How the NCAA could determine that Maggette didn't know he was taking money from Piggie is tough to understand, particularly when Maggette had long ago testified under oath that he, you know, took money from Piggie. Hilarious, right? But the key point is how the NCAA basically said Duke wasn't penalized because it did not know and should not have known that Maggette was ineligible.

To that point, it's important to remember that the NCAA has made no allegation in the Memphis case that the school knew or should have known that Rose was ineligible, but for some reason that doesn't seem to matter. The NCAA is now throwing around the term "strict liability" and explaining how the only thing that matters is that the Tigers used an ineligible player, and that's why the school's Final Four banner is coming down just 16 months after earning it.

Meanwhile, Duke's 1999 Final Four banner still flies high.

And when people claim the NCAA uses selective enforcement, this is what they're talking about.

Nonetheless, author John Feinstein, the Duke alumnus and Washington Post columnist, said the students have lost their verve. He misses the clever spontaneity of the Crazies from years past. The Crazies are too preoccupied with painting themselves and dressing in costumes in hopes of getting on TV, he said.
...
If one of the Crazies at Cameron swears today, one of the 30 or so student 'line monitors' often tries to stop the bad language. That's part of an organized student effort to maximize support while minimizing abusive behavior.
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Duke historian Bill Brill said the Crazies no longer display the same spontaneity as they did when they supposedly invented the chant of 'Air ball' after a miss by North Carolina's Rich Yonakor in 1979.

'I hear that (complaint) all the time,' he said. 'I think in a sense they're right, because it's so much more orchestrated today. But that's all television-driven, from my perspective.'
...
As of late last week, Krzyzewski had met twice this season with students, mostly to bring them up to date on the team's progress. Burrill said the coach requested that students not groan when a player missed a free throw, asking them to remain positive.

But this team can recruit nationally, has a staggering eight McDonald's All-Americans and a Hall-of-Fame coach and is supposed to be one of the nation's elite. Losing to a gutsy seventh seed after narrowly squeaking by a gutsy 15 seed one year after bowing out in the first round to a gutsy 11 seed is nothing short of a collapse.

And year-ending implosions do not cap "great" seasons.

Losing five of your last 11 games is not part a "great" season. Losing in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament is not a "great" season. Losing on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is not a "great" season.

The list of problems is not short, and, sorry Duke Basketball Report, it is not a sin for a fan to admit that. I certainly appreciate the effort the team put forth Saturday and don't doubt DeMarcus Nelson was trying his damndest. But Duke students don't sleep in the cold for two months just to see players give it their all. Expectations can and should be high, and they were not fulfilled this year or last.

It doesn't help, either, that instead of spending the summer analyzing why Blue Devil squads have looked fatigued the final month in each of the last four seasons, the entire coaching staff will be in China. Krzyzewski contends that USA Basketball does not take away any focus from his first priority here in Durham-it even helped this year, as he instituted Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni's offensive schemes and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's zone defense. But Duke, not Team USA, is Krzyzewski's primary job.

The get-together was held Jan. 15 after a late-afternoon practice in the school's 50-year-old arena, Cameron Indoor Stadium. Besides the 12-member basketball squad, several assistant coaches and the team trainer were on hand as Krzyzewski cursed and raised his voice while upbraiding the student-reporters for coverage that 'degrades my basketball team.'

Once he had spoken his mind, in comments that included scatological and anatomical references, and had given the largely mute reporters a chance to reply, the forthright Krzyzewski believed the matter was settled.

With all the hype that perennially surrounds Duke's program -- the lofty rankings, the seemingly endless national television appearances (including 27 this regular season), the weekly on-air love-fest from Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale -- one might assume the Blue Devils to be college basketball's most dominant program.

Dig a little deeper, however, and take a closer look at the numbers. Since 2001, the Blue Devils have dominated all right -- in December and January.

In each of the past six seasons (2002-07), AP voters have dubbed Duke a top-five team late into the regular season, including a No. 1 ranking four of the six years. Only once, however, has Duke validated those lofty opinions come March, reaching one Final Four (2004) while failing to advance beyond the Sweet 16 in the others.

This despite entering the tournament as a No. 1 seed in four of the six years.

5. Coach Krzyzewski, you often respond to criticism about your inflated ego, hostile treatment of referees, and foul language by citing the amount of money you have given to charity. Are we to conclude from this that you consider writing checks a proper substitute for common human decency?

TOMMY SEABASS would like those over-aged, stat-geek fanboys at DBR to kiss his @$$.

I convinced 'CheerSheets' that Nik Caner-Medley's girlfriend had a pet name for him, 'Piggy.' Her name is Myra. So it would really get in his head if they chanted, "Myra and Piggy clap clap clap clap clap." So it comes out like "Myron Piggie," an infamous figure, to say the least, in the history of Duke basketball.

I don't think they ever put it all together during the game, but I did see a "Piggie" sign when NCM was shooting free throws, and I *think* I heard a 'Piggie, Piggie, Piggie..."

Mike, you love all that rah-rah stuff -- the stuff that makes Duke everything that the NBA isn't. You built Duke's coy camaraderie -- the coaches love the players, who love the students, who worship you like some kind of ancient god. It's basketball set to the Baey theme song: I love you, you love me ... Annoying, but apt.

The cloying word that envelopes your program is 'special.' And it's true. Duke is smug, Duke is sanctimonious ... but Duke is special.

Trust me: the first time Bryant drops a dismissive, contemptuous f-bomb on Krzyzewski during a time out, the resulting Coach K nostril flare -- is that special, special spittle on the corner of his mouth? -- will be well worth your efforts.

...Maryland's excitable Gary Williams could get kicked out four or five times and not do anything half as bad as Krzyzewski, who had already gotten one technical foul in the game.

Since Krzyzewski, for all intents and purposes, had dematerialized, Natili perhaps thought he was being insulted by one of those zany 'Cameron Crazies.' You know, the students majoring in 'Elitist, Quasi-Ivy League Snot-Nosing.'

Either that, or he looked the other way. So did ESPN broadcasters Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale. This is a tradition in sportscasting, dating back at least to the night when Keith Jackson missed Woody Hayes punching the Clemson.

You create your own website for Tent No. 6, with a minute-by-minute schedule so that you don't get booted to the waitlist by Donald and his nerd battalion, donning those LINE MONITOR windbreakers that you would just kill for

Fifty-three students applied for the line monitor position this year. The application process, which was similar to the system Morgan implemented last year, consisted of a written application as well as a personal interview with Wine.

'Fifth year senior Nick Horvath is by far the biggest player on the team. Informed speculation holds that he's doing three sets of 50 push ups each moing before heading to school or practice. That shows as he's a beast.'