As the NCAA Tournament moves on without the Duke Blue Devils, many sports personalities (and Colin Cowherd in particular) are taking shots at the Duke Basketball program and Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Okay you caught me, I'm a Duke fan.
But I'm the most objective fan around. If the Blue Devils have a bad game, I voice that. I have written many times about how the program isn't as good this year as their ranking.
That said, I think people need to lay off Duke just a little bit. Most fans don't realize just how hard it is to win every year.
When Coach K. has an off year, everyone is saying he's lost it. Just to let you know, it took Dean Smith—arguably the greatest coach of all time—21 years to win a national title. It took Coach K. only 16 years to win his.
What about John Wooden? It took the legendary UCLA head coach 18 years to win his first title.
Granted, he won 10 titles. But in those days there was no conference tournament for them to play, so they were an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Just listen to Coach K.'s stats: three national championships, 10 final fours in the last 22 years, 10 ACC titles, a record 68 NCAA tournament wins, averages 25 wins per season, a record nine 30 win seasons, and 61 of his 65 four year players have played in the final four.
There's more. Coach K. will pass Bobby Knight in four years (barring Knight's coming out of retirement) as the all time winningest head coach in NCAA history. What more do you want from the guy?
While Coach K. has had a few off seasons, all-in-all he's amassed some notable statistics. Fans also argue that Coach K. can't recruit the best players any longer. Perhaps his recruits have been questionable in these last few years, but he has had a limited pool of players from which to choose.
Aside from the fact that he can pick from the top 50 players in the country, he then has to narrow that down to the kids that can actually get into the school.
He doesn't have the luxury that say John Calipari has, by recruiting guys that have no shot at getting into Duke. Then he tries to slim the list down even further to kids that will stay in school a few years. It's a tough job.
If you look at the numbers, the Blue Devils are the most successful team in the last 20 years.
9 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
this says it all
http://www.ryanparkersongs.com/
Edit Comment Cancel
Jordan Alexander about 1 year ago
Last 20 years is one thing, but sports are all about winning now, especially when you're Duke. The Devils haven't gotten out of the Sweet 16 since 2004, which is unacceptable. In the past 10 seasons, Michigan State is probably the best team (4 final 4s, 5 Elite 8s and a national title from 1999-07).
Edit Comment Cancel
Mihir Gandhi about 1 year ago
Really Jordan? Michigan State? Since 2001, MSU has lost in the FIRST ROUND three times (NC State in 2002, Nevada in 2004, George Mason in 2006) and in the second round once (2007 to UNC). In fact, they haven't been ranked above a 5 seed since their 2001 run to the Final Four. The only school that was in competition with Duke was UConn...until they failed to make the tourney last year (shocking that there was no press...imagine if Duke didn't make the tourney!) and Carolina (except that they missed the tourney two years in a row). The fact of the matter is that Duke is still the preeminent program in the country...though they are now merely a very good program instead of a great program.
Edit Comment Cancel
Anonymous about 1 year ago
Really Jordan? Michigan State? Since 2001, MSU has lost in the FIRST ROUND three times (NC State in 2002, Nevada in 2004, George Mason in 2006) and in the second round once (2007 to UNC). In fact, they haven't been ranked above a 5 seed since their 2001 run to the Final Four. The only school that was in competition with Duke was UConn...until they failed to make the tourney last year (shocking that there was no press...imagine if Duke didn't make the tourney!) and Carolina (except that they missed the tourney two years in a row). The fact of the matter is that Duke is still the preeminent program in the country...though they are now merely a very good program instead of a great program.
Edit Comment Cancel
Mihir Gandhi about 1 year ago
Really Jordan? Michigan State? Since 2001, MSU has lost in the FIRST ROUND three times (NC State in 2002, Nevada in 2004, George Mason in 2006) and in the second round once (2007 to UNC). In fact, they haven't been ranked above a 5 seed since their 2001 run to the Final Four. The only school that was in competition with Duke was UConn...until they failed to make the tourney last year (shocking that there was no press...imagine if Duke didn't make the tourney!) and Carolina (except that they missed the tourney two years in a row). The fact of the matter is that Duke is still the preeminent program in the country...though they are now merely a very good program instead of a great program.
Edit Comment Cancel
Mihir Gandhi about 1 year ago
sorry for the triple post - my computer is literally crazy.
Edit Comment Cancel
Jordan Alexander about 1 year ago
Fine, they didnt get above a 5-seed. They still made the elite 8 in 2003 and the final 4 in 2005 which is a lot more than Duke can say during that span. I realize State has had a few first round exits. State also isn't held up to the same standards as Duke. Yes, since 1999, MSU has by far been the most consistent team in the country, with UConn being its closest rival.
Edit Comment Cancel
Jordan Alexander about 1 year ago
Duke is clearly still good, but 4 straight years without getting past the sweet 16 isn't getting it done
Edit Comment Cancel
Marcus Hagness about 1 year ago
It's not the fact that they haven't made it past the sweet 16 it's the teams that eliminate them. West Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Louisiana State the last couple seasons. They have had "gimmie" wins and just messed around and not taken care of business. Duke's problem this year was they relied so heavily on the 3-point shot that if it wasn't falling for them they didn't have anything. Zoubek is complete garbage and Singler can't handle the pressure of being the man inside at his size. Duke needs to get big men if they want to have a chance, these guards who can light up the three look good on the nights their shot is there but every team has off shooting nights.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.