Congrats to VCU, too bad Dukies

from JoeUser Forums

Have to tip my hat to the hoopsters from VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University).  They sent the clearly over-rated Duke Bluedevils packing yesterday (3-15-2007) in the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament.

Duke took, that's right I said took, a spot that clearly didn't belong to them and failed to make the best use of the gift they received.  They really didn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament this season and were it not for their reputation and long track record, they'd have been in the Not-Invited-Tournament this season.  Heck, if their name was Maryland, they'd have been there for sure (as the Maryland Terrapins were for the last 2 years, though they too had a long track record of good performance in the NCAA tournament when they got in).

Duke may be better next season (though I certainly hope not), but this season was not one of their best.  Teams like Florida State, Drexel, and a few others were left sitting on the sidelines just to give Coach K and his team a chance to be in the NCAA tourney.  And with that chance, and Duke's reputation, they were given a gift in the form of the 6 seed when they were more deserved of an 8 or 9 seed if that.

They got exactly what they deserved.  An early exit from the tourney.  Now they can sit home and watch the rest of the ACC teams -- the teams that deserved to be there -- defend the honor of the conference.

Getting back to VCU, please understand I don't mean to denigrate their accomplishment in beating Duke at all.  They (VCU) are a scrappy team that plays hard and puts up a strong fight against whatever team they are facing.  I don't know if it would have mattered if the opponent was Duke, Maryland, Virginia, or even North Carolina.  No matter who they played they were going to be competitive against them and that is a good thing.  It's a sign of great coaching, and players with a lot of heart and competitive spirit.  They deserved the win they got, and I hope they do well as they continue in the tourney.

1,614 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
(Don't think for a minute that I'm not also still cheering on the Terrapins.  They're fighting hard this season too, and though they got a good first round game, they seem ready for a decent run this season.)
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
DAMN! I was going to write this up. With a subheading of "Here's a present for you Terpfan"!

It was a great game. I only saw half of it since I was tutoring last night. But I was listening on the radio, and when they went down 22-9, I thought "it is over". The next I see, it is half time, and we are down by only 2. Duke opened the lead up again, before VCU finally tied it, and for the first time, took a 1 point lead. Back and forth, until that last shot when VCU got its largest lead - 2points.

I dont think they are going to go far (I did pick them to beat Duke), but it was a very pleasing win!
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

DAMN! I was going to write this up. With a subheading of "Here's a present for you Terpfan"!

heh, any time Duke gets beat it's a good day.

Best part was all of the analysts and sports radio types analyzing the loss and saying it really all came down to a complete lack of athleticism for the Duke players.  They kept going on about how the Duke team this year was not the type of team, and definitely not as talented as past teams have been.  Coach K didn't have the luxury of being able to give his starters a rest by subbing in a team that would start for just about any other team in the country.

That's been one of the things that used to frustrate me in the past.  Teams that played Duke (and University of North Carolina too for that matter) used to be faced with playing 5 starters from Duke (or UNC) and then have those guys go out and see 5 guys that would start for just about any other team come in off the bench to continue the butt kicking.  Even if you were able to defend against the starters, you'd wear out your team trying to keep the equally talented bench from burying you.

Most teams in the country would have considered themselves lucky to have 2 or 3 stars on their teams, Duke and UNC would have 10 high school All Americans on them.

Duke is still able to pretty much pick what players they want to give scholarships to.  Meaning that they don't really have to recruit, they simply tell potential players that they want them to come play at Duke and they're done.  Other teams (Maryland, Virginia, etc.) have to bust their butts to convince recruits to come play there.

I think the sports radio guys were right to put a lot of this on Coach K.  He picked these players and they aren't as good as they've had in the past.  Duke got hit hard by the NBA taking their best players and they weren't ready to replace those players with a bunch of players that had been groomed under the prior stars.  Instead they've had to rush in players that aren't as good because they've not had time in the system and weren't as good to begin with.  The other teams have raised their games while Duke's has gone down some.

Either way, it's still fun to hate on Duke and any day they get beat it's a good day.