Duke knocked off Georgia Tech today 71-62, giving them their 20th win of the season. The win also is number 700 for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. (He has 773 wins overall, which includes his five years at Army.) They didn’t play a perfect game (18 turnovers for the game and 35% shooting in the second half), but they got it done. Next up is Clemson, on the road. It’s a winnable game, but it won’t be easy. They’ll have to play at a high level to win it.

I’m no fan of Billy Packer, as I’ve stated many times. Today he actually said some good things about the Duke team, which is unusual for him. He pointed to Duke’s schedule, how strong it has been this year, and how well this young team has done against such a tough schedule. Of course, I agree with him, although they should have done a little better. With several close games that they couldn’t quite finish, they could have a better record by at least three wins. Nevertheless, he’s correct that they’ve played a great schedule (top five recently, and if not still, then certainly top 10) and done pretty well.

However, Packer did say something quite curious. Near the end of the game, he said that he’d heard a story, but never had it confirmed, about Duke attempting to hire Adolph Rupp when Bill Foster left as Duke’s coach. Vern Lundquist replied that he’d never heard that story. Packer went on to say that Tom Butters would know, and next time he saw him he was going to ask him about it.

I was suprised Vern had not heard that story. I assumed guys in the business like himself would have heard that story long ago. Of course, I don’t know for certain if it’s true either, but I’ve read about it in at least two different books on Duke/ACC basketball. It appears to be a well-known story in ACC circles, or at least those who are familiar with ACC basketball history.

Then I realized something. I hit reverse on the DVR to go back and hear Packer say it again. “…after Bill Foster had left here, Adolph Rupp was offered the Duke job…” Is that really what he said?

Bill Foster left Duke in 1980.

Adolph Rupp died in 1977.

Hired in 1980 to replace Foster, Krzyzewski did not have a lot of fans during his first few seasons. A lot of people were ready for him to be shown the door. Duke’s lack of success under the young coach, who was attempting to rebuild the program, caused a lot of Duke alumni and fans to believe that he’d been the wrong hire. However, chances are they’d have been far more upset with the administration had they hired a coach who had died three years earlier.

My books that tell this story are packed away right now, but I believe the alleged offer to Rupp was just prior to Foster coming to Duke, which was a couple of years after Rupp had retired at Kentucky. Obviously, it wouldn’t have been after Foster left. Nice story, Billy. But that would have been one bad hire in 1980.

Ball Hog

I watched the Florida/Vanderbilt game yesterday, which was a great game. Vanderbilt’s defense really seemed to disrupt Florida’s offense for a lot of the game, and Derrick Byars was unstoppable. Vanderbilt stopped the Gators 17 game winning streak with a 83-70 win.

One odd moment in the game involved Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings and Florida player Joakim Noah. Vanderbilt’s arena has the bench’s on the ends of the court instead of on the side of the court. Yes, it’s stupid. Anyway, a ball went out of bounds off Vanderbilt and into the arms of Stallings. Noah rushed over and tried to take the ball out of Stallings arms, but Stallings resisted, even slapping at Noah’s arm. Stallings appeared to say something like “get your hands off me.” Noah turned to the officials, then back to Stallings. He again attempted to take the ball from Stallings, who at that point was flipping it to the official. The officials separated them, and talked to both.

I’m not sure why Stallings was trying to keep the ball, other than possibly get in a word to an official or one of this players before Florida put it in play. It was kind of silly on his part. Of course, I can see Noah trying to take the ball from a Vandy player, but it’s a little surprising that he would go after a coach. Yes, Stalling should have let it go, but I wouldn’t want my player going after a coach like that. The whole incident was very strange, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

You can see the incident in the highlights: