everything that's on my mind

It’s been a couple of days now, but finally I’ve had the time to put this down. I started blogging in 2005, and so I’ve been waiting nearly five years to write this post.

The Duke Blue Devils are college basketball’s national champions. Man, it feels good to say that.

There has been much talk about the so-called decline of Duke in recent years. After LSU ended J.J. Redick’s last hope for a title at Duke in 2006, they did take a small dip the following year. The glee that fans and sportswriter’s alike experienced when they fell in the first round to VCU the following year was well-documented online and on ESPN. Losing top prospects like Patrick Patterson, Greg Monroe and John Wall to other schools has caused many to suggest that Duke can no longer get the top players. (By the way, no hard feelings, guys – we’re doing okay without you.) And then there are the charges that Duke may be suffering due to Krzyzewski’s involvement with Olympic basketball. And it certainly didn’t help that arch rival UNC had won two titles in the last five years.

Duke was supposed to be dead and buried by now. It was over. Duke was done and the game had passed Coach K by, like it supposedly did Bob Knight in the 1990′s.

And yet, here they are, atop the college basketball world once again.

The haters and whiners have been entertaining this year, having been unaccustomed to keeping it going this late into the season. I saw a Kentucky fan suggest Duke had it easy because they “avoided” (actual quote) having to play Kentucky in the Final Four. Duke, of course, was not the team that didn’t show up. They were there, beating West Virginia – the team that knocked out Kentucky – by 21 points. What, exactly, did Duke avoid? Winning by more than 21 points?

Then there are Maryland fans, God love ‘em, who I guess will never get over the “miracle minute”. It seems that they so want to be Duke, they can hardly stand it. It’s really kind of sad.

And there are many sports writers who have written their opinion pieces to proclaim that they still hate Duke. One guy even suggests that “Duke robbed America of ending we deserved.” America deserved to have Butler win, and Duke didn’t let that happen. Finally, we discover the real reason people despise this team – Duke is anti-American. Somewhere Monday night, I can only assume that Glenn Beck was in tears.

I must admit, when the season began, in no way did I expect or even dare to dream this might happen. With the loss of Gerald Henderson to the NBA and Elliot Williams to transfer due to family medical issues, I thought a title run was unlikely. I expected another solid season, an ACC title and another sweet 16. I thought the elite eight was in reach and it would have been disappointing to fall short of that. And, of course, I hoped for a Final Four. But I didn’t think they would go the distance. If Singler were to stay for his senior year, I actually thought 2011 might be their year.

And during the first half of the season, I saw nothing to really change my mind. An embarrassing loss at NC State – one of the worst teams in the ACC – and then a blowout loss at Georgetown had everyone questioning the team. But after inserting Brian Zoubek into the starting lineup for the first meeting with Maryland, things began to turn. Zoubek had a monster game, and the team seemed to have turned a corner. Despite never being ranked #1 during the entire season, they went on to win 18 of their last 19 games en route to their fourth championship, only the 5th school to accomplish that.

An article I read yesterday said the following:

What Krzyzewski understood and believed in was that best players in the country don’t win championships, the best teams do. There were probably several squads in the college basketball this year with better individual talent than Duke, but there was no better team than the Blue Devils.

Whether or not there was a better team out there is debatable, but during the last two and a half weeks of the season, Duke was at least as good as anyone else, if not better. There are definitely schools out there whose teams possessed more talent than Duke’s, but talent alone doesn’t win. Coach K has spent the last four years molding his collection of players into a team, a team that, as Lance Thomas said after the championship game, “maxed out our season.” Coach K got the most of out this team. And it was just enough to get the most out of this season.

It started with the seniors, and while their story may not have fascinated the country as much as a Butler win would have, it’s still a great story. In 2006-07, Duke had their youngest team in the Krzyzewski era, a team with only one upperclassman, junior DeMarcus Nelson. They managed only a 22-11 record and an 8-8 mark in the ACC, their worst since 1996. They were bounced in the first round of the ACC tournament, but managed to earn a much-criticized #6 seed in the NCAA tournament. Then came the game with VCU, who beat them on a shot in the final seconds.

They would endure that rough season (by Duke standards) and, with the addition of freshmen Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, win 28 games in 2008. But after surviving an upset bid by Belmont in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the #2 seed then lost to West Virginia. Duke, who had been to nine straight sweet 16′s, had now fallen short two years in a row. Finally, as juniors, they made it back, winning 30 games on the season and earning another #2 seed. Many predicted a loss to Villanova in the sweet 16, but nobody predicted the 27-point blowout that delighted many of the anti-Duke fans around the nation. For the third straight year, the season had ended in a disappointing fashion.

To see the seniors reach the platform and hold that trophy Monday night was very special to Duke fans. Jon Scheyer and Lance Thomas have played a lot of minutes and been solid, consistent players for four years. Scheyer was one of the best in the nation this year. It’s great to see them reach this goal. But I’m especially happy for Brian Zoubek, who has endured multiple injuries that hindered his development during his time at Duke and was often written off by fans as a wasted scholarship. Not only was a great to see him win that title and become a part of Duke championship history, it was doubly great because of this fact: without his play over the last 6 weeks or so, they would not have been there. As great as the “big three” have been over the course of the season, it was Zoubek’s play that gave Duke that missing piece of the puzzle to bring the title back to Durham. It was also a nice gift. Monday was Brian Zoubek’s birthday.

Mike Krzyzewski has said numerous times this year that they were a good team or a very good team, but that they were not a great team. He didn’t tell them that because he wanted them to want to get there, to be that great Duke team so many have waited for over the last nine years. Monday night after the game, he finally told them: you a are a great team. And they are. They’ve proven that over the last month or so, and they did it again Monday night.

Butler

Butler was a great team, too. This was billed as “David vs Goliath”, and in some sense it was: the tradition and success of Duke, the stature of their program, up against the small school who has only in recent years become well known on the national stage. But team against team, there was no David in this fight. Butler was probably the best defensive team Duke played all year, and Duke the best defensive team Butler played. On the defensive end, I’d take either of these teams against anyone else in the country. Brad Stevens, I have to believe, is going to be a star. I hope he stays at Butler for a while, because I’d like to see what he can do there and not feel the pressure to move up to a “big” school. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them get to take that trophy home eventually, maybe even next year if Hayward stays.

I didn’t see Butler play all year that I recall. But watching those four games over the last couple of weeks, I couldn’t help but love that team. Had it not been Duke on the other side, I would have been a huge Butler fan Monday night. I had no problem with beating Kansas in 1991, and thoroughly enjoyed downing the “Fab Five” in 1992. Since I can’t stand Lute Olsen, I was obviously elated to beat Arizona in 2001. But for the first time after a Duke championship, I actually feel bad for the other team. As I said, Butler was a team I would have cheered for, and as great as I felt about the Duke win, there is a part of me that hated to see Butler lose, too.

Nevertheless, I’m glad it turned out the way it did.

One Shining Moment

As I mentioned on Facebook, they ruined “One Shining Moment” this year, but someone has taken the video and changed the song to the original version, sung by David Barrett, as well as editing out the shots of Jennifer Hudson. Well done. This is what we should have seen and heard Monday night.
 

 
And now, the long wait for November begins.

But it will be a bit more bearable this year that it has the last eight.

The Duke Blue Devils are national champions.

Go Duke!

The natural order of things in the basketball universe has been restored.

The Duke Blue Devils are returning to the Final Four.

All of the college basketball pages had their polls up at the beginning of the tournament, asking “Who will be the first #1 seed to lose?” The answer was overwhelmingly Duke. Many didn’t feel they even deserved a #1 seed, and granted, Ohio State and West Virginia could just as easily been a #1 instead of Duke. But now, with 61 of the 65 teams having made their exit from the dance floor, Duke stands alone as the only #1 seed remaining.

By Duke’s standards under Mike Krzyzewski, it’s been a long time since they played the final weekend of the season. They’ve missed the Final Four the past five seasons, the longest stretch under Krzyzewski since he first brought a Duke team to the Final Four in 1986. The previous long stretch was four years, from 1995 to 1998.

For the first time since the freshman class that included Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie and Jay Bilas, Duke had two straight senior classes that failed to go to a Final Four. This year’s seniors have had a tough road, coming in the year after the team lost four seniors (including J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams) and began their career on the youngest team Coach K had ever had at Duke. The team has gradually gotten better over the last three years, and now has resulted in a trip to the Final Four, the first in what seems like a lifetime to Duke fans.

This is Duke’s fifteenth Final Four overall, and the eleventh under Mike Krzyzewski. This ties Coach K with Dean Smith for second most Final Fours as a coach. John Wooden leads the list with twelve trips, though my expectation is that Coach K will tie that in the next few years, and possibly surpass it.

I wasn’t going to mention the “haters”, but I can never seem to help myself. The dislike for Duke went national years ago, certainly during the Christian Laettner years, if not before. The combination of success and players like Ferry, Laettner and Hurley certainly grew the anti-Duke camp far beyond Tobacco Road. People grew tired of seeing Duke and Coach K in the Final Four annually and hearing Dick Vitale incessantly sing their praises. And as the years went by, celebrated Duke players with names like Collins, Wojciechowski, Battier and Redick would only fuel the anti-Duke fires.

And I can relate to that. I admit that I love seeing UNC and Kentucky lose, and find their players obnoxious and/or annoying as well, so I’m well aware of such feelings. Fans of other teams will not like your team. That’s a given. But what isn’t a given are the irrational conspiracy theories that are perpetuated year after year after year suggesting that Duke’s success is only possible with outside help. Usually those aiding and abetting Duke are the officials calling their games (although this year they also received help from the tournament committee, who gave them the “easy region” which included potentially playing Texas A&M and Baylor in Houston.) John Feinstein mentioned it this morning as well:

Of course there will be the ritual whining about Duke’s draw and the charge that Brian Zoubek took with Duke down two late in the game. Yup, the Krzyzewski-haters (and they are a legion) will say he’s now won 793 games thanks to the officials. (I think they concede the 73 wins at Army may have been legit). Fine. If that makes you feel better, go ahead and think it.

That’s right. Had it not been for the officials, Duke would have had exactly ZERO wins over the last 10 seasons. The officials help them win every single game. Which, of course, explains why they will be playing this weekend for their unprecedented 10th straight national championship.

Seriously, so many people want so badly for Duke to fail, any success they have is scrutinized unlike any other team’s, in hopes of finding something dubious. And when you are desperate enough, you probably will find it, despite the fact that it doesn’t actually exist. Gary Williams and Lute Olsen imagined it at the 2001 Final Four, and it’s grown exponentially since.

But enough of that nonsense. On to yesterday’s game…

As for the South regional final win over Baylor, Duke worried me significantly in the first half. Kyle Singler was clearly off his game on the offensive end. There are multiple theories about that, including that his defensive assignment on LaceDarius Dunn taking away from his offense, to his wrist injury possibly being aggravated again in the fall during the Purdue game. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t himself offensively (0-10 from the field, his only points coming from the line.)

But more than that was Duke’s lack of intensity in the first half. Baylor seemed to come out very aggressive, and Duke did not appear to be matching them. They turned the ball over more than they should have and occasionally seemed flustered on offense. Duke only managed to shoot two free throws in the first half, which also points to a lack of aggressiveness on offense. Some three’s in the first half – including two huge shots by freshman Andre Dawkins – seemed to keep them in the game and helped them avoid a larger deficit at halftime.

In the second half, though, Duke turned things around. Their defense stiffened and they prevented Baylor from running as often. They were more aggressive offensively, resulting in 21 points from the line in the second half. And, on the eighteenth anniversary of “The Shot“, there were a number of big shots. Down 57-54, Scheyer hit a three, followed by a Smith three, then another Scheyer three, another Smith three, then a put-back dunk (and foul) by Lance Thomas that put Duke up 70-62 and effectively ended the game.

Their rebounding, though, was the biggest factor. They had 23 offensive rebounds, 8 by Lance Thomas. That stretch that put them up 70-62 included three baskets after offensive rebounds (two three’s and Thomas’ dunk.) No matter what shooting woes you have, if you get more shots, you’re probably going to make more. That’s what Duke has done all year, and that’s what they did yesterday. And that’s why they’re going to Indianapolis.

People have underrated Duke all year long. Even some of the heads have mentioned this week that they were wrong about Duke. They really had no choice, though. Duke, quite simply, is better than most people thought they were. They’ve been better over the past six weeks or so than I thought they were. Most picked them to lose early (despite the “easy region”) and most aren’t picking them this weekend. But they continue to find a way to win, no matter how many people seem intent on writing them off.

Here’s hoping they can do it two more times.

Go Duke!

I haven’t written about basketball this season, though I hope to post my yearly Duke-Carolina post next week prior to the season finale next weekend and the obligatory March Madness post(s). However, there was one thing this week that I was compelled to mention, and to no one’s surprise, it does involve Duke basketball.

The word came this week that former Duke player Christian Laettner will be enshrined in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

While the haters probably will try to explain this away with some irrational conspiracy theory about Duke favoritism (since that’s the way they explain all Duke basketball success), there is simply no arguing that this guy is one of the best and most accomplished college basketball players in history.

And this honor is well-deserved.

Laettner had an outstanding career at Duke, which included ACC and national championships as well as multiple individual awards. He even got the better of Shaquille O’Neal in two regular season meetings with LSU. But it was easy to see that he seemed most at home on the stage that is March Madness. His freshman year, Duke faced Georgetown in the elite eight with a Final Four trip on the line. Laettner thoroughly outplayed the Hoyas’ super-freshman Alonzo Mourning as Duke eliminated top-seed Georgetown and earned a trip to the Final Four, something Laettner would do in all four of his seasons at Duke.

Laettner has played in more NCAA tournament games than any player in history (23 of a possible 24), and managed to lead the Blue Devils to back to back national championships in 1991 and 1992. He was particularly remarkable in regional final games. When a trip to the Final Four was on the line, Laettner came up big. No, not big. HUGE. Check out the stat lines for Laettner’s four regional finals:
 

I should also mention at this point that in two of those games – Connecticut in 1990 and Kentucky in 1992 – with Duke down by one in overtime, Laettner hit a buzzer-beater to keep the season alive and send the Devils to the Final Four.

The totals from those four games:

• Wins 4, Losses 0
• Field goals 31-34 (91%)!!!
• Free throws 34-37 (92%)!
• Rebounds 26
• Points 97

That, my friends, is domination. Those are the stats of a winner. And despite Laettner’s difficult personality (even some of his teammates weren’t crazy about him), he got things done on the court. He was one of the best.

Congratulations, Christian. You earned a place among the best, and now it will be officially recognized.

And so I take this opportunity to watch for what seems like the millionth time what I still believe to be the greatest play in college basketball history to end the greatest game in college basketball history.

 

 
Go Duke!

While everyone around here is still talking football (particularly Arkansas-Florida), Friday night was the significant event of the weekend for me. Midnight madness signaled the beginning of college basketball season, as teams all around the country officially began practicing for the upcoming season.

As we all try to erase from our memories the tragedy that was North Carolina winning the final game of the 2009 season, there’s much to look forward to in 2010.

As a Duke fan, I’m looking forward to seeing this year’s team. Though they lost a couple of significant players, they also added a couple, and so I’m pretty optimistic once again. Those two losses were in the back court, but their gains are in the front court, which is long overdue. And with Coach K at the helm, I anticipate another solid team and another outstanding season for the Blue Devils. This year the ACC crown should again return to Durham.

As one who despises North Carolina, it’s going to be great to see them field a team that does not include Travel Tyler Hansbrough or Tywon Lawson. I’ve never been so glad to see two players go. While Carolina will still have a very good team, thank God it won’t be because of those two.

And as one who thinks Kentucky fans think a little bit too much of themselves, I look forward to the Calipari years and what embarrassment and sanctions he’ll eventually bring to Lexington. Seriously, does anyone doubt that day will come?

Official games are still a few weeks away, but I’m already charged up and ready to go. I can hardly wait until the first game tips off.

College basketball season is upon us.

The most wonderful time of the year.

Go Duke!

GTHC!!