Duke Blues

I've often been questioned as to my fan-dom of the Duke University Basketball team. Coming from a UNC satellite school, popular belief assigns me to be a fan of the Heels. Besides, many argue, the Tarheels are winning now, while Duke's been rebuilding for the past two years.

Coach K runs a team oriented basketball program while UNC rewards individual genius, thus the success of Tarheels in the NBA, while Dukies become excellent role players. I've always enjoyed the team aspect of any Tarheel team, though it is a bit disconcerting seeing so many three-balls jacked up in any situation. How many ill-advised long range shots have been launched by Blue Devils?

Additionally, I've always enjoyed liking the less favored team in any region that I've lived. While living in Washington, I liked baiting Husky fans by cheering for WSU. During my Miami spell, I was a die-hard Seminoles fans to draw the ire of Hurricane fans; living in Kendall, right in the heart of Dade County, there were alot of Hurricanes razzing my Noles cap. The love of the underdog lead to some great vicarious victories: the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks victory in the face of a lab filled with friends who extolled the virtue of all things Yankees, cheering on little Mark Lemke while most of my friends thought Dave Justice was the neatest thing since pocket pitas, and going crazy go nuts for underappreciated players such as Dwight Howard, Bart Scott, and any Los Angelos Dodger.

Yet for all of this bragging of my love of underdogs, I think I'm sick of the 2007 iteration of the Blue Devils. After a second straight ACC loss, dragging their record to 0-2 in conference play and 13-3 overall, the Dukies are probably out of the top 15 in the nation. They shot 20% from behind the arc (4 of 20), while getting out rebounded 23-32. I'm tired of the big men being outmatched in the paint, and the inability to drive the lane. I'm sick of having a great turnover margin (28 vs. 17) yet being held under 70 points in 8 of their 16 games.

All this while the Heels are going absolutely insane, who yet again have an amazing freshman class and another great white hope in Tyler Hansbrough just out wanting victories. Where are those guys on the Duke roster? The great thing about previous incarnations of Cameron Champions was that there were leaders who just out-willed their opponents. Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, J.J. Reddick, Danny Ferry, Johnny Dawkins, Elton Brand, and Jason Williams were insatiable in their desire to win. Compare to the less than hallowed current team, and there's a reason why there's a glum feeling in Durham.

Now I'm not writing off the Devils. I'm not jumping on the Heels bandwagon. I'm just feeling a bit let down about losing to Georgia Tech.

Well, at least I've got the Ravens to cheer for this weekend. That is all.