Sweet 16: Duke Vs Oregon

Nothing delights me more than to watch the apoplexy of “sports experts” who pour over stat sheets, rosters, schedules, standings and won-loss records trying to analyze which men’s college basketball teams are the best in the nation.

Season after season they are flummoxed when they discover that the ACC is the best in the country.  This year has proven to be no different except this year the conference set a record by advancing six teams to the Sweet 16.

Tonight my beloved Duke Blue Devils will meet on the hardwood against the Oregon Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim.  After traveling cross-country to get to the Honda Center, Duke will face one of their toughest opponents yet in 6-foot-10 Dillon Brooks a shot-blocking monster and damned good 3-point shooter.

After winning their 5^th national championship last March, Duke had massive turnover when several players went pro at the end of the tourney.  It stood to reason that the Devils would be in a rebuilding mode.

Duke’s depth on the court suffered a huge blow when Amile Jefferson broke his foot in December during practice forcing him out for the remainder of the season, but you shouldn’t count them out because they still have the last of the Plumlee brothers, Marshall, and he ain’t no slouch.  Let’s also not forget about Brandon Ingram who has the skinniest “get-away sticks” in college BBall.  Take Brandon and Grayson Allen and you’ve got one helluva spread-the-floor offense and a pretty decent man and zone defense.

Allen is a beast on the floor.  His FT average is 84% and he averages 22 points per game.  He’s dominating from beyond the arc for tres.

The Ducks are hoping that the Blue Devils’ 0-4 all-time record for tournament games played in the Pacific Time Zone will be a factor tonight.  Come on, man.  You don’t think Coach K is going to let that be a factor again do you?

The Ducks are the last PAC-12 team standing in tourney play.  The pressure on them is going to be intense.

GO BLUE DEVILS!

Duke Blue Devils Vs North Carolina Tarheels

I love this time of year.  Spring is right around the corner and college basketball is at its zenith.

Tonight my beloved Duke Blue Devils (27-3) are playing arch rival Carolina (21-9) at the famed “Dean Dome” in Chapel Hill.  Tipoff is 9:00 PM ET and airs on ESPN.

This is the last day of the ACC’s regular season.  Duke has been on one helluva roll of late devastating the hapless Demon Deacons of Wake Forest 94-51.  Seventeen days ago the Tarheels lost a heartbreaker to Duke in overtime 92-90.  The Heels are looking for payback.  Can they do it?  I don’t think so.  They’re playing at home but the bad news is they’ve won a scant 6 games in their last 16 meetings against Coach K’s team.

If, and I do mean if, the Heels miraculously win tonight the Louisville Cardinals will be the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament.  But I’m not going to think about that.  Duke is 4-1 against the top five teams in the league and the Heels are 1-4.

First round games start this Tuesday.  Second round is Wednesday with the quarterfinals set for Thursday.

None of my friends are Dookies, but that won’t stop me from donning my Blue Devil’s regalia (there’s no shame in my game) and walking into my favorite watering hole/sports bar where they will all be congregated to cheer my boys on to victory.

GO DUKE (GTHC)

And since no basketball post would be complete without some pom-poms, here’s a pretty Duke cheerleader to feast your eyes on.

Orange Sabres And Blue Devils Battle It Out For Conference Title

You know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men.  Months ago I bought tickets to the 2014 ACC Tournament.  A devoted fan of the Duke Blue Devils, I wanted to be there to watch my team play.

I came down with pneumonia and my dream of seeing my boys play in person was shattered.

The Blue Devils took on Clemson Friday night and defeated them 63-62.  With that win they advanced to the semi-finals to face NC State on Saturday.

I went to work confident that the Wolfpack would be no threat to the Blue Devils, but just an hour into my shift I began to feel so bad that I had to leave.  I went to the Emergency Room.  The game was on the TV in the ER Waiting Room.  Eventually I was taken into an examination room and the ER doctor ordered blood work, urinalysis, EKG and chest x-rays.

While all this was going on, I was fortunate that the exam room had a TV mounted on the wall.  The ER nurse was kind enough to turn it on for me so I could watch the game.  I guess she felt sorry for me because I was so sick.  It was determined that I was suffering from dehydration and viral syndrome.  So the doctor ordered an IV drip and sent me on my way with a stern warning not to return to work for three days.  I think I'll follow his advice.

It was exciting watching Jabari Parker and T.J. Warren trading baskets in the kind of shootout expected from the Atlantic Coast Conference's top two scorers.

Parker scored 20 points and the Blue Devils beat Warren and North Carolina State 75-67 earning Duke its 31st championship game appearance and its first since 2011.

The ACC Tournament Championship starts at 1:00 PM ET with Duke going up against the Virginia Cavaliers a team that Duke whipped in January 69-65.

Duke is the favorite to claim the conference title.

At 6:00 PM the NCAA tournament brackets will be announced.  A victory against the Cavaliers could earn Duke a No. 1 seed along with Florida, Wichita State and Arizona.

UPDATE 3:20 PM:  Congratulations to the Cavaliers.  You played a classy game.  You deserve to be ACC Champions.  Best of luck on your march to the Final Four.

Duke Blue Devils’ Impossible-To-Stop Two-Man Wing Game

I insist on gloating today.  I insist on being annoying about it too.  Today, that’s how I’m going to roll.

All season long, I’ve heard it said and I’ve seen it written that Duke has been on an up-and-down roller coaster ride with a “bitter slump pushing them to the brink of being unranked” before finding themselves late in the season.

The first meeting of the 2013-14 regular season between Duke and Carolina was to have been February 12th.  Mother Nature decided to dump “Snowpocalypse” on Chapel Hill and the Dean Dome instead.  That game was rescheduled for February 20th.

Duke led the Tarheels during the entire first half but lost control in the second to lose 74-66.  I was crestfallen.  A short two days later, my boys would take revenge for their February 1st overtime lose in the Carrier Dome to Syracuse 91-89.

The Orange came to our house, Cameron Indoor Stadium, where all the “Crazies” live.  It was at Cameron that The Orange found out that they are not the gods of the ACC and that rules ignored at your house can be equally ignored at our house.  It was the scene of Coach Bonheim literally losing his shit over a clear blocking foul and enduring a 66-60 loss to my beloved Blue Devils.

Last night was Senior Night.  The Tobacco Road Rivalry was set between The Heels and the Devils.  I had a feeling in my heart of hearts that this meeting would end in victory for my beloved Blue Devils.

I was right.

Jabari Parker had his most polished game of the season late night.  Even with Carolina’s best defender, J. P. Tokoto, draped all over him in an attempt to frustrate him Parker patiently picked his spots.  One possession he would receive a post entry pass, face up and nail a jumper. The next, he'd face up again, see Tokoto anticipating the jumper and drive right to the rim.

Rodney Hood scored 24 points and combined with Parker for 27 of Duke’s 40 first-half points.  As strong as their first half was, the real clinic came in the second half.

The Blue Devils led by as many as 19 points during multiple stretches, breaking down the North Carolina defense to shoot 50.9 percent from the field.  At certain points, it looked as if Hood and Parker were toying with a fangless Tar Heel defense. 

Hood finished with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and knocked down three of Duke's eight shots from beyond the arc.

Duke's last 16 points came at the charity stripe. The Devils did not hit a field goal in the final 6:56 because Carolina had apparently decided to start fouling early to get back in the game.  On a lesser team that strategy might have worked.  Carolina didn’t reckon that Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon and the shooter-heavy lineup were going to be cold-blooded at the stripe.

Oh yeah, Marcus Paige, the vaunted second-half wonder boy looked scorched at the end.  I loved his expression.  That’s why I picked that photo to chop.

It was an exhilarating game to watch.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better to cheer me up after spending a week at home with pneumonia.

From here, it’s on to next week’s ACC Tournament in Greensboro. 

Four slots still remain to be determined as of this writing.  Already locked are (1) Virginia, (2) Syracuse, (3) Duke, (4) North Carolina and (5) Pitt.

Carolina and Duke have drawn byes and won’t see action until Friday.

Go Duke.  And by the way, Carolina GTH.

Going Behind Enemy Lines

The obligatory panic over the approaching winter storm has officially begun, raising questions over whether tonight’s rivalry game between Carolina and Duke at the Dean Smith Center will be played.

As of this posting, the ACC policy on postponements states that games will be played as scheduled as long a both teams, the officials and essential game personnel can get to the game safely.

The game is scheduled to air on ESPN at 9 PM ET.  It’s a home game for the Tarheels.

I requested time off from work today and tomorrow so that I could go behind enemy lines and cheer on my beloved Blue Devils.

The plan was to travel to Chapel Hill and take a limo to the game.  The advantage, of course, is to avoid the chaos of returning to your car in an overcrowded parking lot and waiting an inordinate amount of time to exit.  It was an excellent plan.

“Snowpocalyse” has changed all that.  I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the South is about to get socked by a snowstorm of catastrophic proportions.

I have written many times that I am considered key and essential personnel and a first responder.  As such, I’ve had to cancel my already approved time off from work.

Clearly, it would be foolish for me to risk travelling the distance from my home to Chapel Hill to see the game in person.  I am, therefore, relegated to optimistically leaving work at 8:30 PM (in the midst of “Snowpocalyse”) and making it to my house in time to watch some of the game on television.

Duke is ranked 11^th in the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll.  Carolina isn’t even in the Top 25.  In ACC standings Duke is 8-3 and Carolina 6-4.

Carolina is hoping to keep their winning streak alive.  I’m hoping Duke will crush their hopes.

Two schools separated by 8 miles and two shades of blue, Coach K, Tobacco Road, Cameron Crazies. The fans are passionate, the teams successful, the games almost always down to the buzzer. These are two of the four winningest teams in history, going at it twice a year (and once more in the ACC tournament if we're lucky). This is what college hoops is all about.

This game should be fantastic.  The rivalry between the two schools is legendary.  After Duke whips the Heels they should be in good shape to take on Syracuse on February 22nd and exact revenge when The Orange come to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

UPDATE 8:58 PM:  “Snowpocalypse” has forced the postponement of tonight’s game.  The make-up game will be played on February 20^th.  Perhaps because Dick Vitale was stranded at the airport was part of the reason the game was called off.

Pls be safe in Triangle area - ice /snow unreal -at TAC terminal in Raleigh - having tough time finding a ride to Dean Dome

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 12, 2014