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Appearing on Sporting News Radio's "James Brown Show," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski defended his appearance in an American Express commercial against critics who have suggested the ad gives the Blue Devils an unfair recruiting advantage.
"Well, we're honored," Krzyzewski said. "It's part of this initiative to get college out there. We don't need a commercial to recruit. We have what we've done for 25 years and Duke University. That (the commercial) has nothing about recruiting for basketball players.
"I'm not going to apologize for that," Krzyzewski added. "It's done in great taste. If someone thinks that's a recruiting advantage or that's why it's done, I feel bad for them. I'm proud of it."
--Coach K
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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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Cheer Sheet vs Maryland, Jan 26th 2005 -
Duke vs. Maryland
Cameron Indoor Stadium
Wednesday, January 26, 20005
The Basics
-We welcome Maryland to town. They defeated us last year in the championship game of the ACC Tournament, but now it's time for redemption.
-Recently, Maryland's student fans have been getting nationally berated for thier crass and crude behavior (you might remember being able to here* their taunts of "F-You, J.J." on television at the Duke Maryland game in College Park last year, and a couple of years before that when their fans threw trash at the Duke bench resulting in Carlos Boozer's mom receiving a concussion). This is our chance to distinguish ourselves from them, so lets's be creative but classy.
-Cameron should never EVER be quiet. During timeouts, stoppages, halftime, etc.. do something. Make up cheers. Make noise. IF you are behind Maryland's bench, make all kinds of noise during their timeouts. We're on national television. Prove again that we are the best fanis in the country. Period.
THE NO, NO'S...
-DJ Strawberry is entirely off-limits, NO EXCEPTIONS. Just don't go there. We're classier than that.
-Cameron Security has asked us to remind you not to bring, food, drink, or bags into the stadium.
THE DIRT ON OUR OPPONENT -UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND TERRAPINS -
Fodder for your cheering creativity
-Although he is no longer on the team, taunts concerning the ugliness of Steve Blake are still acceptable
-Maryland likes to think they're our rival, but our rival is Carolina. Don't forget the staple chants of "Not our rival!" or "We're not rivals!"
-Maryland uses the slogan "Fear the turtle" but we prefer "Smear the turtle"
-To drwaw distinctions between us and Maryland, we can chant "We don't riot" or "We don't throw stuff"
-The UMD Head Coach is Gary Williams: he tends to sweat, a lot. The standard chant is "Sweat Gary, Sweat!" (Two years ago he was so angered by this chant that he flicked off the student section)
-If (when) Gary gets angry and red in the face, we can chant "Gary needs a hug!"
We can point to Coach K and say "Sure" and then to Gary and say "Unsure"
For Maryland's midnight madness, Gary drove out to center court in a NASCAR race car. We could chant "Where's your racecar?"
#22 - Nik Caner-Medley: Was recently arrested in Portland Maine for drunk and disorderly conduct. According to the newspaper: "Caner-Medley was there, yelling, said Lt. Malloch, reading from the plice port. He took his shirt off and threatened to assault (the complainant). (Caner-Medley's) friends were trying to restrain him. He was intoxicated and made a statement, "I'm from Maryland and nobody can beat me."
-NCM's girlfriend is named Myra, and her pet name for him is "Piggy"
-NCM was arrested at a bar called "The Old Port" and is prohibited from returning
-A previous cheer we've used for NCM is "Three names, no game!"
-NCM's major is "Letters and Sciences"
#11 - John Gilcrist: Gilchrist and Gary have been having personal problems recently (steming from Gilchrist''s desire to leave early for the NBA). Gilchrist has also been having academic issues.
#13 - Chris McCray: Second in the ACC in free-throw shooting percentage behind J.J. ("J.J's still better";)
#23 - Mike Jones: heavily hyped player out of high school, but hasn't lived up to the hype and is very sensitive about it. Lots of talk surrounding him about transferring. Very sensitive to the media talk and internet message boards.
General Nots:
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