Block or charge? Zion and his importance makes each call a tough one for officials

Duke forward Zion Williamson, the consensus national player of the year and presumptive top pick in the NBA Draft, makes games pretty difficult for the five men in opposing jerseys.

Williamson’s games aren’t much easier for the three men tasked with officiating them, either.

The 6-foot-8, 285-pound Williamson possesses a unique combination of power, speed and athleticism in a body that looks closer to an NFL player than a typical college basketball freshman.

His attacking offensive style and aggressiveness on defense, whether going for steals or blocks, compounds the problem for referees, especially in the hot glare of the NCAA tournament.

It’ll be no different when the top-seeded Blue Devils take on No. 2 seed Michigan State, a deep, physical team, for a berth in the Final Four on Sunday.

“If you’ve never seen a player like that, how are you supposed to know what to do?” said Duke freshman RJ Barrett.

To wit: Williamson so preposterously blocked a high-arching shot in Friday night’s victory against Virginia Tech that all the players on the court stopped. Surely, it was goaltending. No whistle came. The Hokies, after the pause, played on, ultimately missing a 3-pointer.

Of greater controversy are the numerous block/charge calls that Williamson creates with his drives to the basket. In the dying seconds of the Blue Devils’ second-round NCAA Tournament escape against Central Florida, Williamson — playing with four fouls — drove to the basket.

Did he get away with a push-off on the drive? Did he initiate the contact with UCF’s 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall that led to Fall’s disqualifying fifth foul?

Much of it’s in the eye of the beholder.

“I feel like he’s a player that they haven’t seen before. It kind of puts them in tough situations,” Duke center Marques Bolden said. “But I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Williamson’s presence on the court is so vital, for both teams, that each foul call has the potential to swing a game. He played all 40 minutes against Virginia Tech.

Williamson has fouled out of just one game this season, picking up five fouls in 25 minutes in the Blue Devils’ victory against Texas Tech in late December.

But he’s flirted with foul trouble in several recent games. Williamson had four fouls in the ACC tournament finale against Florida State and against UCF.

He picked up three fouls, including two charges, against Virginia Tech — but appeared to get away with at least two fouls in the game, making contact with Jerome Robinson on a block shot and an elbow that hit a defender in the head as he drove to the basket. Officials looked at it for a possible flagrant foul, but ruled it was not.

Duke, too, has complaints about the calls that go against Williamson or ones that don’t get called because he’s strong enough to play through the contact. Krzyzewski said after a game earlier in the season that officials were so concerned with what was happening with Williamson’s body that they were missing some of the contact he takes on the hands.

“I can’t ever tell an official how to do his job because I have no experience in that. But it is sometimes when I do get a little bit frustrated because all somebody has to do with me is get in front of me and fall down and whether I lightly touch him or make a basketball play, it’s going to be a charge,” Williamson said Friday night. “It is frustrating but i can’t tell them how to do their job.”

Earlier this season, longtime ACC referee John Clougherty said on The News & Observer’s “The Whistleblowers” podcast that Williamson presented challenges for officials. He relayed a conversation between Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and ACC referee Roger Ayers after Krzyzewski complained about the contact Williamson was getting.

“He looks for contact. He can drive into you. He’s got a big body. He’s real strong. And he can withstand that,” Clougherty recounted, adding later, “I thought Roger was saying, ‘Coach, you could be right. But maybe he’s creating some of that contact.’”

Clougherty said former North Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough was one of the toughest players to officiate, for some of the same reasons as Williamson — a desire to initiate contact and go through defenders on the way to the basket. Hansbrough, a four-year player, is the NCAA record holder for free throw attempts (1,241) in a career and a season (377), an average of 8.7 per game.

Williamson, by contrast, has attempted 198 free throws on the season in 31 complete games, an average of 6.4 per game.

Michigan State, like every other team, lacks a rim protector like Fall, but the Spartans do have a stable of veteran forwards with size and strength, which could lead to more difficult-to-officiate contact Sunday.

“They’re very aggressive and physical and they rebound the ball very well. And they have a great motor,” Williamson said.

This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 4:52 PM.