Perspective

[SoCalDukeFan]

Lets understand a few things.

Just as no UCLA fan should not fire a coach because he can not repeat Wooden's run from 1963 until his retirement, we can not expect K to have us in the FF every year as he almost did from 86 - 94.

We have a very good team. We do not have a GREAT team. If we don't play our best against very good teams then we lose. We don't play our best on the road. We have some issues that can be exploited.

Seth Davis projects that 1 uno ONE Pac 10 team will make the NCAA Tournament. UNC is in the discussion of teams that might not be in. We are not in that discussion.

I think there is a frustration because for the last several years we have played great in November/December and not so great in late January/February/March. I have the same frustration. I would bet that K does also.

The world will still be spinning on its axis tomorrow. Coach K and staff will be trying to figure out how to win the ACC, the ACC tournament, and the NCAA tournament.

There are no GREAT teams in college BB this year. A very good team will win it all.

SoCal

[Coballs]

SoCalDukeFan-
Nice post brotha! I agree with every thing you said. But the question still remains as to how Duke becomes the best of what's around and returns to it's once familiar place at top of college basketball...or at least in a position to win the NCAA tourney.

[ChrisP]

Look I was as upset as anyone about the G'Town game. I was SO pi**ed during the game and for about 30 minutes afterward. But then, I saw something on TV that really made me think about what's important in life and...well...I got over it. The fortunes of the Duke b-ball team used to determine my mood for DAYS. I still cheer like mad and go crazy at every horrible call from the refs, but when the final buzzer sounds, I'm over it.

If you really want perspective, think about all the truly BAD things that happen in the world and you'll get over a loss like this one real quick, I promise.

[brevity]

Tyler Durden: It could be worse. A woman could cut off your ----- while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car.
Narrator: There's always that.

I guess I understand the need for a post/thread like this, but "Here's a little perspective" comes across as "You're being silly for taking a game so seriously" or "You're not entitled to be angry."

For the record, I don't think a Duke loss has seriously bothered me since LSU in March 2006. (Well, maybe it was a few weeks later, when the women lost in their title game to Maryland. That was exciting, then agonizing.) So I'm not really the target audience for a "stay calm" mantra.

When Duke loses a game, I take some perverse solace in a quick read of DBR. I note the collective head explosion of its members, which are among the best behaved in all of sports fandom, and I feel a little better.

So my advice, which you are free to ignore: be angry, if that's how you feel. Keep it clean (as I did with Fight Club above), but not necessarily positive. There's nothing inherently wrong with expressing gloom-and-doom. If Duke's season ends for exactly the reasons you predicted, then congratulations on your analysis. If Duke proves you wrong, then be happy to be wrong. Probably better to do that than bottle it in just because someone else throws out a guilt-based preemptive strike.

Oh, and enough with the phrase "Next play." It makes sense in a locker room setting, but in a fan forum it sounds dismissive and grates on one's nerves.

[DST Fan]

The world will still be spinning on its axis tomorrow.

SoCal

Perhaps not. The Duke women's swim team beat Clemson 158-142 yesterday afternoon. Clemson was leading the series 17-0 before yesterday's meet.

Both the men's and women's swim teams are continuing their climb in the ACC ranks despite the fact that the men's team has no funding and the women's team has very limited funding.

[House G]

I agree that there are no great teams in college basketball this year. I believe that it will be difficult to field a great team in these times and that North Carolina's team from last year and Kentucky's team this year are exceptions, although the jury is still out on the 'cats. Obviously, the recruitment of NBA talent like John Wall is a mixed blessing. Are you more apt to win an NC with great players who are freshmen and sophomores or less-talented players who are upper classmen who have played together for several years. Like it or not, this is one of the attractions of college basketball for me. Smaller schools or schools with less-talented players can be competitive in a given year (unlike college football). Schools like Duke will have the edge, but will have ups and downs because freshmen and sophomores will likely play significant roles.

[ReformedAggie]

If our guys leave the court saying they gave their best effort that's all we can ask and it's still a victory. Not that it didn't just SUCK losing with el predidente in the front row, this is about perspective. Now excuse me, I have to go repair the pillow I tore to pieces during the first half of the game.