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Krzyzewski was livid about the lack of a call with 12 seconds remaining when Duke guard J.J. Redick went to the basket and was stripped of the ball.
"You're either trying to score or trying to get fouled or both," said Krzyzewski. "We didn't get any. You know, to me that was the game right there."
The reason a foul wasn't called is because there was no foul. But if instead of Connecticut it was N.C. State the Blue Devils were playing, and if instead of an all-star crew it was ACC officials calling the game, does Duke get the call? You think?
--TOM SORENSEN, The Charlotte Observer
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Not so Royal Blue
Duke's shining image is looking a little tarnished
January 18, 2003
Jon Siegel, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The name evokes regality, and for years the college basketball world treated coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils like royalty. Collectively, it pointed to the program and said, 'That's the way to do it.'
Players were polite and articulate. They stayed four years and graduated. And rarely did a player get into trouble off the court.
That all started to change a few years ago, and last year the program took one of its biggest PR hits.
Mike Dunleavy Jr., anointed as the next player to carry on in the glorious tradition of Danny Ferry, Grant Hill, Christian Laettner and Shane Battier as great four-year players, made himself eligible for the NBA Draft after his junior season. All the loyal subjects in college basketball's Camelot (a k a Cameron Indoor Stadium) mourned.
Dunleavy didn't hire an agent and left open the possibility of returning to Duke. But when that deadline passed, the expected cornerstone of this season's Blue Devils quietly put his college days behind him.
'That was the final chapter in the evolution of the college game,' CBS analyst Billy Packer said of the increasing number of underclassmen going professional. 'He had every reason to come back.'
But in 1999, so did sophomores Elton Brand and William Avery and freshman Corey Maggette - all of whom entered the draft after Duke lost to Connecticut in the NCAA title game. Before last season, juniors Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer announced or implied they would leave after the season.
Dunleavy's departure, though, was perhaps the worst blow. The model program, often considered the proper blend of athletics and academics, was starting to deal with problems more common to flawed big-time programs.
An ESPN 'Outside the Lines' program questioned the academics and suggested the school bends entry requirements for basketball recruits. Krzyzewski dismissed the report as 'bogus' and 'lies.'
Blue Devils and potential Blue Devils also had several run-ins with the law, including a top recruit being dismissed from his high school team after being accused of rape. And Duke suffered public humiliation when one of its players got into a physical confrontation with an official after its NCAA tournament loss.
Dunleavy, the son of former NBA player and coach Mike Dunleavy, was a good student who was expected to be the focus of Duke's title run this season. Instead, the versatile 6-foot-9 forward became the draft's third overall selection and now averages 4.4 points playing 14.3 minutes a game for the Golden State Warriors. He was the sixth underclassman to exit Duke early in the last four seasons.
'Here is a player that had finances and didn't need to leave for that,' Packer said. 'He had access to articulate information more than any other. He had a chance to lead his team to conference and national championships and be the national player of the year. Ten years ago, had some guy been in that position, there is no way shape or form it happens - for a player like that to leave and become a nondescript rookie in the NBA.'
It also was one of the final installments of a difficult season at Duke. Despite a 31-4 record, the Blue Devils were upset by Indiana in the third round of the NCAA tournament. And their five-season run of claiming at least a share of the ACC regular-season title was snapped by eventual national champion Maryland.
Nonetheless, Duke finds itself today in a situation familiar since Krzyzewski took over the program and built it into a national power again in the mid-1980s. The Blue Devils are ranked No.1 heading into their game against 17th-ranked Maryland at Comcast Center. They are the nation's only undefeated Division I team and have a heralded six-man freshmen class designed to retain the status. But despite the quick start, it's too early to tell if Duke has recovered from last season's talent drain and from its smudged reputation.
The ESPN show suggested some players are taking 'easy' classes and majors to get their degrees and noted that an unusually high number of players are studying sociology, which is considered a light course taken by only a small percentage of the student body.
According to this season's media guide, three of the seven players who have decided on majors chose sociology. Williams, the second overall pick by the Chicago Bulls, graduated in three years with a sociology degree. Boozer, a second-round pick by Cleveland, also was a sociology major.
The segment also claimed Duke accepted basketball players whose high school grades and standardized test scores were dramatically lower than the rest of the incoming class and used freshman Sean Dockery as an example. Krzyzewski fired back before this season.
'That [program] was bogus,' said Krzyzewski, who refused to be interviewed for the show.
'Our kids graduate. If you are in the spotlight with the Internet, talk shows and people looking for stories, you are going to take shots. We have had no adversity
'That's the fan intellect and the media intellect, in some respects. That's just sports. When they tell lies about what you're doing, that's different. Like that one show - that was lies.'
The team also had to deal with Reggie Love, a walk-on who is no longer with the team, being arrested for DUI and then pleading guilty to a lesser charge. Casey Sanders, a senior center, was charged with assaulting his girlfriend and admitted guilt in an agreement that gave him probation.
Shelden Williams was accused of sexual assault while traveling with his high school team. The 6-foot-9 forward was never charged in the incident, which included four teammates in a hotel room at 2 a.m., although he was suspended from school and thrown off the team.
'It was settled to everybody's satisfaction,' said Krzyzewski, who was clearly offended by the question. 'He's a great kid, and all those things have been resolved. I think that is enough said. Obviously, I talked to all my players about everything.'
The most public embarrassment came immediately following Indiana's 74-73 upset over then-No.1 Duke in a South Region semifinal, when Matt Christensen blocked official Bruce Benedict from leaving the court following the Blue Devils' loss. Christensen stood in Benedict's way and yelled, 'Call the foul!' after Boozer missed a potential game-winning shot.
The NCAA said Christensen was guilty of 'verbally assaulting and making physical contact' with an official. Duke was given a slap on the wrist for the violation: Christensen was required to write an apology to the official, and Duke was not reimbursed a few hundred dollars by the NCAA for the player's food and lodging. Had Duke won, Christenson would have been suspended for the next tournament game. The ugly incident was the latest black eye in a difficult season.
'Trent Lott did a lot of good things too,' said Packer, comparing the Blue Devils' situation to the former Senate Majority Leader from Mississippi. 'It's a lot of things. The press decides if you don't get a pass on that one. Had this been another program, maybe that would be the case. I don't see it that way.'
The series of off-court problems likely will be forgotten unless incidents continue, but what isn't likely to be forgotten is the fact that the Blue Devils' top stars are leaving early. Dunleavy's departure suggests that situation isn't going to stop - even at hallowed Duke.
'It hurts a little bit,' said Laettner, the Washington Wizards forward who led Duke to back-to-back national titles before graduating in 1992. 'But they have been the most prestigious [program] for the longest. Duke was the last big school that had kids leave early. It tarnishes the prestige a little bit. But in today's day and age, that's just what happens.'
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Duke Basketball Report -
First, about the DBR's "fundraisers":
The Dukebasketballreport had another 'fundraiser' to keep their site 'afloat'. in 2005 they claimed to have raised $26,000. In 2004 they targeted a total of $25,000. Before that, they raised $15,000.
Look at how they beg:
Some of you had also suggested specific levels of giving, so we'd like to add those as well:
* $25.00 per year
* $50.00 per year
* $100.00 per year
* $500.00 per year
* $1,000.00 per year
Other than that, we would say let your conscience be your guide.
It is obvious that the DBR is a popular site and receives a lot of traffic. But anyone who works in IT can tell you that for that type of site, it doesn't cost $40,000 over two years to run. Infact, it shouldn't cost anywhere NEAR that. Where does this money that they are begging for go? How about the DBR provide an expense report?
Note that in their begging, the DBR says they need this money to keep the site afloat.
IT DOESN'T COST THAT MUCH MONEY TO RUN A WEBSITE!!!
In a related note, a couple of the folks behind the DBR apparently have trouble finding jobs. Hey Dookies - these are the folks who are begging for money. And apparently, you are giving.
Now, to how the DBR sucks besides taking $40,000 from innocent Duke fans:
There are two different ways a 'fan site' may be ran.
One is the type where the webperson(s) mostly just link to other, more reputable sites for content. There is very little original content because the site maintainers realize that they are just normal fans like the rest of us and not journalists. If there are original articles they are done in a convincing way - with opinions that are 'backed up'.
Examples of Duke sites like this are Dukeupdate.com & Duke Blue Basketball.
Another way to run a fansite is to be arrogant enough to consistently give a subjective opinion, develop 'theories' & frankly, not 'back things up'.
Is the Duke Basketball Report one of these sites? Well let's give the DBR credit - they provide up-to-date links and obviously have a large readership. But...well, the following speaks for itself:
Enjoy!
One of the little things you might not notice about Duke basketball, but which is a telling detail, is that you'll rarely hear anyone call more than one syllable. So it's Shav, Shel, Chris, and so on. It's a smart principle, and a sign of the level of organization the program thrives on: yelling Shelden is less effective and takes longer than yelling Shel. We're not saying Shel is what they call for Shelden, but you get the point. That's an important thing at Duke.
--They really understand basketball, don't they?
The Herb Haters are bound to re-emerge after Maryland's extraordinary comeback, but get real: State finished second in the ACC without a point guard or a legitimate post presence. They're a definite tourney team, and will be for the foreseeable future. That ain't chopped liver. Herb's not running around looking for someone to hug, but the program is doing well.
--I'm sure NC State fans go to the DBR for advice and gives the slightest shit what the DBR guys think. Right?
Duke played a pretty impressive game in many respects, not least of all Casey Sanders, whose last game was one of his better efforts at Duke. Never a scorer, Casey has always focused on rebounding and blocking shots, and he made a dramatic difference under the basket. Collison scored 33 points and had 19 rebounds, but might have had 40 had Sanders not been so strong on defense.
--It would be cool if they really were making a sarcastic jab at Casey, but they weren't.
McCray went to the bench and sat down. Williams came over and began to go after him, and whatever he said, McCray didn't like it. He stood up and looked for another seat on the bench, away from the harangue, but then sat back down again. Williams continued, then went to the end of the bench to see what was going to happen after a pair of Duke free throws. During his absence, an assistant - we think it was Jimmy Patsos - continued the harangue for him, sitting next to McCray, gesticulating wildly, and obviously making the kid really feel like crap.
Then, when Maryland was coming back down the court, Williams went back and both of them tore into the kid. McCray stood up again, circled around, tried to go left, then right, then gave up and sat back down again and just took it.
All we can say is: poor kid. Duke's philosophy of next play never looked better. No one really deserves to be treated that way.
After the game, McCray told the Post that "I kind of reacted a little the wrong way. It was just in the flow of the game. It was my bad, so I just got to get over it. . . . It was just Coach's decision [not to play me again]. I can't do nothing about it. I can't really cry about it."
Fair enough, and Williams is right, he should have been aware of the clock, since everyone else in the building was. But still, he didn't deserve that level of public humiliation. Williams and Patsos should issue a public apology. If it was good enough for Patton, it's good enough for these bozos. We can't imagine being parents of a recruit and catching that act and then letting our child play for Williams. What a disgusting display
-- What a bunch of wimps. What the hell do they know? Coaches get mad at players sometimes. Look at this article on ESPN.com directed to Coach K:
I remember a TV timeout in a big game a few years ago, a game your team was losing at the time. I remember being behind the Duke bench to hear your right-hand man, Johnny Dawkins, drop screaming F-bombs into players' faces and obscenely impugn the masculinity of every starter in the huddle. Your face indicated that you had no problem with it, perhaps even encouraged it.
We all should want Duke footall (sic) to be excellent, but part of that, Duke, is about how we treat our teams. We're not Maryland, FSU, or UNC, and we should keep that distinction very clear. We're Duke. We may stink at football, but we're still Duke. Let's act like it.
--The difference between pride and arrogance.
Since returning to the ACC to coach his alma mater, Maryland's Gary Williams has been quick to attribute losses to North Carolina-based ACC opponents to biased officiating. He'd often imply there was a conspiracy by the ACC to prevent Maryland from winning..
--As you can see, the DBR basically makes things up and provide nothing to backup their ridiculous accusations.
On the other hand, D.C. has many downsides, including a very high murder rate, high crime in general, a city government which has been at times an absolute disaster, and obviously Washington is a prime target for terrorism. With the planned (but thankfully disrupted) chemical attack planned for Jordan, which the Jordanians estimate would have killed 20,000, or 60,000 less than the attackers were hoping for, terrorism moves into ever more ambitious phases. We have no idea how hard it would be to get that sort of thing into Washington, but you can be assured that it is being diligently explored
--The ironic thing here is that Duke has many alums who live in DC and the surrounding area.
It is also funny when the DBR tries to excuse a Duke player every time one gets in trouble. Instead of admitting that Duke, like any other school, has some problems, their excuses are nothing short of ridiculous. It also would be fun to see the DBR explain this article about how certain parents of Duke players are given special benefits. Strange, since they seem to have an interest in how player's parents receive jobs...
Let's also not forget how the DBR used their site to help out their 'unemployment' situation. Perhaps they can find a job as mathematicians - look at this fancy graph they created to show the ref's treatment of Duke. (they seemed to forgot that when and who a foul is against is a big factor in the ref's calls).
One thing the DBR does deserve credit for is this editorial - where they call out one of their own -- "crazy towel guy".
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