The Thrill. The Agony. The Posting

[KenTankerous]

Tonight's loss was pretty devastating for all in DBR land. I myself lost my voice last night yelling at the TV as my cats went down in flames to ND. Now the best I could have hoped for was three more wins for an NIT championship (should be NITT, Not In THE Tournament). And given the VMI and Georgia losses and missing the dance, that might have felt pretty good.

But winning doesn't feel as good as losing feels bad. I savor Kentucky's 17 point less than ten minute comeback to reach the final four in 98. But I seath when I see The Shot EVERY friggin' March. I vividly remember when Kentucky won the NC in '98. But I remember the loss to Arizona the year before, better. Who do you think got better motivation from hanging the score from the last meeting on the bulletin board, Coach K or Gary?

I'm saying, the agony of defeat > the thrill of victory.

So why do we do this? Every March there can be but one thrill. The other 64 are agony.

It's obviously not all about winning. It can't even be about meeting expectations - take it from a UofK fan, I HAD NO expectations from Billy Clyde. So what is it? What is the what of fandom that is worth all this agony of defeat?

Why do we do this?

[InSpades]

At the end of the day you have to judge your season on more than your last loss. 64 of the 65 teams in the big dance end up losing... that doesn't mean they had bad years. Don't get me wrong, tonight's loss was pretty much awful. But I'm not gonna let it taint my view of the season or this team. They won an ACC championship, they got us back to the Sweet 16... was it everything they could have accomplished? Probably not. It would have been nice to win 1 of the 2 against Carolina, maybe we could have made the Elite 8 but even that is probably pushing it.

It definitely stinks right now, but there's a lot more good than bad to this season. And of course... as always... there's always next season!

[jma4life]

For one thing, it's in many ways, quite literally a drug, in the biochemical stuff that goes in to the highs and lows. In other words, many of us are, indeed, chemically addicted to Duke basketball. But, as bad as the defeats are, at the very least, the wins are more numerous. Yea, the end of a season always sucks when it ends in defeat. But the ride is generally fun most of the time. Sure there are bad stretches, but as Duke fans, we're lucky that those aren't common. But even when they are, for a lot of people here, Duke or Duke basketball is a significant part of their lives. It's not something you just give up on because of the potential that the negatives outweigh the positives. Lotta people here have been rooting for Duke much of their lives. Not something you just stop I guess.

[Scorp4me]

I'll give Villanova credit for defense but come on. We had some open looks that just didn't fall. Normally they do...or at least they did for 30 of our games. You win some you lose some. I'm proud of this team. Sweet 16, ACC Champions, 30 win season, all with a team that is missing some parts.

As I commented tonight we went from Brand, to Boozer, to Williams to...that's kinda where it ends. I know people like to point to Duke and say you can't win it all with 3 point shooting, but when it's all you got it's all you got. Don't get me wrong, Zoubek has improved, Thomas is very opportunistic, McClure played bigger than his size, but neither really looked to score. Now next year we seem to have a plethora of choices to try out inside. Hopefully some will work. If Singler and Henderson come back, and it looks like there's a good chance, we have some in between. Heck even Thomas might move to a more natural position. I feel great about this year and excited about next.

My only concern is at the point guard position. Seems if we aren't missing one piece we're missing another. I know recruiting is a coach's job, but he's also recruiting teenage kids so it's not like he has complete control. Scheyer did great at point, can he continue? Nolan Smith started most of the season at point, did he just need a little time to adjust? Certainly other options. But no Bobby Hurley, no Jason Williams, heck not even a Greg Paulus (he did lead the ACC in assist as a freshman) coming in next year.

That being said, I definately think we look stronger next year. And I love the fight of the guys coming back from this year. As the DBR said they were definately greater than their parts. Talk about how many McD's all you want, the fact is they overachieved. But with Duke and a K coached team that's nothing unusual.

And what do you know. We even have reason to be optomistic about football this year =)

[Saratoga2]

After the disappointing loss last night, there is a need by the loyal supporters to purge and vent so they can be renewed for the 2009/2010 season. The kids gave their all, won the ACC and won 30 games, so it was a great ride. We shouldn't criticize the kids and coaches, just thank them for their all-out effort.

Perhaps it is too soon to open a thread for next season, as I notice one attempt at that was closed immediately, so I won't attempt that now. There are questions about the makeup of the team, improvement areas and possible position switches that will be interesting to discuss.

[NYC Duke Fan]

I'll give Villanova credit for defense but come on. We had some open looks that just didn't fall. Normally they do...or at least they did for 30 of our games. You win some you lose some. I'm proud of this team. Sweet 16, ACC Champions, 30 win season, all with a team that is missing some parts.

As I commented tonight we went from Brand, to Boozer, to Williams to...that's kinda where it ends. I know people like to point to Duke and say you can't win it all with 3 point shooting, but when it's all you got it's all you got. Don't get me wrong, Zoubek has improved, Thomas is very opportunistic, McClure played bigger than his size, but neither really looked to score. Now next year we seem to have a plethora of choices to try out inside. Hopefully some will work. If Singler and Henderson come back, and it looks like there's a good chance, we have some in between. Heck even Thomas might move to a more natural position. I feel great about this year and excited about next.

My only concern is at the point guard position. Seems if we aren't missing one piece we're missing another. I know recruiting is a coach's job, but he's also recruiting teenage kids so it's not like he has complete control. Scheyer did great at point, can he continue? Nolan Smith started most of the season at point, did he just need a little time to adjust? Certainly other options. But no Bobby Hurley, no Jason Williams, heck not even a Greg Paulus (he did lead the ACC in assist as a freshman) coming in next year.

That being said, I definately think we look stronger next year. And I love the fight of the guys coming back from this year. As the DBR said they were definately greater than their parts. Talk about how many McD's all you want, the fact is they overachieved. But with Duke and a K coached team that's nothing unusual.

And what do you know. We even have reason to be optomistic about football this year =)

Excellent post, you make some very valid points. I too was wondering why after Boozer, Williams and Brand, Duke does not attract those kind of players. I too am concerned about the point guard position, but Paulus was considered the top point guard in his year and a lot of us thought that he was going to be similar to Bobby Hurley, and from what I read Kenny Boynton is in the Jason Williams league, ( a friend of mine in Florida and a big Duke supporter, who has seen him play says that at the similar stages of their careers Boynton is better ), and Coach K recruited him heavily. We are recruiting Knight for the 2010 class, but once again my Florida, Duke supporter thinks that Knight probably will go elsewhere...claims he wants to play with Boynton at Florida, assuming that Boynton is not a one and done player.

I know that Duke did not recruit him for many reasons, but Lance Stephenson from Lincoln High School in Brooklyn would have been an excellent basketball fit, but there were valid reasons why Coach K did not recruit him, and I understand them.

[Rudy]

Since Coach K took Duke to a Final Four in '86 only four graduating classes have not had a team in the Final Four during their time at Duke--'97, '98, '08 and now '09. A period of 22 years. Pretty good record. It sucks for those classes, but everyone knows nothing is guaranteed. Even for this and last year's seniors they saw some pretty good basketball and had some great thrills from the program during their tenures. I suspect they will still cheer for Duke after they graduate and when the next Final Four appearance happens many of them will be trying to find a way to get tickets.