PDA

View Full Version : Duke in the media after last night



somf4eva
02-05-2009, 08:00 PM
I dont post much, mostly because I love to read everyone's comments and im not that good at spitting out stats, but there has been something that really is getting at me today.

This afternoon on PTI and Around the Horn, the Duke/Clemson game was discussed.

Just now on ESPN, the duke loss was referred to as a thumping, but the Wake Forest loss was just a loss.

Why is this? Duke lost to Clemson who was a ranked team at #10. Miami was unranked and beat WF by the same amount.

What gives? Am I missing something?

sagegrouse
02-05-2009, 08:13 PM
I dont post much, mostly because I love to read everyone's comments and im not that good at spitting out stats, but there has been something that really is getting at me today.

This afternoon on PTI and Around the Horn, the Duke/Clemson game was discussed.

Just now on ESPN, the duke loss was referred to as a thumping, but the Wake Forest loss was just a loss.

Why is this? Duke lost to Clemson who was a ranked team at #10. Miami was unranked and beat WF by the same amount.

What gives? Am I missing something?

A Duke loss always ranks higher on the Richter Scale than a (who?) Wake Forest loss. From this year back to 1997, when Duncan and Childress graduated, Wake has been mediocre.

How long has it been since Duke lost a game this badly? Against UCLA on National TV in the annus horribilis of 1995? Against UNC in 1998 (Duke's only conference loss)? This is a "man bites dog" story.

Take it as a compliment.


sagegrouse

rockymtn devil
02-05-2009, 08:22 PM
A Duke loss always ranks higher on the Richter Scale than a (who?) Wake Forest loss. From this year back to 1997, when Duncan and Childress graduated, Wake has been mediocre.

How long has it been since Duke lost a game this badly? Against UCLA on National TV in the annus horribilis of 1995? Against UNC in 1998 (Duke's only conference loss)? This is a "man bites dog" story.

Take it as a compliment.


sagegrouse

My thoughts exactly. I'll worry if a Duke loss is just viewed as a loss. Until then, I know we must be doing something right.

somf4eva
02-05-2009, 08:24 PM
i didnt mean disrespect, it was just something i noticed that got at me.

chrisheery
02-05-2009, 09:52 PM
i didnt mean disrespect, it was just something i noticed that got at me.

well, if it makes you feel better, it bothers me too. i know it is a compliment, but i hate how much scrutiny our guys have to take after a bad loss when EVERY other team in the nation is treated like a loss is just a loss. in fact, the recaps of the carolina losses I read all made it seem like the author was trying to come up with explanations how might carolina could have possibly lost.

its annoying to me. mostly because espn always wants to bite the hand that feeds it. duke is its meal ticket for college hoops, you would think they could be complimentary every now and then.

apologies for lack of capitalization, i just can't make it to the shift key except in emergencies.

dukegirlinsc
02-06-2009, 02:54 AM
Is everyone seriously not used to the Duke media lashing and bashing? It's been going on as long as I can remember, and I look at it is one of those things that's "just gonna happen". There aren't many middle-of-the-fence Duke fans, you either love 'em, or hate 'em, and for the most part, they're hated. People enjoy watching them fail. (As I love watching the Yankees and Cowboys fail, for example.) ESPN is going to report what people like to see. It comes with the territory of being a Duke fan. Whether it's negative or positive exposure, it's going to happen.

RelativeWays
02-06-2009, 08:27 AM
I'm pretty sure Wake was ranked number 1 in 2004 when they had Chris Paul. In fact, the last season I can remember that Wake did not make the NCAA tourney was Skip Prosser's last year. They're not our level or UNC's (and it angers Wake fans to no end) but they're not mediocre either. They been one of the consistently better ACC teams since 92.

alteran
02-06-2009, 09:42 AM
Is everyone seriously not used to the Duke media lashing and bashing? It's been going on as long as I can remember, and I look at it is one of those things that's "just gonna happen". There aren't many middle-of-the-fence Duke fans, you either love 'em, or hate 'em, and for the most part, they're hated. People enjoy watching them fail. (As I love watching the Yankees and Cowboys fail, for example.) ESPN is going to report what people like to see. It comes with the territory of being a Duke fan. Whether it's negative or positive exposure, it's going to happen.

Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that if I (and others) could let it go, we'd be happier.

Likewise, if I could eat less and exercise more, I'd be skinny and live longer.

In both cases, doing it ain't as easy as saying it. And if we can't blow off a little steam about the moronic stuff we have to hear all the time here, where can we blow it off? :D

Tom B.
02-06-2009, 10:37 AM
How long has it been since Duke lost a game this badly? Against UCLA on National TV in the annus horribilis of 1995? Against UNC in 1998 (Duke's only conference loss)? This is a "man bites dog" story.


Duke actually hasn't lost a game this badly since the 103-73 loss to UNLV in the 1990 National Championship game. All the other bad losses since then were by smaller margins than the 27-point loss to Clemson Wednesday night:

1991 ACC Tournament Championship vs. UNC -- 22 points (96-74)
1995 at UCLA -- 23 points (100-73)
1998 at UNC -- 24 points (97-73)

Incidentally, that 1998 loss at UNC was not only Duke's sole conference loss that season, it was Duke's last conference loss for the next two years -- Duke didn't lose again in ACC play until a 98-87 loss to Maryland in Cameron in February of 2000. It was also Duke's last ACC road loss for three full seasons. Talk about a record that may never be broken -- Duke rolled off an amazing 24 straight ACC road wins after that 1998 loss in Chapel Hill, before losing at Virginia on a last-second shot on Valentine's Day of 2001.

Nugget
02-06-2009, 02:13 PM
Besides the final score, that was the first game I can remember in at least 20years under Coach K where the team simply seemed to fall apart in all categories -- didn't fight, didn't play smart, got rattled/lost all composure, and essentially capitulated to take the beating.

Even the few games Tom noted with large margins of defeat (or another one that looked like a blowout in terms of final score, the 18 loss at Maryland in 2002,, which was an 8-12 point game until the last few minutes) were not quite like this in my book.

The 24 point loss to UNC in 1998 was a deceptively large margin as, in a game without Elton Brand, and against an absolute juggernaut Carolina team, Duke cut a 20 point margin to 4 with 5 minutes to go. The Heels blew us out at the end, but it was a very competitive game.

The 1995 UCLA loss was at the end of the Coach K absence Bataan death march, against a #1 UCLA with a team that had been destroyed already by all of the close ACC losses.

And the UNLV national championship game was, like the Carolina game in 98, against an opponent who was just better. We played hard and reasonably well against Vegas (obviously, freshman PG Hurley struggled), but were simply outclassed. Even then, it was a 15 point game until the last few minutes when Vegas ran a layup drill on us.

Last night was noteworthy because it highlighted just how great a job Coach K and Duke players have done for the last 25 years -- nearly 1,000 straight games of coming to play -- both hard and smart -- EVERY night, which makes it big news when things go so badly wrong as they did at Clemson.

weezie
02-06-2009, 04:47 PM
I agree, it's hard, but when you're wearing a Duke uniform, or even just a Duke tshirt or hat, or dark blue face paint, it doesn't do any good to complain. We're tougher and we're better than that.

-bdbd
02-06-2009, 08:30 PM
As far as ESPN "biting the hand that feeds it," it has been discussed in many DBR threads in recent years that there is a wide gap between the ESPN business side (that books Duke for a couple dozen games a season, places/advertises prominently for many of those, uses Duke pics in much of its promo ads, etc.) versus the NEWS department that is so clearly anti-Duke and very heavily influenced by many anchors (and staffers) from UNC, MD and UCONN.

As soon as I saw SportsCenter come on Wed. night, and saw that our ole pal Stu Scott was anchoring, I was like, "Brace for Impact! Here it comes..." He certainly didn't disappoint, headlining the Duke loss at #10 Clemson, while burying the Wake loss most of he way through the broadcast. After all, this was one of the most prominent "yellow journalists" during the LAX "scandal." I expect no better now. And unfortunately ESPN, coming first, seems to set the tone for subsequent reporting/discussion.:p

Ho-hum. Best advice - get used to it (and try not to get worked up about it)

-BDBD

SupaDave
02-06-2009, 08:48 PM
As far as ESPN "biting the hand that feeds it," it has been discussed in many DBR threads in recent years that there is a wide gap between the ESPN business side (that books Duke for a couple dozen games a season, places/advertises prominently for many of those, uses Duke pics in much of its promo ads, etc.) versus the NEWS department that is so clearly anti-Duke and very heavily influenced by many anchors (and staffers) from UNC, MD and UCONN.

As soon as I saw SportsCenter come on Wed. night, and saw that our ole pal Stu Scott was anchoring, I was like, "Brace for Impact! Here it comes..." He certainly didn't disappoint, headlining the Duke loss at #10 Clemson, while burying the Wake loss most of he way through the broadcast.


The Facts:

-You tuned into Sportscenter anyway - noones forcing you.
-Did you want to see the Wake highlights first or the Duke highlights? Hmmmm...
-Wake Forest is still trying to make Teague a star. Duke has THREE very recognizable players in Singler, Paulus, and Henderson.
-When WE thump someone, they sound pretty pro-Duke to me... And that's quite often.
-Gerald has made the top 10 how MANY times this year? What about James Johnson? Oh yeah - he was playing Duke the last time he showed up there...
-ESPN broadcasters visit the DBR. They value our opinions more than you think.
-Duke is an identifiable entity with a equally recognizable jugganot rival - if ESPN wont do it, CBS will...
-Duke gets PLENTY of good press in the medical community - you probably just aren't reading that.
-Lastly, and this is more subtle and ridiculous but the truth is, it's a whole lot easier to demonize a team known as the "Devils" than the "Deacons" or the "Tarheels".

Oh - and relax. The only press that matters is that "W" in the box score...

HoopsFan
02-06-2009, 08:57 PM
As far as ESPN "biting the hand that feeds it," it has been discussed in many DBR threads in recent years that there is a wide gap between the ESPN business side (that books Duke for a couple dozen games a season, places/advertises prominently for many of those, uses Duke pics in much of its promo ads, etc.) versus the NEWS department that is so clearly anti-Duke and very heavily influenced by many anchors (and staffers) from UNC, MD and UCONN.

As soon as I saw SportsCenter come on Wed. night, and saw that our ole pal Stu Scott was anchoring, I was like, "Brace for Impact! Here it comes..." He certainly didn't disappoint, headlining the Duke loss at #10 Clemson, while burying the Wake loss most of he way through the broadcast. After all, this was one of the most prominent "yellow journalists" during the LAX "scandal." I expect no better now. And unfortunately ESPN, coming first, seems to set the tone for subsequent reporting/discussion.:p

Ho-hum. Best advice - get used to it (and try not to get worked up about it)

-BDBD

WE know Stuart Scott is from UNC, who are the other "many anchors" from MD and UConn that you're referencing?

DevilCastDownfromDurham
02-06-2009, 09:31 PM
WE know Stuart Scott is from UNC, who are the other "many anchors" from MD and UConn that you're referencing?

Van Pelt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Van_Pelt) , who I actually think is great and fairly unbiased (unlike Boo-Ya) is an outspoken Maryland grad and the ESPN headquarters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN) are located in Bristol, Connecticut.

I was interested to see that Barry Jacobs has a new article (http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_basketball/blogpost/4486011/) out regarding Duke. He hits (and seems to support) a lot of the concerns that fans here and elsewhere have voiced. A few excerpts:


The lingering question is simply whether the current Blue Devils sufficiently differ from their most immediate predecessors to escape a similar fate.


The Devils’ big men have been erratic, sometimes from game to game and sometimes within the same outing. Duke has been outrebounded in three of its last seven games, and enjoys no edge on the boards against ACC opponents.

Most notably, he seems to buy the notion that Kyle is getting worn out, an idea that is usually laughed off (or worse) here.


This weakness has yielded a problematic repeat of the strategic compromise Krzyzewski made last year: Singler is increasingly deployed inside, where the 6-8 sophomore is again showing signs of wearing down.
...
Singler’s outside shooting is also suffering, perhaps signifying tired legs. He’s made 9 of 32 from 3-point range since visiting Georgia Tech, 28.1 percent accuracy. The last time he made a three was with 5:24 remaining as Duke mounted its futile rally at Wake Forest.

I have no idea how the season will turn out or if Kyle is wearing down. But I do know that Jacobs is one of the most knowledgeable followers of ACC basketball out there. If he thinks these things have some merit, I'm inclined to listen.

sivartrenrag
02-06-2009, 10:07 PM
I think it's pretty clear that Singler is getting worn out because he's playing bigger than he should be. We need the big boys to step up - I think we'll see a lot from Thomas in the coming games. I have this feeling that he's ready to show us what he's got. I expect Plumlee to have some quality minutes, too.

But on topic - I love the hatred. It's what makes being a Duke fan fun.