College Seniors Get One Shining Moment

By Mark Buckets

On Friday night, the Digiorno College Basketball All Star Game was staged at San Antonio's Alamodome, a dress-reherasal of sorts for tomorrow's Final Four.

This was also a chance for some of College Basketball's best and brightest outgoing players to experience a piece of the Final Four.

This game also signaled the end of Dave Odom's coaching career, a man who is greatly respected in coaching circles and whose class trumped his winning percentage.

A large portion of each roster was filled with players who competed in Thursday's slam-dunk and three-point-shooting contests. Maryland's James Gist, Shan Foster of Vanderbilt and Ramel Bradley of Kentucky participated in this classic, just to name a few.

Brian Randle of Illinois put in double duty, competing in both the skills competition and tonight's game.

College Hoops Net has the complete NABC All Star Game roster

As for the game itself, Duke's DeMarcus Nelson earned MVP honors, scoring 21 points and leading the National squad to a 106 to 100 win over the American team.

West Virginia Upsets Duke

By Trashtalk Superstar

Immediately after selecting Duke to beat West Virginia in my NCAA Tournament bracket, I started to wish that I'd picked West Virginia instead. I'd waffled a bit before I picked Duke because I felt certain that West Virginia could (and maybe should) beat the Blue Devils.

But ultimately, I decided that West Virginia had been too inconsistent this year for me to feel especially confident about picking them over Duke. Then I made a major error: I started to project how West Virginia would match up against Duke, position by position. I thought that West Virginia was as good as, or better than Duke at every position except for at the wing. I concluded that Duke's combination of Gerald Henderson and DeMarcus Nelson would be hard for West Virginia to defend, and that the game would likely turn on Duke's advantage in that particular matchup.

On Saturday, West Virginia upset Duke 73-67, and earned a trip to next week's Sweet 16.

DeMarcus Nelson was held to 6 points.

Now I really I wish that I'd just gone ahead and picked West Virginia. I wanted to, but I let myself over think my decision.

Look, for the last two or three years years it's been my contention that Duke has been vastly overrated.

Before last year's NCAA Tournament field was announced, I questioned whether Duke even deserved an NCAA Tournament bid, and I suggested that they probably really belonged in the N.I.T. And I wasn't exactly shocked when Virginia Commonwealth knocked Duke out of the Tournament in the first round.

But I believe that many of the world's ills are directly attributable to mankind's seemingly insatiable thirst for ego-gratification: particularly the kind of ego-gratification that one gets from saying,"I told you so," "I was right and you were wrong," etc. And besides, I didn't think that Duke's loss to VCU was that big of a surprise. So I refrained from commenting on Duke's early exit from the 2007 NCAA Tournament on Drive and Dish. I did, however, take note of ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale's preposterous explanation of Duke's first round Tournament collapse last year . Furthermore, in that archived Drive and Dish post, I cast my cynical eye on what I considered to be overly optimistic projections of a Duke return to glory in 2008. I asserted that I'd noticed the development a trend wherein ESPN college basketball analysts would attempt to minimize poor NCAA Tournament showings by Duke with the promise of an immediate return to dominance for the Blue Devils in the upcoming season (and NCAA Tournament), courtesy of yet another stellar incoming Duke recruiting class:

"Not to worry, Dukies. Vitale jubilantly pointed to Duke's outstanding recruiting class for 2007. He told the Sports Center audience that the Devils will get right back to kickin' ass and takin' names in '08. Help is on the way! Duke has some serious studs coming in! The Dukies will be back at the top next year, baby!

Sound familiar? It should. Again, Vitale said exactly the same thing last year. Hey, how could Mike Krzyzewski be expected win Tournament games with overachievers like (Shelden) Williams and (J.J.) Redick? Once Duke replaced that dead weight with incoming super freshmen such as Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer, Vitale pleaded, they would be right back on top of college basketball in '07. Baby!"

And I questioned the logic by which Vitale (and other analysts) arrived at the conclusion that Duke was destined for greatness in 2008:

"Vitale would have college basketball fans believe that some scrawny white (kid) named Kyle Singler is going to step on campus next year, and -as a skinny, goofy looking freshman- lead Duke back to the promised land. Naw, Dickie V, you're not putting undue pressure on a kid who's still in high school. Kyle Singler already has enough to stress about: graduation, whom to take to Prom, what to do after Prom, etc. Now he's got to figure out how to single-handedly lead Duke back to the Final Four next year.

Just as Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson were going to lead Duke back to the Final Four - as skinny freshmen- this year.

Just as Greg Paulus was supposed to do -as a skinny freshman- last year."

It has been my contention that over the last three years, the national sports media has over-hyped and overrated Duke (and, to a lesser degree, the entire Atlantic Coast Conference). And ESPN has done so, in large part, because of programming considerations.

Duke has truly become college basketball's equivalent of Notre Dame football.

Consider the fact that just as every Notre Dame football game is broadcast to a national television audience, so too is every Duke basketball game. No other college basketball program can claim that distinction. It doesn't matter whether Duke plays an opponent that would naturally generate a large television audience -- such as when they play their arch-rival, North Carolina (in yet another "battle of the century," or "game for the ages") -- or whether Duke plays an early season patsy such as Florida A&M or Cornell. Every single Duke game is nationally televised.

And most of those games are broadcast on ESPN. Duke basketball has all but become the centerpiece of ESPN's college basketball programming. Therefore, it's in ESPN's best interest to have Dick Vitale and their other college basketball analysts constantly doing their best to hype up and, hopefully, generate interest in Duke basketball.

Another way in which Duke basketball mirrors Notre Dame football is in the way Duke basketball generates extreme emotional responses from sports fans. Just like Notre Dame, plenty of folks love Duke and everything that Duke basketball purports to represent, but a hell of a lot more people absolutely DESPISE Duke, and loathe everything that they perceive Duke basketball to represent.

Although contributing Drive and Dish basketball commentator Mark Buckets will, undoubtedly, balk at the following characterization, Duke basketball (and, for that matter, Duke University) is widely perceived as being arrogant.

Duke is college basketball's "blue blood" program du jour. And unlike college programs that have previously been (and occasionally still are) referred to as "college basketball blue bloods" (Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Indiana, North Carolina), Duke's basketball program represents an institution (Duke University) which is an extremely selective, highly reputable, ungodly expensive private university that boasts an amazing $6 billion dollar endowment.

What's more, the nutty Duke students who camp outside Cameron Indoor Stadium for weeks before each Duke game, paint their faces and bodies blue, pack Cameron's 9,000 (or so) seats to the rafters, boisterously bop up and down while chanting, screaming and taunting, and mercilessly ridicule opposing teams' players (often with predictions of those players' pending status as future professional subordinates/flunkees of said Cameron Crazies) do nothing to minimize the public's widespread perception of Duke as an elitist institution, comprised of arrogant little prick students who come from wealthy, privileged Northeastern families.

It's easy to understand why lots of people don't like Duke. Duke is an easy target. And it doesn't help that Duke's coach, Mike Krzyzewski, often comes across as aloof and arrogant himself.

There's just no way around it: Duke basketball generates passion. People either love Duke or they hate Duke. There's really very little in-between. Just as in the case of Notre Dame football.

So ESPN's constant promotion of Duke should be seen as a smart move. Duke's basketball program is different from any other program in the college basketball. Duke basketball equates to drama. For ESPN, programming and promoting Duke hoops is a no brainer. It's kind of like their version of having a soap opera or reality show.

Duke basketball games have esentially become ESPN's answer to American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. Duke basketball broadcasts provide drama, intrigue and live/unscripted competition.

And you either root for Duke or you root against them. But one thing you aren't is apathetic.

In my opinion, that's why ESPN and the national media hype Duke up so much. It has everything to do with drama and with television programming.

So guys like Dick Vitale talk about Duke until the cows come home.

But, in the end, it results in Duke being perpetually overrated (although that, in no way, should detract from the actual success -- 3 National Championships, multiple Final Four appearances -- that the Duke basketball program has had over the past 25 years).

Before filling out my NCAA brackets, I really thought that West Virginia had a good chance of beating Duke. And before the season started, I thought that Duke was overrated and that their youth and inexperience (along with their weaknesses at point guard and in the post) would prevent them from being an elite team and from making a deep run in hte 2008 NCAA Tournament.

But as the season went along (and especially after Duke went into the Dean Smith Center and beat North Carolina in February), I began to let the chatter affect my better judgment. That's why I ultimately picked Duke over West Virginia.

I won't be fooled again.

Drive and Dish Tidbits

By Trashtalk Superstar

It's mid February, it's 10 degrees in Chicago, the second half of the NBA season has officially begun, college basketball's regular season is heading into its stretch run, and Drive and Dish presents another installation of the ever popular Drive and Dish Tidbits:

1.) North Carolina coach Roy Williams has taken umbrage with remarks made by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, with regard to "certain" college basketball teams' reporting of injuries.

Much has been made by the media -- both local (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) and national -- of the injuries that have plagued several members of the North Carolina basketball team this season. On Sunday, Krzyzewski stated that Duke doesn't discuss injuries, "unlike other schools."

Williams interpreted Krzyzewski's statement to be a backhanded jab at him and at his North Carolina program.

On his Monday radio show, Williams opined that an unnamed coach should "coach (his) own damn team, I'll coach my team."

And in a Tuesday news conference, Williams revisited the topic: "It's not like I'm getting a dadgum plane and flying it around to say, 'Roy fell against a wall and banged his nose' or anything." Williams continued, "We have to do those things (talk about injuries) and everybody's hurt. But there's different stages of being hurt."

"If you're hurt and missing games, that's not exactly like having a hangnail. And so we do have some people that are getting hurt and missing games. I don't think that somebody should say we're putting it in front of the public."

Apparently, Coach K's comments really got under Roy Williams' skin. According to the linked article:

When a reporter attempted to ask a follow-up question, Williams said he didn't want to discuss the comments further and have "battles through the media." But when the news conference ended, Williams came back to the topic once more.

"I said before we played Duke it's impossible to have any more respect than I do for Mike," Williams said, "but I felt like that comment was aimed towards us."


After thoroughly researching the subject matter, and following hours of intense deliberation, the Drive and Dish editorial staff has arrived at the following revelation: Coach K and Roy must really not like each other as much as they say they do.


2.) ESPN's Pat Forde says that a "source close to the unsettled coaching situation at Indiana University" has told him it's likely that Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson will be suspended "for the purpose of future termination."

Drive and Dish has heard this before. Our official position is: we'll believe it when we see it.


3.) Speaking of the Indiana/Sampson scandal, Toki Wartooth at Paint the Town Orange reminds readers that Indiana knew exactly what they were getting when the hired Sampson in 2006.

IU was well aware that Sampson had a history of violating NCAA bylaws at Oklahoma. They simply didn't care.

Last Thursday, Drive and Dish discussed Sampson's history, his hiring at Indiana, and his shady behavior since arriving in Bloomington.

Indiana used to be one of the cleanest programs in major college basketball.

But integrity has been in short supply in the IU Athletic Department as of late.

Hopefully, Indiana will have to pay a price for their indifference toward the following of NCAA bylaws (just to be clear: Drive and Dish likes Indiana University and IU basketball [and we've got several friends and associates who are IU alumni] ... we just don't like Kelvin Sampson, or what Indiana basketball has become under his stewardship).


4. ) Also at Paint the Town Orange: despite being a few days old, Mr./Ms. Wartooth's post game account of the Penn State / Illinois game provides a great synopsis of Illinois' 2007/08 season.


5.) Tuesday's upset victory over #16 Drake marked Bradley's sixth game of the season against the four Division I basketball programs from the state of Iowa. Bradley has now defeated all four of Iowa's Division I teams.

Bradley beat Iowa State (65-56) Nov. 14 at Carver Arena in Peoria, beat Iowa (67-56) Nov. 23 at the South Padre Island Thanksgiving Tournament and beat Northern Iowa (75-73) Jan. 12 in Cedar Falls, IA.

According to the official website of the Bradley Athletic Department:

"Of the states that boast multiple NCAA Division I institutions, Bradley has not swept every Division I team a state has to offer since beating both Arizona (67-59) and Arizona State (92-85) during the 1963-64 season (Northern Arizona was not yet playing Division I men’s basketball at the time)."


6.) Drive and Dish doesn't like to discuss recruiting, but since we've been so Duke/North Carolina-centric lately (and since hardcore Duke fans account for a significant portion of the Drive and Dish community), we'll pass along the following recruiting buzz: Duke appears to be the likely destination for 6'11" power forward Mason Plumlee, of the Christ School in Arden, NC.


7.) More Duke stuff: DeMarcus Nelson takes viewers on a tour of Duke's practice facilities at Dukeblueplanet.com.


8.) As the NBA trade deadline approaches, two league sources have indicated that Denver is in "full pursuit" of troubled Sacramento forward Ron Artest.

Duke Wins the ... Duke Invitational

By Mark Buckets

Chalk another Maui Invitational Title up for the Duke Blue Devils. As most of you already know, this was the fourth title for Duke in the 25 year history of this prestigious event. Kyle Singler - who was lauded for his tenacious offensive rebounding by yours truly - was named the tournament MVP.

The the title game was, frankly, a bore. Both teams combined for 43 personal fouls - of which 27 were assessed to the Golden Eagles. The vultures are circling around Ed Hightower after this one - and, after watching this one, rightly so. I'll be the first to say - and I mean the first - that the anti-Duke sentiment is undeserved. How can you bash a program that hasn't even entered the NCAA infractions committee's area code under a coach that has done it "the right way"? Sure, much of the vile is self-inflicted - perpetual ACC pusher Dick Vitale doesn't assist in improving Duke's public image - but is also unnecessary.

There I go again, going off on a tangent.

Back to the game, Mark.

Some brief observations (hello SI's Stuart Mandel) from tonight's game:

-As I've stated in previous posts, Sean McDonough needs to pipe down when it comes to analysis. But we needn't go down that path now.

-Tom Crean has put on some serious poundage. You know a coach is in denial when he reaches for a diet pepsi during a stoppage in play - as Crean did tonight - conveniently placed on the scorers table.

-On the subject of Mr.Crean, how many basketball coaches do you know use a laminated play-chart? Remember, these kids aren't football players. Remembering to tuck in jerseys is considered a mental chore.

-Yet another Tom Crean observation that ties into the weight loss issue. Do you really need to wear a windbreaker in a gym where temperatures routinely hover around 90 degrees. Besides, losing water weight won't help him shed that belly fat.

-DeMarcus Nelson is an absolute bull. Despite all of his shooting and ball-handling issues, he continues to gather garbage points through sheer athleticism. Hence, Coach K will utilize him more around the basket than ever before. That's saying something, considering his penchant for rebounding throughout his career.

-You have to be impressed with the babysitting job that Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas do with Sean Mickee. When given the chance to speak - and break the game down - they are second to none. Too bad that CBS has them on separate broadcast teams during the NCAA Tournament (Bilas is paired with Dick Enberg and Raftrey with Verne Lundquist.)

-And finally, if I'm a Marquette fan - which I am not - I wouldn't be too concerned with tonight's result. Sure, it would have been an NCAA tournament-booster - when it comes to seeding, of course - but it is not a death knell. In significant foul trouble most of the game, the Eagles keep Duke within striking distance. Not a bad result considering the situation.