Duke Sucks…Seriously

Okay, maybe they don’t out right, flat out suck. However, they are pretty terrible for Duke standards (which are about as rediculously high as Notre Dame standards, with the crucial exception that Duke unfortunately tends to back said expectaions up). After Maryland handed the Blue Devils their fourth straight loss, Duke is suddenly looking at an 18-7 record with five out of their last six opponents being either locks or bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament. It is conceivable that Dukies could wind up with a pre-ACC tourney record of 19-12 and run the risk of not being invited to the big dance, which would cause Dick Vitale to cry himself to sleep every night for about a week and a half. Not possible, you say? Well, all the way up until last year, I would have agreed with you. Even with a crappy record like 20-14 (assuming that they would split in the ACC tournament), Duke would not have worried about so much as breaking a sweat, just because they were Duke. But after the improbable run that George Mason had a year ago, a solid mid-major is much more likely to make March Madness than a run-of-the-mill ACC team would be. It’s really not that difficult to figure out why, really. What’s more exciting: Duke as a #10 seed beating a #7 seed, or a team like, say, Bradley as a #13 seed knocking off a #4 seed? Unless your name is Vitale or Billy Packer, you’d have to go with the latter scenario, wouldn’t you?

And that’s what I’m rooting for. As a college hoops fan, nothing would make me happier than to see the Dookies tank the rest of the season, miss the March Madness cut, and then snub the NIT because it’s beneath them. And you just know they would snub the NIT just for that reason. Because after all, they are Duke. And Duke sucks.