officiating mistakes in a six-day span, it takes a man who has been on the wrong end of a pair of game-changing calls to put what has occurred into perspective.
After Sunday's loss to North Carolina State on a 3-pointer that really wasn't, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said, ``It's a difficult loss, but nobody died.''
Not yet, anyway.
However, because hoops is taken so seriously in the ACC and because the errors have been played and replayed, the work of the officials will be magnified during the final few weeks of the season.
Is it a big deal? Sure. That's why the ACC's associate commissioner and officiating supervisor, Fred Barakat, is being quoted more than league coaches this week. If Fred had gotten this much publicity in his late 1970s years as Fairfield's basketball coach, he'd still be on the sideline.
The ``forgotten substitute'' at the end of the Feb.11 Duke-Virginia game and the erroneous 3 the Wolfpack used to beat Wake could have ramifications through the NCAA Final Four.
UVa's 62-61 loss to Duke may be just enough to keep the Cavaliers out of the NCAA Tournament. Duke may have won without the officiating gaffe, but the victory coupled with Wake's loss certainly swung the ACC race at the top toward the Blue Devils.
The calls could even alter the way the NCAA Tournament field is seeded. Depending on what occurs through the ACC tournament - where these decisions could change the pairings - Duke could be a No.1 seed, Wake a No. 2. Their regional destinations could be switched, too.
The Demon Deacons' loss Sunday wasn't their first on a phantom 3-pointer this season, although the first one - in Maryland's buzzer-beating 54-51 victory Jan.19 - wasn't as obvious.
``That shot, God may have had trouble calling it,'' Barakat said after watching slowed videotape that showed the Terps' winner was fired about three-hundredths of a second late.
There are three officials on the court, but that hasn't made the game any easier to work. In fact, the game and its evolving style has put more responsibility on the shoulders of the officials.
What once was a finesse game - and the ACC was perhaps the foremost finesse league - has become an exercise in power and pounding. Many games look like concrete hardening vs. paint drying. Every possession is crucial, so, naturally, every whistle is crucial.
Officials no longer are anonymous. TV analysts talk about them throughout the game, second-guessing after watching slowed replays. Most officials work in several leagues and are paid handsomely. Many work too many nights, in a sport with rules and points of emphasis that change annually.
No one in or out of the ACC is suggesting the officials are any more crooked than their stripes, but when their names go from the tiny type at the bottom of newspaper box scores to the headlines, it's bad news.
The ACC has handled the two recent errors properly. It is what happens from here that is most important, because after the two mistakes, there will be even more scrutiny of officials' calls for the rest of the season.
To err is human. To forgive, but not forget, is what the ACC needs now. The root of the problem is even bigger than the best league in college basketball.
It's what all of us who love basketball have let the game become. It's a power struggle.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB