Monday, March 15, 2010

One thing that Cards and Cats fans agree on: We Hate Duke


I could write a book on reasons to hate Duke. They range from The Shot by Christian Laetner, the chest stomp by Christian Laetner, Jay Bilas being a prick to Louisville because the Cards beat his Dukies in 1986 for the national championship, Dick Vitale's disgusting love affair with them, the bias at ESPN, Bob Knight's disgusting love affair with them, and so on and so on...

The latest Duke transgression comes by way of the NCAA selection committee. Duke (29-5) has the least impressive resume out of the four #1 seeds, the most losses out of the #1 seeds, the least impressive losses out of the #1 seeds and two of their losses came at the hands of two teams that Syracuse has already beaten. But this matters not. Duke has, by far, the easiest road to the Final Four. How so? Let's take a look:

Kansas: Midwest
Second Round Match-up- UNLV (25-8) or Northern Iowa (28-4)

#2 Seed- The hot, hot, hot Ohio State. Not to mention, Big 10 regular season and tournament champions.

#3 Seed-Big East Runners-up Georgetown

Tennessee-Already beat the Jayhawks

Sleeper- Michigan State. The Spartans really aren't a sleeper but they are a #5 and nobody, and I mean nobody wants to see Tom Izzo in the Tournament. Ask Rick Pitino.


Syracuse: West
Second Round Match-up- Gonzaga (26-6) or Florida State (22-9)

#2 Seed-Kansas State. Played in the Big 12 championship (L to KU) and finished second only to KU in the regular season.

#3 Seed- Pittsburgh. An extremely tough team out of the Big East

Sleeper- The bracket has a few but I am going with Butler. Butler owns the nations longest win streak and will be a tough out.



Kentucky: East
Second Round Match-up- Texas (24-9) or Wake Forrest (19-10) Texas was #1 during the season and lost games to very tough opponents. The toughest 8 seed in the bracket.

#2 Seed- Big East Tournament Champs West Virginia. This team, in my opinion, deserved the #1 seed over Duke.

#3 Seed- New Mexico- Steve Alford's bunch are 29-4 but I am not too impressed. I am more concerned with the #4 seeded Wisconsin.

Sleeper- They have two: Marquette and Temple. Both teams are good, both teams are fast, both teams are well coached and are capable of big runs.


Duke: South
Second Round Match-up- Louisville (20-12) or California (23-10) Both of these teams have double-digit losses in the L category. No other team has a possible second round match-up where both teams have double digit L's.

#2 Seed- Villanova- Villanova has been fading big time as of late. They have lost 5 out of their last 7. They are the weakest out of all the 2 seeds.

#3 Seed- Baylor. Baylor is 25-7 but could never beat the Big Boys in the conference, Kansas or K State. Baylor is a decent team but the weakest #3 next to New Mexico.

Sleeper- I would say 6 seed Notre Dame, but they are very beatable. Their #4 seed is the fading Purdue and the #5 seed is Texas A&M.

This side of the bracket also boasts ODU, St. Mary's, Richmond, Utah State, Siena and other teams that were either on the bubble or just nor very good.

How does Duke nab the #3 overall #1, the play-in game (which I thought was reserved for the #1 overall), the weakest #2, one of the weakest #3 and the most bubble teams? Because the NCAA, ESPN and most college analysts loves Duke and Coach K. A lot of people watch Duke on TV either because they love them or love to hate them (like the Yankees). They always generate big buzz no matter what. They are the clean cut white boys that the NCAA wishes every team would be.
I think that I am speaking for all Louisville and Kentucky fans in saying that we all hate Duke. It will be difficult for me to cheer on Louisville, but if they advance to the second round and play Duke, they will have a die hard Cat in their corner. Now, to go take a shower after that last line.

2 comments:

  1. Jay Bilas is my least favorite person on ESPN. I hate him more than I hate Chris Berman, and that's really saying something.

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  2. I don't know if I can ever go as far as saying I hate someone more than Boomer. Just sayin'

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