Watch: Duke's Allen called for flagrant-1 hip check, but was it the right call?
We seriously doubt the favorite song of Duke’s Grayson Allen is Britney Spears’ “Oops, I Did It Again?”
But it’s a logical assumption considering Allen — reprimanded by the ACC for tripping players in games during his sophomore season and then suspended by his own coach for another on-court trip a year later — was charged with a flagrant 1 foul Friday night for contact he made with North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks in the first half of the Tar Heels’ 74-69 win over the Blue Devils.
North Carolina had just started a fast break up the court late in the first half when Allen hip-checked Brooks, causing Brooks to fall.
Officials initially called a common foul on Allen, but after reviewing video of the play, changed the call to a flagrant 1 foul, which gave North Carolina two free throws and possession of the ball.
https://twitter.com/Kyle__Boone/status/972313565267988481
“They got a fast break and I bumped him and fouled him,” Allen said.
Brooks told reporters he felt Allen intentionally bumped him. When Allen was asked about what Brooks said at the postgame news conference, coach Mike Krzyzewski immediately jumped in to defend his player.
”Any foul in the game is not … you don’t want any foul,” Krzyzewski said. ”So that was another foul in a game. Do you think that was the only time someone was hipped in the game? If you look in the low post, it’s going on all the time. So it happened at half court. They got it. It’s done. And that didn’t win or lose the game.”
“I was surprised there was stoppage,” Krzyzewski added. “But we’ll go with the call and move forward.”
The NCAA defines a flagrant 1 foul as a foul in which the contact is “excessive.” Officials are not asked to consider the severity of the contact when determining if it rises to the level of a flagrant 1.
While it would be easy to argue Allen was intentionally trying to make contact with Brooks in an attempt to slow him down, defining Allen’s actions as excessive may be a bit harder to prove. Obviously, the officials determined the extension of the hips into Brooks’ path is what made the contact excessive.
Allen’s foul certainly elicited polarizing opinions on Twitter.
They called that flagrant foul on Grayson Allen because of his history. Normal basketball play that happens every game. Trash call
— 73-9 and THEY LIED (@CuffsTheLegend) March 10, 2018
Absolutely ridiculous!
ANYONE WHO doesn't think Grayson Allen committed the flagrant foul against UNC on purpose, is either his dad , Coach K , or ESPN, or just plain blind … the video doesn't lie …— Billy J. Belcher (@BillyJBelcher4) March 10, 2018
Since North Carolina and Duke are archrivals, you might think the Tar Heels wouldn’t take too kindly to what Allen did.
But North Carolina’s Joel Berry said after the game that was not the case. In fact, he said he was joking with Allen right after the foul was called.
”I told them, they’re always going to get on him about that,” Berry said. ”Any little trip he does, if he puts a finger on somebody, you know they’re going to react. So it’s always a joking thing with me and Grayson. I don’t have any hatred toward him. We’re good friends. We’re both from Florida, and we played with each other. But I just told him that you’ve just got to watch yourself because anything you do like that you know they’re going to get on you about. That’s why we laughed it off.”
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