A Perfect Illustration of Why Everyone Hates Duke

General NCS Basketball55

Interesting that it would be perfectly synposized by a DBR piece “explaining” why everybody hates poor, noble, righteous Duke. You have to hand it to them, they sure know who to whine – every bit as much as their coaches and players. Strawmen abound – enjoy taking apart you favorite ones in the comments below.

Hat tip to Deadspin for calling this to our attention. Don’t miss the delightfully named Nation of Islam Sportsblog’s response (wow, did DBR ever miss the joke – no surprise given their past history with SFN). In the interest of balance, we also link to a nice explanation of UNC hatred.

Also, don’t miss Dave Sez’s comments on the topic.

We know how sensitive and humorless Duke fans can be, so we will clarify again for the record that we totally don’t think you are as bad as Nazi Germany, or that Coach K was responsible for the Holocaust. Promise.

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General NCS Basketball

55 Responses to A Perfect Illustration of Why Everyone Hates Duke

  1. jhmd2000 04/05/2007 at 11:24 AM #

    Dook has gotten the white glove treatment from the league, its officials and dSPN for several years. Apparently they have confused the lack of continued preferential treatment (or perhaps more accurately, the collective manifestation of the frustration from opponents at whose expense that preferential treatment has come) as somehow being put upon.

    Pathetic and laughable.

  2. justaguy 04/05/2007 at 2:51 PM #

    I have a theory about the decline of Duke basketball, despite all of their McD all americans. Did anyone notice Billy Packer mentioning that Florida only had 1 McD AA on their team? Yet they have won back-to-back. How is that possible?

    1. There’s more basketball talent than ever. With few exceptions, the top 50 players in the country are not all that much better than the 2nd 50. College basketball has become a season of perpetual upsets.
    2. Duke gets the cream of the crop, hence the adage, “Duke doesn’t recruit, they select.” The ability to be selective means that they don’t have to take risks by offering scholarships to players with potential that lack a HS resume. Duke can play it safe with proven HS studs.
    3. Many of the HS studs are those that develop quickly and, as a result, have limited upside. Does anyone remember how tall Gugliotta was when Valvano recruited him? Wasn’t it about 6′ 3″? By the time he got to campus he was about 6′ 7″ and was 6’10” in his senior year. Or how about 7-footer David Robinson who could not have gone to Navy as a freshman if he was over 6′ 6″?
    4. Consequently Duke has tended to get McBobs that have limited upside. Some of them are so good to begin with that it doesn’t really matter whether they improve all that much. But I think those days are coming to a close. Meanwhile, the risk-taking recruiters have turned up some great players and great teams. I think K is a great coach and gets the most out of his players. I have admired him for that. So I must conclude that if coach K can’t get results from a team, it’s the players and not the coach. I’d love the have someone ask coach K that question: What’s the upside of this year’s recruiting class?
    5. With all the high school talent, the odds are that a number of teams will find kids that have not yet developed, physically or talentwise, and they will become better than Duke’s burgered HS nobility.
    6. Once Duke begins to slip, they fall a lot. High seeds are a tremendous advantage in NCAAT play. Duke’s NCAAT success has received a great boost from its high seedings, usually deserved. But, look what happened this year. A generous #6 seed proved to attract more competition than they could handle and the Final 4 referred not to a trip to Atlanta, but to Duke’s losses in the last 4 games of their season.

    Duke’s best years are behind them. HS basketball demographics have shifted against them.

    To the Duke dude that wrote the article I would say, how much others hate you, real or imagined, can never be a measure of greatness. Otherwise Bush would be our greatest president.

  3. gumbydammit 04/05/2007 at 8:24 PM #

    As if the infinite list needed more additions, thi little gem is yet further basis fo rwhy I hate UNC. Zombie flash mob? Brother, please….
    http://www.newsobserver.com/1325/story/560816.html

  4. redfred2 04/06/2007 at 8:51 PM #

    gumby

    Doesn’t that video make you feel kind of stupid and inferior? I know I can’t relate to spending an afternoon preparing for a little performance like the unc “Zombie flash mob” did there, any more than I can grasp the fact that space never ends. Therefore, I must just be a simple minded human being.

  5. Primewolf 04/09/2007 at 9:53 PM #

    Next year will be interesting for the Pukies.

    If Duke stumbles next year with all those guys returning and the talent coming in, you will really hear some whining.

    Heck they many get 5,000 fewer applicants from upper New Jersey in 2008.

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