Duke gets all the calls.

It’s a refrain heard around the ACC for the better part of the past 4 decades. To a certain extent, there’s some validity to the claim.

The mere presence of Mike Krzyzewski on the sideline, shooting daggers with that trademark scowl, was enough to intimidate even the best, most experienced officials.

Especially with the din of 9,314 screaming Cameron Crazies behind him.

But those days ended when the GOAT retired at the end of last season.

A new era has begun with Coach K’s young protegè Jon Scheyer in charge. And it couldn’t be more different than the old one.

Yes, the uniforms still say D-U-K-E on the front. And the student section at Cameron is still crazy. But when a game comes down to the wire and there’s a decisive play that requires a call to be made … let’s just say that the conspiracy theorists among us need to start looking for some new conspiracies to theorize.

That’s not to say there’s anything nefarious or intentional going on. 

It’s no different than a rookie player having to earn his calls before he starts to get them. Especially on the road.

With the wrath of K no longer in the equation, it’s only human nature to choose angering a good-natured young coach rather than an arena full of rabid home fans.

 It’s happened twice now in the past 3 weeks

Exhibit A: Jan. 23 at Virginia Tech.

With 13.6 seconds remaining, the Hokies’ MJ Collins hit a jumper in the lane to put his team ahead 77-75. As he celebrated the basket with a fist pump, Collins caught Duke’s Kyle Filipowski in the throat. So hard that it caused the freshman big man to throw up on the bench while officials Terry Oglesby, Keith Kimble and Kip Kissinger reviewed the play.

By rule, it should have been a Flagrant 1 foul on Collins, sending Filipowski – or someone else if he was unable – to the free throw line for 2 shots. And possession of the ball.

Instead, the officials decided it was a no-call because Collins was in the act of celebrating. Even though there’s no mention of intent in the rule book.

The Blue Devils lost 78-75.

Now fast-forward to Exhibit B: Saturday evening at Virginia.

Again Filipowski was in the middle of the controversy. This time he was fouled by the Cavaliers’ Reece Beekman as he went to the basket in a tie game as time expired in regulation. 

Officials Tim Clougherty, Jeffrey Anderson and Lee Cassell originally made the call that would have sent Filipowski for 2 chances to make the winning free throw. But despite video and photographic evidence that clearly showed the contact taking place with 0.2 seconds still on the clock and the red light still unlit, the decision was reversed and the game went to overtime.

Again, Duke ended up losing.

“You can see the ball left his hands before .00, so, I don’t know exactly what the rule is,”  Scheyer said in his postgame comments. “I’d like to get some clarification to understand. But the call was made, so I don’t know how the call can be taken away. I would just like clarity.”

He finally got some a few hours after the fact. It came in the form of a mea culpa from the ACC office acknowledging that there was an “incorrect adjudication of the playing rules” on the part of the officials.

“The play should have resulted in two free throws for Duke,” the statement said, citing Rule 5, Section 7, Article 3c of the NCAA Rule Book, which states that “when a foul occurs so near the expiration of time that the official timer cannot stop the game clock before time expires or when the foul occurs after time expires but while the ball is in flight during a try, the period shall end when the free throw(s) and all related activity have been completed.”

Admitting the mistake doesn’t make up for the fact that the outcome still stands. Or that the refs who made it won’t be held accountable.

Unlike Scheyer, who has to face the media and answer questions about his decisions in the immediate aftermath of every game, they were allowed to leave the arena without providing any explanation for theirs.

What’s worse, Scheyer – or any other coach, as Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner pointed out after his game at Wake Forest ended with a controversial call Saturday – would be subject to a stiff fine if he’d have said what was really on his mind about the final no-call.

He has every reason to be angry.

While there’s no guarantee Duke would have won either game had the calls in question been made – just as we’ll never know if those calls would have gone the same way had Krzyzewski still been on the bench staring down the officials – you would have had to like its chances. 

Filipowski is a 75.8% free throw shooter and has proven himself to be cool under pressure. But he never got the chance to come through. 

Either time. 

And now the Blue Devils are left to deal with the consequences. 

At least they’re not in any imminent danger of missing the NCAA Tournament. At 17-8* (8-6* ACC) with a NET ranking of No. 29, they’re still solidly in the field. The problem is that their seeding and by extension their ability to advance deeper into the tournament will undoubtedly suffer.

Not that they’re going to get much sympathy from anyone other than their own true-blue fans.

Duke gets all the calls, after all.

At least it did until now.