A very minor defense of Duke

As I expected I received a fair amount of Duke hate last night. I’ll even admit that it is deserved. I cheered when everyone else in the nation swore in disbelief. If the shot goes in it is one of the greatest moments in the history of sports and will be replayed for decades. Instead Duke wins its fourth title a year after North Carolina won their title. That alone should make most people upset.

(I do feel bad for Matt Hayward today. Of all the players on the floor last night for either team he is the only one with pro prospects. He played a tough game, kept his team in it and just missed two chances in the last ten seconds to give his team the title. And how is he repaid for it? Every television station today showing his miracle half court shot clanking off the rim over and over and over again. That is just a cruel twist of fate.)

I’ll also fully take any blame sent my way for being a Duke fan without ever attending the school. Even more so given that the school rejected me twice over the years. There is no real logical sense for my being a fan anymore but I still am one. I really do think Coach K is a good coach and I typically like the players on the squad. I’ve known guys who played for Duke (in a roundabout way) and I’ve known coaches as well (a little more directly.) And after twenty years of being a fan it is tough for me to boo them. I know longer wear the t-shirts out in public but under most circumstances I will root for them.

Now I completely understand the dislike for the school and the program due to the arrogance of some of their fans. There is a great deal of entitlement assumed by Duke students and fans and it can be quite annoying. You can’t really like anyone who feels that they are owed a Final Four during their four years on campus and a few of their former players (Elton Brand comes to mind) really had an issue with it. You can say the same thing about Notre Dame football. No one likes fans with that chip on their shoulder even if it is earned.

The fallout from the Duke lacrosse scandal doesn’t help. Yes, the charges were fabricated but that doesn’t excuse what was some horrendous behavior by the team and the school during and after the events. There may not have been a crime but there was certainly a sense of being above the consequences. It still bothers me that the following year when I received a brochure from the Duke bookstore (don’t ask why) it prominently promoted Duke Lacrosse t-shirts. It just seemed so wrong. The players were innocent of the charges but it was still wrong.

So you have a reason to dislike Duke. Their fans can be arrogant. ESPN shows them all the time while your team never makes it on the air. Dick Vitale and all the other talking heads love them to a degree that nearly every Duke player turns out to be overrated. They got an easy draw in the tournament. They get more calls than they deserve. Even J. J. Reddick’s mom would like to punch him in the face. I don’t know how if Greg Paulus could have been a starting point guard how in the world I didn’t get a D-1 scholarship. All of those points are true…

But give this team credit. There isn’t a single guy on this Duke roster who is going to make an impact in the pros. Zoubek will be the 12th man due to the fact that he is a tall white guy. Singler and Scheyer might get some 10 day contracts as three point specialists. That is about it. This is just a group of guys who stayed in school, worked hard, played as a team and won the games they needed to win. That is worth something. It’s not storybook, it’s like Ivan Drago knocking out Rocky in the 12th, but sometimes you have to respect Goliath for holding on to his throne.