#3 Sparty +1.5 vs #2 Duke (over/under 133.5) Fri 9:45 CBS

[LitlBuck]

Game was called tightly both ways no doubt, but at least Plumlee got his monies worth on fouls. The tightness definitely helped Duke more than it hurt them.

If you told Coach K and Izzo they'd both be shooting 1 and 1 with 12 minutes in the second half, Coach K would have smiled and been overjoyed while Izzo would know he was in for a rough night.

Gary Harris got called for 2 fouls trying to bump Curry on cuts around screens which means Curry went untouched a lot when fouls weren't called. Costello couldn't stay in the game because he was a walking offensive foul. Nix was tentative all night trying to avoid offensive fouls.

It was just ugly overall. MSU just couldn't find any rhythm. Appling is probably the only guy who you can say played well for MSU.

I know that you probably saw it put the Syracuse/Indiana game was pretty physical and there were not that many fouls called in comparison to what is being called in some of the other games. I guess I would just like to see some consistency in all of the games but I guess that is too much to ask for.

It is interesting to note that one of our favorite officials Teddy Valentine has not done any of the Sweet 16 games so I doubt if we will see him in this tournament. Same with Hightower and Burr but maybe I am wrong but I thought that officials were graded after games and advanced on their grading by the coaches. Maybe that is incorrect.