One of the least surprising things anyone can hear when it comes to ACC basketball is Duke getting a wrong call in their favor. It happened again when they faced Maryland, beating the Terps 69-67, and getting a possession call going their way which in hindsight might have decided the game.
The conference admitted the referees botched a call which wasn’t a foul or something of the sort: They messed up the possession arrow, and that a miscommunication occurred between the officials and the table crew resulted in Duke getting the possession of a jump ball with 16:58 left in the game instead of Maryland. The next tie up came with 6:39 left in the game and Maryland leading 56-54. Instead of giving the ball to the Terps, Duke retained possession, and tied the game on their next play.
You can clearly see he officials signal jump ball and you’ll notice on ESPN’s screen, under the “2nd|16:58” it says Poss arrow: Duke.
As they’re inbounding, it’s easy to see that ESPN changes the arrow from Duke to Maryland.
The next jump ball comes with 6:39 left on the clock; the possession arrow is still shown in Maryland’s favor.
Seth Allen dives for a loose ball and before a Duke player can jump on top of him, you can clearly hear Jake Layman shouting Time Out. Layman, who is standing above Allen, and Nick Faust, making the timeout signal, but the officials don’t award it to them, instead calling for a jump ball. The ESPN broadcast crew says “Maryland ball. On the possession arrow, the Terps will have it.”
The officials talk about it and then they just give possession to Duke. Why? No one really knows. ESPN is clearly confused about what happened. They show the possession arrow in Duke’s favor as Duke inbounds the ball incorrectly.
A few seconds later, ESPN has again switched the possession arrow back to Maryland.
The ESPN broadcast shows Turgeon jumping up and down at the other end of the court, but nothing is really done before Duke quickly inbounds the ball and scores.
Was this done on purpose? Probably not. But the ACC won’t give the win, possession or time back to Maryland, while another dubious and suspicious decision goes the predictable way without a shred of good reason for it.