Originally Posted by
dukestheheat
So, I was at the game today and had tickets given to me by a fat cat last week; sat up a couple rows almost directly behind the State bench. Folks, that arena was HOSTILE towards our guys today and also the game was extremely physical. Duke is very, very fortunate to come back, down by at least 13 points deep into that second half, and win it. The team was elated to get this win!
Couple points:
1) Paulus was completely decked by their PG and it looked like a very bad play from what I could see. I saw it all unfold very clearly. What got me was the reaction of the fans! All were calling for Paulus's head to be chopped off and many around me were laughing at him as he lay on the floor, bleeding. I was astounded. Grown men and grown women were up and shouting expletive deleteds at Paulus!!! This was out of control and it shows how crazy many people have gotten at college basketball games the last couple years. The play was thug life at its best, Paulus was very clearly injured, badly, and many grown fans (these were not State students where I was sitting) were completely out of control with their emotions towards Duke and in particular, Paulus, today.
2) Good chats with Taylor King and also Kyle Singler today afterwards; King was business-like and we talked about how well State shot the ball today, and he was obviously well aware of the stats. I said State shot out the lights and I think they hit about 57% and he said well actually it was 54% and yeah they were lights out. Singler is a portrait. His face is scarred from all his injuries this year and he looks like a dude right out of the Friday the 13th horror movies or something like that. I told him we'd nicknamed him 'Iron Man' on the DBR and he really loved that! I took the chance to thank him for representing Duke so well and he appreciated it. He grinned the whole time we chatted and he gives you that impression that he just knows something you don't know!
3) Paulus looked totally haggard after the game and he just limped onto our bus and didn't say a word! He waved over at me and that was it. He just looked totally drained. I was so proud of him to SHUT UP THAT CROWD today with dagger after dagger. The same stupid woman who was deriding him when he was on the floor shook her head and said 'well, he plays hard and he can shoot, I gotta give it to him'.
Anyways, we needed this win and this comeback, and for Duke to hang in there and overcome all that adversity and win it, it says a lot for the team.
dth.