No Suspensions Post Duke/FSU Scrum

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No Suspensions Post Duke/FSU Scrum

By Jeff Gravley

Jan 17, 2008

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ACC assistant commissioner Amy Yakola said the league plans no further action after reviewing an incident late in Duke's win at Florida State. "Things were properly taken care of on the court with a double technical called," said Yakola. ACC coordinator of officials, John Clougherty agreed. One technical was called on Duke's Greg Paulus and one on Florida State's Ryan Reid.

With thirty seconds to go in the game, Duke's Greg Paulus and FSU's Isaiah Swann battled for a loose ball. Referee Ted Valentine signaled for a jump ball and after the whistle blew, things got testy.

From what I saw from ground level replays, the back of Isaiah Swann's hand hits Paulus' face. That prompts Paulus to begin kicking. From the overhead replay, you can see Ryan Reid go toward the pile of players and draw his right arm back and proceed forward making a punching motion into the crowd of players. Go back to the low angle replay and you'll see a key element. Reid's hand was not a closed fist. Ted Valentine immediately calls the technical on Reid but he was not ejected from the game.

Here are some of the rules and definitions of what is considered fighting and how it should be handled.
(Source: 2008 NCAA Men's and women's basketball rules and interpretations manual.)

Section 26. Fighting
Art. 2. A fight is a confrontation involving one or more players, coaches
or other team personnel wherein (but not limited to) a fist, hand, arm, foot,
knee or leg is used to combatively strike the other individual.

Art. 7. When during the course of play, an individual strikes an opponent
with the hand, elbow, arm, foot, knee or leg in a non-confrontational manner
but the act is excessive or severe, it shall be ruled as a flagrant foul and not
a fighting action. When a defined body part is used to strike an opponent
but the contact is not severe or excessive, a judgment shall be made by the
official as to whether the contact is intentional.

Art. 8. Any time an individual uses a closed fist in an unsportsmanlike
manner, it shall be deemed that the individual has initiated a fighting act and
shall be penalized accordingly.

Suspensions
The first time an individual participates in a fight during the season (including exhibition games), the individual shall be suspended from participating in the team’s next regular-season game (not an exhibition contest), including tournament competition.

Most Recent Comments

So its OK to throw pnches now, got it!

Heyman: You can actually see that fight on youtube. Just google heyman/brown fight 1961 and it pops up. Larry and Doug were teammates and frat brothers of my father. Your claim about LB is dead on... Won't see anything like that now. Only in a high school gym!

I am old school, that is why I was asking Doug and Larry who. Heyman gave Brown a nice lick in that game, and had a run in with a cheerleader also. He didn't care who he fought with! Brown was not tough at all, now Moe was a different story. He and Dave Budd of Wake Forest lead the all-time tough team.

Larry BROWN, Doug MOE. Carolina/Duke 1961. Bench-clearing brawl. Heyman was suspended for throwing a punch. Thought you were "old school?" Not Art, tho. Too young.

How do you feel about Duke?

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