Since the past is so relevant to this season!!!! Yay past! Hooray for players who are no longer on the team mattering!!

Thank gd that's settled then.

reclegend22;658552 wrote:
If that is the case, you should be taken into custody.

Probably...no...yes.

swamisez;658343 wrote:Awesome slingshot thinks I am unintelligent about my team. Now I can sleep at night

Also let's have a duke football bashing thread, see if any of you can come up with something we haven't heard before.

Hard to find Duke basketball fans who are actually Duke football fans.

Duke has zero wins against ranked teams, and has 2 losses to unranked teams.

They won't even make sweet 16.

Writerbuckeye;658568 wrote:Hard to find Duke basketball fans who are actually Duke football fans.

There are a few of us, just enough to keep attendance at a rate where we keep D1 status.
Coach Cutcliffe has things going in the right direction. I wish Academic Standards weren't as they are, but it is reality, and it sucks that they don't lower them a bit to bring in enough talent on the football field.

This year's freshman class has 1,700 spots. There were 30,000 applications submitted. Of that 1,700 I hope each year for 5 good linemen. Most years they are lucky to get 1.

Side note, with this year's victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State is now just one win behind the number of bowl wins Duke has against the SEC.

sleeper;658608 wrote:Duke has zero wins against ranked teams, and has 2 losses to unranked teams.

They won't even make sweet 16.

I'd say Duke will slide down to about #10 or so with this loss. The only thing saving them is that many others in the top 25 lost this weekend as well. I mean, they give up 93 pts to 11-8 St Johns - are you serious? Early in the season they picked up wins over Kansas State and Michigan State - both of whom were ranked at the time they played but is now obvious in both cases those rankings were inflated. So, in essence, no wins against teams CURRENTLY in the top 25. You are probably spot on with your prediction of no Sweet 16 for Duke this year unless Irving makes a miraculous comeback.

Not as bad as say Va Tech losing to James Madison

swamisez;658618 wrote:There are a few of us, just enough to keep attendance at a rate where we keep D1 status.
Coach Cutcliffe has things going in the right direction. I wish Academic Standards weren't as they are, but it is reality, and it sucks that they don't lower them a bit to bring in enough talent on the football field.

This year's freshman class has 1,700 spots. There were 30,000 applications submitted. Of that 1,700 I hope each year for 5 good linemen. Most years they are lucky to get 1.

Side note, with this year's victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State is now just one win behind the number of bowl wins Duke has against the SEC.

You forgot to mention they haven't won one of those two games in 50 years.

Please don't cry the "academic standards" stuff. ALL schools make exceptions for athletes. All of them. If they didn't, Duke wouldn't have the basketball history it has. Your school has no history, is small, and is located in a state that doesn't produce that many D-1 prospects for football (it's a basketball state). THAT is most likely why there's been no great coach and no success through the years.

Calling a prediction of no Sweet 16 this season for Duke "spot on" is incredibly ridiculous. Of course Duke could be beaten before that round of the tournament, but, with the talent and experience on the Blue Devils' roster, it isn't a "you can book it" kind of scenario.

Without Kyrie Irving, this Duke team certainly isn't the same. That is more obvious than the ending of Titanic. However, as a Duke backer, I am supremely and, a lot of the time, blindingly confident in Coach K's methods and his proficiency as a strategist. As he has time and again, I believe he will develop the right answer for this team and ensure that it maximizes our players' abilities and gives them the best chance to reach their peak success. That peak success may not mean a national championship, or even a trip to the Sweet 16. Maybe it does mean a second round loss to Northern Iowa or to Weber State (unless we re-enter the 1999 Tournament field, the latter actually seems highly unlikely). The NCAAs are entirely about match-ups. That's what tournaments are, events predicated on "playing the games" and thinning out the competition until a worthy winner has been determined. But to assuredly bet against any kind of run from this year's Duke in March is foolish.

Duke's national title winner from a season ago trailed both Georgetown and a painfully mediocre North Carolina State team by more than 25 points in two embarrassing Blue Devil losses in 2010. Then the emergence of Brian Zoubek happened. Things, things that no one would ever suspect, can happen, and change the course of a season. Whether that change derives from a coaching strategy, a player breaking out, a slumping star born again, a lucky break or whatever.

I'd say Duke will slide down to about #10 or so with this loss.

Not a chance.the dukies always get the benefit of the doubt. duke will be ranked 6 or 7.

I'd say Duke will slide down to about #10 or so with this loss.

Not a chance.the dukies always get the benefit of the doubt. duke will be ranked 6 or 7.

I'd say 5 at the lowest.

With as many ranked teams losing this weekend the standings won't change too drastically... but the teams who won should be moving up quite a bit.

Is Syracuse still ranked after the last four L's?

What this loss should do is eliminate duke from the #1 seed consideration. Where will the quality wins come from? Couple that with losses to two mediocre teams, one a blowout, and the resume doesn't warrant a #1 seed.

I agree with rec. duke is still capable of winning the National Championship and to say otherwise is foolish.

Fly4Fun;658861 wrote:With as many ranked teams losing this weekend the standings won't change too drastically... but the teams who won should be moving up quite a bit.

Is Syracuse still ranked after the last four L's?

They're not falling out of the top 25 this week. 10th to unranked? Doubtful.

Prescott;658874 wrote:I agree with rec. duke is still capable of winning the National Championship and to say otherwise is foolish.

Agree. But if they shoot the 3 as they did against St. Johns, they could easily get beat in the second around as well. They live and die from long range.

Where would Duke be if they were in the BE this year? Id say around 4th.

Writerbuckeye;658697 wrote:Please don't cry the "academic standards" stuff. ALL schools make exceptions for athletes. All of them. If they didn't, Duke wouldn't have the basketball history it has.

It is much easier to convince administration to take a flyer on a single player like Sean Dockery or Danny Ferry than it is to get them to take a flyer on 15 to improve your football team.

you can't throw the academic measuring stick out the window, it is a reality that every coach and player at Duke must come to terms with.

Also, I would like to think Coach K has won quite a few games with quality players and people, not simply by accepting players with poor academic and social records. The number of fine students athletes he has brought in far surpasses the number of players the media and other fanbases believe have questionable academic standing.

As far as North Carolina not producing good football talent, I think that is a bit of a stretch to say. Given the size of the state, NC has faired very well in its football products. What hampers Duke is the fact, Wake, State, Carolina, and even App anymore get quality football players. From that list the only school with similar academic standards for frosh is Wake, and its is not a coincidence that their football program has been historically disappointing as well. Football is a numbers game, and when your numbers are subjected to scrutiny by academic elites (Nan Keohane, Richard Broadhead) your take from those recruited is quite small.

wildcats20;658837 wrote:I'd say 5 at the lowest.

I am betting they fall to 7

Also, I would like to think Coach K has won quite a few games with quality players and people, not simply by accepting players with poor academic and social records. The number of fine students athletes he has brought in far surpasses the number of players the media and other fanbases believe have questionable academic standing.

Most coaches have won with quality people and quality players.

Coach K gets exceptions, just like any other coach. Dockery isn't the only one and he won't be the last.

I'd say 5 at the lowest.

I am betting they fall to 7

5th in both.

2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - Week 13 (Jan. 31)

AP

1 Ohio State (65) 22-0 1,625
2 Kansas 20-1 1,519
3 Texas 18-3 1,500
4 Pittsburgh 20-2 1,433
5 Duke 19-2 1,284
6 Connecticut 17-3 1,275
7 San Diego State 21-1 1,218
8 Brigham Young 20-2 1,159
9 Notre Dame 17-4 1,116
10 Kentucky 16-4 1,037
11 Purdue 18-4 922
12 Villanova 17-4 860
13 Georgetown 16-5 806
14 Missouri 17-4 790
15 Louisville 17-4 740
16 Texas A&M 17-3 660
17 Syracuse 18-4 598
18 Minnesota 16-5 487
19 Wisconsin 15-5 387
20 Washington 15-5 384
21 Arizona 18-4 358
22 Utah State 20-2 176
23 Vanderbilt 15-5 124
23 North Carolina 15-5 124
25 West Virginia 14-6 1

ESPN/USA Today

1 Ohio State (31) 22-0 775
2 Kansas 20-1 732
3 Texas 18-3 710
4 Pittsburgh 20-2 675
5 Duke 19-2 623
6 San Diego State 21-1 592
7 Connecticut 17-3 587
8 Notre Dame 17-4 535
9 Brigham Young 20-2 522
10 Purdue 18-4 478
11 Kentucky 16-4 453
12 Villanova 17-4 416
13 Louisville 17-4 403
14 Georgetown 16-5 365
15 Missouri 17-4 358
16 Texas A&M 17-3 334
17 Syracuse 18-4 239
18 Wisconsin 15-5 220
19 Washington 15-5 190
20 Minnesota 16-5 186
21 Utah State 20-2 178
22 Arizona 18-4 161
23 Florida 16-5 51
24 Illinois 14-7 45
24 Vanderbilt

KU up to #2, nice.

killer_ewok;658933 wrote:They're not falling out of the top 25 this week. 10th to unranked? Doubtful.

Yeah, when you consider it took until this week for Michigan State to finally drop out of both polls, Syracuse still has some time before they're completely out. Another bad week for them and it's very possible.

I would have guessed Michigan State would have stayed in the polls after they beat Indiana last night.

Duke only falling to 5th after get pasted is laughable.