Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: Alabama Crimson Tide VS Duke Blue Devils

In a return to its ACC-SEC roots, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will host the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Duke Blue Devils in their first matchup since 2010.  Alabama romped past the Devils 62-13.

The Blue Devils, who have gone head-to-head against the Tide a total of four times, have emerged victorious only once:  the 1945 New Year’s Day Sugar Bowl.

Duke finished last season giving up an average of 319 yards per game, 197 through the air and 222 on the ground.  Their defense allowed 27.4 points per game.

Bama is favored in this one by 33.5 points, despite first-half suspensions of Najee Harris, Brian Robinson, Devonta Smith and Terrell Lewis for missing a team function during fall camp.

Dyed-in-the-wool Bama fans know All-American linebacker Dylan Moses is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL in practice, but Coach Saban is high on a 245-pound four-star prospect, Shane “The Hulk” Lee.

Henry Russell, who coached at Lee’s high school said of the true freshman, “He’s a brick house. He runs well. He’s strong as an ox. So physically, I don’t really worry about him too much. I think it’s more getting all the mental stuff down and the speed of the college game, but I think he’s a lot more comfortable. If you had asked him to come in and start at the beginning of the spring, it would have been really tough. But now, he’s got the spring under his belt, camp under his belt and now the only thing he’s got to get is some game experience.”

If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting ten years, yes, ten long years for Bama to find a guy who can consistently kick the ball through the damn uprights.  Tide fans thought the curse had been broken when Joseph Bulovas was tapped for the job.  Bama is better at almost everything EXCEPT the kicking game.  Its kickers are worse than the national average.

Now though, the team will turn to Will Reichard.  Will he be the long-awaited answer?

“Will’s a very talented guy and he’s done extremely well in fall camp, and we think that he can do a good job,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “But like any other guy, he’s got the talent and ability to do it, but what’s he going to do in a game? We’re confident in him. He gets the ball off quickly. He’s got a really strong leg. His accuracy in scrimmages and practice has been very good.”

Today’s game will be a chance to totally dominate the Blue Devils.  It won’t erase the heartbreaking loss to Clemson, but it will get Bama back to being Bama again.  No more stewing over what happened seven months ago.

I hope you’ll toddle over to Diogene’s Middle Finger for some humorous perspective on other Week One SEC games.

March Madness: The Last Perfect Bracket Busted

According to Chicago’s ABC 7, the last perfect bracket among NCAA Tournament fans was busted Thursday.

Gregg Nigl, a 40-year-old neuropsychologist from Ohio, created the bracket on NCAA.com. 

My brackets were nuked early on, but I had Duke advancing through the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8 and, of course, to the National Championship.

Nigl didn't even realize his bracket was still intact on Tuesday, having correctly predicted the outcome of all 48 games that had been played so far.  Nigl even changed his Twitter handle to Gregg “Perfect Bracket” Nigl.  Mr. Perfect is no more after Purdue’s overtime win over the Vols.

Well, it was a good run... Thank you to everyone who joined me along this incredible journey! Maybe next year we'll get it!

— Gregg 'Perfect Bracket' Nigl (@GreggNigl) March 29, 2019

Purdue had a commanding lead throughout most of the game and was leading by 18 in the second half before the Vols went on a 32-14 run to tie the game at 65 with six minutes left to play.

The pivotal moment in the game came with 10 seconds left.  With the Vols up 82-80, Purdue moved the ball into the corner passing to Carsen Edwards.  Had he not missed the three-pointer the game would have been over.

Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner allegedly fouled Edwards.  The call was controversial.  Edwards’ heels were on the line when he attempted that shot.  The refs declared Turner had contact with Edwards’ hip.

Thanks to the new PI review rules, this “foul” call with 1.7 seconds left would be overturned in the NFL pic.twitter.com/NU6Jz8Gb2W

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 29, 2019

The foul sent Edwards to the charity stripe allowing Purdue to tie the game and send the game into overtime with the final score of 99-94.

Saturday’s games:

No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Gonzaga 6:09 PM, TBS

No. 3 Purdue vs. No. 1 Virginia 8:49 PM, TBS

Sunday’s games:

No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Michigan State 5:05 PM, CBS

No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 2 Kentucky 2:20 PM, CBS

Spartans Head coach Tom Izzo hopes his team has the same success against Duke as they did against LSU, but that will only happen if they can come up with a robust defense to control Zion “Thunder Dunk” Williamson and R. J. “Maple Mamba” Barrett.

Williamson was incredible against the Hokies, this time finishing with 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting. The biggest story might have been the hot shooting of teammate Tre Jones, who hit five three-pointers after never making more than two in one game all season. R.J. Barrett was also phenomenal, adding 18 points and 11 assists in the win. Duke will continue to be a favorite throughout this tournament because Williamson is by far the best player in the country. 

Brackets Looking Nice And Neat Until They Get Busted

Click on image to enlarge

Selection Sunday for 2019 The 2019 NCAA Tournament field of 68 was announced tonight with the Duke Blue Devils taking the No. 1 overall seed and the ACC becoming the first conference in a decade to get three No. 1 seeds from the same league. The Selection Committee gave some crumbs to Belmont and Temple and dissed Alabama, TCU, Indiana and NC State. 

The unwritten rule of March Madness is your brackets are going to suck.  Thank goodness ESPN gives everybody an opportunity to fill out a “Second Chance Bracket”.

ACC Championship Game: Duke Vs Florida State

Last night’s semi-final game in the ACC Tournament was the 6th ranked matchup between Duke and UNC to be decided by a single point. Duke has now won all six.

The game was tied 44-44 at the end of the half.  The score was tied again at 54-54 with 12:38 left on the clock and again at 63-63 with 8:53 remaining.  Big ol’ Zion tied the game at 65-65 with a jumper at the 7:05 mark and the score would see-saw back and forth until the clock showed 31 seconds remaining.

The finale was not for the faint of heart.  Williamson went for a lay-up, missed it, rebounded his missed shot and managed to tap it in to take the lead for good.

The win against the Tarheels set up the title match tonight against Florida State; the team that shocked the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday night.  UVA center Jack Salt dejectedly said of the loss, “They punked us.  They got us on the glass.  They got us in the lane.  They just picked up apart.”

ZION STEALS AND SLAMS 💥 pic.twitter.com/AHlsuIOuPj

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 16, 2019

Six different teams have won the ACC Tournament over the last seven years.  The Noles were the champs in 2012.  That was then.  This is now and only one team in the nation has Zion Williamson.  Charlotte loves Duke so it’s like a home court advantage for the the Blue Devils.

In their only other meeting this year, the Blue Devils edged out FSU 80-78 in Tallahassee.  Former Duke Center Christian Laettner wondered on ESPN’s College Game Day whether Duke’s big guy would be too fatigued for tonight’s game citing he showed signs of exhaustion on the court last night against the Tarheels.  He said he hopes that’s not the case tonight because Duke is going to need “everything he’s got.”

I have a sneaking suspicion Zion is going to be totally stoked for this Championship Game.  Coach K knows how to lead his team to victory.  I’m going with Duke to win it all and get a top seed in the NCAA March Madness Road to the Final Four in Minneapolis. 

It’s Time To Say “Go To Hell Carolina”

Last night my beloved Duke Blue Devils took the court with college phenom forward Zion Williamson.  After missing the final six games of the regular season when his Nike shoe blew out causing a nasty knee sprain against the Carolina Tarheels on February 21st, Zion commanded the court.

With just two minutes having elapsed at the start of the game, Zion stole the ball from Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim taking the length of the floor and making a thunderous dunk.

Zion back pic.twitter.com/uLajsDwIak

— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 15, 2019

A lot of folks were concerned about Williamson’s conditioning after missing a month’s worth of games, but those doubts were put to rest.  The 285-pounder played a total of 36 minutes going 13-for-13 and scoring 29 points.  He also had five steals, two assists, a block and 14 rebounds.

Tonight, Duke meets the Tarheels in the ACC Men’s Tournament Semi-Final Round.  It’s all about revenge.  Carolina swept the Blue Devils ONLY because the mighty Zion was not on the roster.  With the exception of center Marques Bolden who is recovering from a knee sprain, Duke will be at full strength.

Last night, Syracuse guard Frank Howard played dirty by trying to trip Zion by sticking his leg out as Williamson was running down the court.  That was stupid.  Zion must outweigh that popsicle stick by at least 100 pounds. 

Oh wow good catch by ESPN.

Frank Howard tries to trip Zion after his dunk earlier in the 1st half. pic.twitter.com/TXQVePlKM5

— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) March 15, 2019

Taking A Mulligan Just Like Everybody Else On My Brackets

Click image to enlarge

The first weekend of this year’s NCAA tournament was pure chaos seeing a 1-seed lose to a 16-seed for the first time in tournament history when UMBC beat No. 1 Virginia.  None of the top four seeds (Virginia, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Arizona) in the South Region advanced to the Sweet 16. In past years, the top three seeds in a region have failed to advance, but never the top four. 

The 11-seed Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and Syracuse Orange are the only double-digit seeds to reach the Sweet 16. Loyola advanced to Atlanta by upsetting Miami and Tennessee while Syracuse got to the dance in Omaha by beating Arizona State and TCU.

Mike DeCourcy, smarty-pants “expert” at Sporting News, is picking Kentucky over K-State, Nevada over Loyola, the Zags over the Noles, Michigan over Texas A&M, ‘Nova over the Mountaineers, Texas Tech over the Boilermakers, Jayhawks over Clemson and Duke over ‘Cuse.

Most of the sports “experts” seem to agree the Final Four will be whittled down to Kentucky, Michigan, Villanova and Duke.

On Friday, ‘Cuse takes on Duke. Syracuse dumped the Big East Conference to join the ACC Conference five years ago.  They got a big payout from the ACC to make the switch.  Ever since then the school has seemed to think they could establish the kind of rivalry they had with Georgetown and UConn.  Don’t make me laugh.

The Orange are not a blueblood basketball team.  Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can supplant the rivalry between Duke and Carolina.

‘Cuse is an 11.5 point underdog for Friday’s game.  They were 68 out of 68 to get into the NCAA Tournament.

Duke has held all eleven of its opponents to just 8 baskets from downtown and will easily brush Syracuse aside in its quest to reach the Final Four.

Everybody hates Duke.  I think Coach K is headed for a sixth national championship.

🎬 Win 2⃣ | Dance 4⃣2⃣ | Cinematic Recap 🎥🔵👿🕺 #SI6HTS #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/IUesQuey6J

— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 19, 2018

Here’s My 2018 ACC Tournament Brackets

My March Madness officially begins today with the First Round of the ACC Tournament from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.  The Second Round is the following day.

Duke (25-6) opens the ACC tournament Thursday, along with the other top four seeds—including No. 1 Virginia (28-2), the Conference’s regular season champion. 

A monster second half effort propelled No. 5 Duke to a 74-64 win over arch rival and ninth-ranked North Carolina Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke’s 74-64 victory over the Heels was sweet revenge for an 82-78 loss to the Heels on Feb. 8. With the win, Coach K’s team locked up the No. 2 seed and Carolina will be the No. 6 seed.

Coach Krzyzewski has more ACC titles than any ACC coach.

Here’s hoping Duke brings it during the ACC Tournament earning them a good pairing on Selection Sunday for the NCAA National Championship Tourney.

And…It’s Ruined

Come on, admit it.  Your brackets got busted when Northwestern beat Vandy.  Maybe your brackets survived but were later blown up when the Badgers kept ‘Nova out of the dance.

The NCAA says more than 99% of all brackets were busted by the end of the First Round.

just checked my bracket pic.twitter.com/yUGtikuBzt

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) March 16, 2017

Today’s games will complete the Round of 32 and will punch the remaining tickets to the Sweet 16. Will the Road to the Final Four be a regional matchup between my beloved Duke Blue Devils and those dastardly Tarheels of Carolina?  I’m banking on it.

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!

You Say Your Brackets Are Busted Bunky?

Next to college football, the NCAA Tournament is my favorite time of the year.  Last year I rooted for my beloved Duke Blue Devils all the way to their fifth National Championship.  It was glorious.

Today’s slate of games features Duke vs Yale.  This will be the second meeting between these two teams.  The last meeting was in November when Duke was a much better defensive squad.

Duke’s title chances have hit the skids due to a right foot fracture Amile Jefferson suffered during practice in mid-December.  He cannot run fluidly and will miss the tournament altogether.  The senior forward was a vital front court piece for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils are vulnerable on the offensive glass but aggressive as hell when pressing up on the perimeter.

Yale is riding high after their shocker whipping of Baylor that busted everyone’s brackets, but they do not have a reputation of hurrying their offense.  That is a weakness that Duke will surely exploit.

Coupled with the experience Yale already has from facing Duke this season, the Ivy League champion is ready to prove the NCAA tournament wait was worth more than half a century.  We shall see.

GO DUKE!

If you need me, I’ll be at my local gin mill/sports bar with my crowd rooting like crazy for Duke and later this evening I’ll devote my attention to pulling for Carolina to trounce Providence.

Yes, Football: Indiana Vs Duke

Honestly, the only college football game I give a fig about is the New Year’s Eve game from the Cotton Bowl between my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide and the Michigan State Spartans.  Meanwhile, there’s a seemingly unending string of meaningless bowl games to be played before we get to the big game.

As Christopher Gasper noted in the Boston Globe, “’Tis the season for irrelevant and superfluous college football games.”  Gasper compares bowl games to Christmas tree ornaments—you always collect more than you need and piling too many on turns the look from appropriately festive to annoyingly tacky.”  The bowl games have literally been willed into existence. 

Nothing, in my opinion, is tackier than two schools celebrated for their basketball prowess playing in the most famous baseball stadium playing an inconsequential football game.

I’m referring to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.  The game will be aired at 3:30 PM on ABC.  As a rabid Duke Basketball fan, I was surprised at Duke’s fairly successful football season. 

Because the time is fast approaching when true college football fans will face desolate Saturdays without their favorite sport, I will tune in to watch the Duke Blue Devils take on the Indiana Hoosiers.

Who will win?  The Hoosiers won their four opening games and lost six games.  Duke won six games to open their season and lost four straight.

PREDICTION:  Duke wins by a basket in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Other games on the slate:

Connecticut vs Marshall 11:00 AM ESPN St. Petersburg Bowl

Miami vs Washington St 2:00 PM CBS Hyundai Sun Bowl

Washington vs Southern Mississippi 2:20 PM ESPN Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl

Tulsa vs Virginia Tech 5:45 PM ESPN Camping World Independence Bowl

UCLA vs Nebraska 9:15 PM ESPN Foster Farms Bowl

That'll do it in Yankee Stadium! Duke 44 Indiana 41! #GoDuke #PinstripeBowl pic.twitter.com/IMhIrumfox

— Duke Football (@Duke_FB) December 27, 2015

As I See It

On Tuesday morning following the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game, the front page of The Wisconsin State Journal carried the headline:  Out-Duked.  The Herald Sun in Durham boasted:  Devils Take 5.

The Badgers were thought to be the team with more momentum going into the game having defeated the perfect 38-0 star-laden Kentucky Wildcats.  I listened to countless sports analysts like Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Clark Kellogg and Ernie Johnson, Jr. prattle on and on about their “predictions” for a Wisconsin win over Duke.

I understand, believe me I do, that there is widespread dislike for Duke.  There will always be haters. In an open thread at Ace of Spades, Y-Not wrote before the semifinal games last Saturday night, “True Americans will be rooting for the Spartans and the Badgers.  Just sayin’.” 

Die-hard Badger fan and blogger friend Steve, proprietor of Grandpa John blog, was nothing but a class act before and after the big game between the two schools.  He offered a correction to my brackets saying, “Sorry in advance for my Wisconsin drubbing North Carolina.”  Of course, he was right.  I had picked the Tarheels of North Carolina to advance to the Final Four against the Badgers.  When they lost I began rooting for Wisconsin because I, like so many others, dislike Kentucky (the second-most hated basketball team in America).

Monday afternoon, well before tipoff, Steve posted a comment asking, “Whatcha doin’ this evening?  It oughta be good, both teams are HOT!”  On Tuesday after Duke’s spectacular victory Steve wrote, “Congratulations! Duke did a great job. (Whimper, whimper.)”

This year’s tournament was filled with upsets and heroes and some of the most unforgettable moments I’ve ever witnessed.  It was heartbreaking to watch the hurt the Badgers felt when they lost.  One photograph told the story most poignantly.  It depicted all five Wisconsin players leaving the court with their hands on their heads in disbelief, confetti falling all around them, realizing their historic run in the tourney was over.

At the same time, Duke fans were euphoric.  I was among them.  I wanted to post an article here right after the game, but decided against it.  It would have sounded like bragging.  I didn’t want to do that.  Instead, I’ve waited a few days so that I might congratulate Wisconsin on a courageous game—a game that was hard-fought, physical, emotional and charged with electricity.  The basketball world may have wanted a Duke-Kentucky championship game, but what they got was a magnificent game played with tremendous heart.

Who knew the headband message “De5tiny” (the piece of tape the Blue Devil mascot wears across its forehead) would come true?

Nike Basketball tweeted this inspiring message:

Play for a legend. Win for the legacy. #justdoit pic.twitter.com/0A02bpLeUv
— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) April 7, 2015

By now the tears have dried for Kaminsky, Dekker, Koenig, Hayes, Gasser, Showalter, Jackson and Dukan.  It’ll be hard to put aside the disappointment, but years from now they will have a story to tell of how they won more games than any other in their program history.  It was a remarkable journey that was 74 years in the making.  They should be proud.  They were a formidable opponent.  It was “One Shining Moment.” 

March Madness: Duke Blue Devils Vs San Diego State Aztecs

Last night’s action in the NCAA Tournament saw No. 1 Villanova fall to the NC State Wolfpack.  Though I picked ‘Nova to win in my brackets, it was heart-warming to see the Pack win.  It was reminiscent of 1983 when the team known as “Phi Slamma Jamma” led by Jimmy V took the national crown.  (I miss Coach Valvano)

I must confess that I wasn’t as invested as a fan in that game as I was 32 years ago, but I kept my eye on it as the Tarheels methodically took apart the Arkansas Razorbacks’ full court pressure to convincingly defeat them 87-78.  The Heels now advance to the Sweet 16.

Today my attention is turned to the game which pits my beloved Duke Blue Devils against the San Diego State Aztecs.  The game will air at 2:40 PM ET on CBS.

These two teams have met only one other time: December 2001 at Cameron Indoor Stadium where the Atzecs lost 92-79.  Today, playing in Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena, it will seem like home field advantage for Duke.  The Aztecs have big guys in their line-up that should match up well against Okafor and Marshall.

If Duke can light it up like they did against RMU they should emerge the winner in today’s game, but that’s predicated on an up-tempo game and the Aztecs not being able to shut down Okafor.  Duke definitely needs to speed up the game and get out in transition in order to beat the Aztecs.  Oh, and foul trouble for SDSU’s forwards.

GO DUKE

March Madness: Duke Blue Devils Vs Robert Morris Colonials

According to ESPN, just 273 out of 11.6 million Tournament Challenge brackets were a perfect 16-for-16 after Thursday’s games.  My brackets were likewise busted.  *sigh*

Sam Vecenie, writing for CBS Sports, thinks Bobby Mo’s key to a win against my beloved Duke Blue Devils is 6 ft. 6 guard/forward Lucky Jones who scored 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals in their 4-point victory over North Florida.  Duke’s Jahlil Okafor towers over Jones at 6-11. The Colonials will not have an easy job containing the big men who make up the Blue Devils roster.

I made abysmal predictions during the ACC Tournament which prompted one commenter to write, “Please, please, please stop rooting for the team I root for.” 

Like Coach K and many of the other coaches whose teams made it to “the dance,” everybody starts at zero in the tourney.  Duke has made appearances in 15 Final Fours and won 4 national championships.  Tonight the drive for five begins.

GO DUKE

Basketball Heaven: ACC Semi-finals

It’s going to be a BIG night tonight.  Game One of the 2015 ACC Tournament Semi-finals features the North Carolina Tarheels against the Cavaliers of Virginia.  The game airs on ESPN at 7:00 PM.  Following that game will be the biggie:  my beloved Duke Blue Devils vs. Notre Dame.

As I’ve written many times before, none of my friends are Duke fans.  They are all huge fans of the Tarheels.  I’ve invited them all to Casa de Curmudgeon for a little camaraderie, adult beverages and a taco bar.

I’m going to whip out all my Duke Campus Crystal barware engraved with the Iron Dukes logo and a Duke chips and dip bowl and a couple of Duke serving trays, after all my quests need to be reminded whose house they’re visiting.

Drinks will be served at the bar in the kitchen and I’ll set up a buffet in the den with tortilla bowls that can be filled with shredded beef, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and their choice of hot or medium salsa, Pico de Gallo and guacamole.  There’ll be some Grilled Corn with Avocado Pico de Gallo, Mexican Rice and Dulce de Leche Brownie Bites for dessert.

Carolina looked really strong in their defeat of the Cards yesterday afternoon.  The Heels are averaging more points per game than the Cavs but their percent shooting is fairly equal.  I think the Heels pull this one out late in the game.

At 9:00 PM THE game is on.  Duke faces the Irish of Notre Dame for the third time this season.  Ordinarily my friends might seek to leave after the Carolina game, but they hate despise dislike really can’t stand that school so they will hang around to join me in cheering on the Blue Devils to victory.

The Irish are going to have to battle a tenacious little point guard in Tyus Jones.  The third Plumlee brother, Marshall, and Jahlil Okafor are going to be tough to defend so the question for tonight’s game is:   Will Duke face an explosive offense or the team that last night needed 12 minutes to get its first field goal of the second half?  After the drubbing Duke gave NC State last night, I’m betting Duke emerges the victor and plays for the ACC Championship crown tomorrow night.

GO DUKE

And since no basketball post would be complete without some pom-poms, here’s some lovely cheerleaders for you to peruse.

Basketball Heaven: ACC Quarterfinals

Retirement has it perks.  Yesterday I enjoyed the second round of games in the ACC Tournament.  I slopped up on the couch and watched the afternoon matches between Clemson and Florida State followed by North Carolina and Boston College.

I jumped in the shower after the Tarheels shellacked the Eagles, fed my little furkid and headed out to my favorite watering hole to join friends to enjoy the contest between North Carolina State and the Pitt Panthers.  I stayed through the first half of the Canes/Hokies game and then headed back to Casa de Curmudgeon and turned in for the night.

The game plan today is to watch the first two quarterfinal games and then join my posse at the same watering hole to root for my beloved Duke Blue Devils.  I’m hoping for a victory so they can advance to the semi-finals and then on to the championship game on Saturday.

ESPN will carry the 12:00 PM tipoff featuring the Virginia Cavaliers and the Florida State Seminoles.  The Cavs have one the best defensives in the country so I think FSU is going to lose this game.

At 2:30 PM Louisville is set to play the North Carolina Tarheels.  This is their first ACC Tournament since joining the conference.  I’m not sure how they’re going to react to the venue of the Greensboro Coliseum which will be filled to the rafters with fans rooting for their “home” teams.  The two teams split their regular season meetings, but I’m predicting a victory for the Heels.

My evening will be spent with friends watching the two remaining games of the quarterfinals that pit my beloved Duke Blue Devils against the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.  The Pack had a really strong game against the Pitt Panthers and they knocked the Blue Devils from the ranks of the unbeaten back in January, but Duke drew a double-bye for the tourney so they are well-rested.  This game is going to be brutal, but I think Duke is hungry to win.

The final game of the quarterfinals will see the Irish of Notre Dame go up against the Miami Hurricanes.  I can’t stand either team and could care less who wins.  Wait.  No, that’s not true.  I’m going to root for the Canes in this one.  I don’t think they can pull off the win, but that doesn’t mean I can’t root for them.

GO DUKE

And because no basketball post would be complete without some pom-poms, check out the gals of the ACC.

UPDATE 2:15 PM:  Poor FSU.  They never had a chance against the Cavs.  They threw clunker after clunker and were slow running down court to defend and wound up losing 58-44.

UPDATE 4:42 PM:  For a team that can't decide which league they want to play in, they may want to consider yet another after losing pitifully to Carolina 70-60.  'Ol googly-eyed Rick Pitino told his players not to foul with 21 seconds left in the game.  Now the Tarheels face Virginia tomorrow in the semi-finals.

FINAL UPDATE:  I couldn't contain my joy watching the Blue Devils manhandle the Wolfpack.  The final score was 77-53.  NC State fell behind by double digits early in the first half and never had a chance at recovering.  Notre Dame barely escaped against the Canes.  They ran hot and cold but managed to win 70-63.  

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.