Mike Young on flopping technicals: ‘What are we doing?’

The Virginia Tech Hokies were able to pick up a bounce-back victory over the Duke Blue Devils on Monday night, 78- 75. That hard-fought victory snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Hokies. There were plenty of storylines to talk about from that game. However, Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young started off his postgame press conference by addressing the recent rash of technical fouls for flopping.

“I’m glad I got one in my favor,” said Young. “…We haven’t had one called all year. I get two in the same game about three minutes apart. My gosh, what are we doing? Nothing came across my desk. Brian Kersey is excellent, (he) hasn’t said anything to me. I was watching the play tonight; I think that was Roach… I really don’t know Paul.”

Duke’s star guard Jeremy Roach was assessed a technical foul with just over 16 minutes to play after the referees declared that he flopped while attempting to draw an offensive foul. Virginia Tech’s Sean Pedulla Knocked down the free shot giving the Hokies a 51-48 lead.

Technical fouls for flopping have been a topic of conversation as of late and have been very much hit or miss on the season. Like with all fouls, they were given at the referee’s discretion. But unlike other violations, this call has yet to develop any consistency throughout the college basketball landscape. And it appears that inconsistency has Young miffed at what to expect going forward with the call.

Kyle Filipowski reacts to accidental throat punch by Virginia Tech’s MJ Collins

Virginia Tech took down Duke on Tuesday night but not without some controversy in the final seconds. Blue Devils freshman star Kyle Filipowski took a shot in the throat area from MJ Collins, who had just what wound up being the game-winning shot. A painful moment for Filipowski and even for those watching back on the replay.

Filipowski never went down but, as any normal person would be, was in pain after being punched in the throat. He only needed a few moments to recover though, getting his breathing back under control and even throwing up on the sideline.

“Yeah, he just elbowed me right in my Adam’s apple,” Filipowski said. “I couldn’t breathe for a minute, but I just needed to throw up and I was good.”

All of this occurred while the officials were checking to see if any further action needed to be taken on Collins. After everything was ruled an incidental contact, Duke still needed to draw a play up and attempt to tie the game up. While they were unsuccessful, Filipowski made sure he was o. the court.