Duke's path to the title vs the path Kansas faces

[Lord Ash]

In 2009-2010, Duke faced...

Butler: RPI 12, #5 seed AT HOME
West Virginia: RPI 4, #2 seed
Baylor: RPI 9, #3 seed AT HOME
Purdue: RPI 16, #4 seed
Cal: RPI 20, #8 seed
Arkansas Pine Bluff: RPI 183, #16 seed

So... a 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 16 seed, and 5 top 20 RPI teams.




In 2010-2011, Kansas will face or has faced...

VCU: RPI 49, #11 seed
Richmond: RPI 41, #12 seed
Illinois: RPI 48, #9 seed
Boston University: RPI 129, #16 seed

With the potential to face, at BEST...

Butler: RPI 34, #8 seed
UNC: RPI 6, #2 seed

So, at best, a 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16 seed, with one RPI top 20 team, and only two in the top 40.


Pretty crazy. Where is all the hate and outrage? We put up with SO much after the title last year, and that is really a pretty mean bracket. Yet where is the anger for Kansas?

[biscuit30]

In 2009-2010, Duke faced...

Butler: RPI 12, #5 seed AT HOME
West Virginia: RPI 4, #2 seed
Baylor: RPI 9, #3 seed AT HOME
Purdue: RPI 16, #4 seed
Cal: RPI 20, #8 seed
Arkansas Pine Bluff: RPI 183, #16 seed

So... a 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 16 seed, and 5 top 20 RPI teams.




In 2010-2011, Kansas will face or has faced...

VCU: RPI 49, #11 seed
Richmond: RPI 41, #12 seed
Illinois: RPI 48, #9 seed
Boston University: RPI 129, #16 seed

With the potential to face, at BEST...

Butler: RPI 34, #8 seed
UNC: RPI 6, #2 seed

So, at best, a 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16 seed, with one RPI top 20 team, and only two in the top 40.


Pretty crazy. Where is all the hate and outrage? We put up with SO much after the title last year, and that is really a pretty mean bracket. Yet where is the anger for Kansas?

People just don't hate on other teams/schools like they do with Duke.

[uh_no]

In 2009-2010, Duke faced...

Butler: RPI 12, #5 seed AT HOME
West Virginia: RPI 4, #2 seed
Baylor: RPI 9, #3 seed AT HOME
Purdue: RPI 16, #4 seed
Cal: RPI 20, #8 seed
Arkansas Pine Bluff: RPI 183, #16 seed

So... a 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 16 seed, and 5 top 20 RPI teams.




In 2010-2011, Kansas will face or has faced...

VCU: RPI 49, #11 seed
Richmond: RPI 41, #12 seed
Illinois: RPI 48, #9 seed
Boston University: RPI 129, #16 seed

With the potential to face, at BEST...

Butler: RPI 34, #8 seed
UNC: RPI 6, #2 seed

So, at best, a 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16 seed, with one RPI top 20 team, and only two in the top 40.


Pretty crazy. Where is all the hate and outrage? We put up with SO much after the title last year, and that is really a pretty mean bracket. Yet where is the anger for Kansas?

If Kansas is good, they'll beat the winner of our half the bracket....and that's either uconn, unc, or UK...and they've all proven themselves worthy and taken out every other team (duke, OSU, zona, SDSU)...if they win, they'll have proven they deserved it, and probably would have beaten most opponents to get there, howerever formidable. If they are actually bad and haven't been exposed due to the easy road, then they'll be exposed in the final. That's the theory....the transitive property FOR SURE works in sports :P

[Dr. Tina]

The Duke Hate is what fuels every lame argument that suggests Duke has it easier or better or gets all the calls or pick your poisonous reason. There really isn't much sense to it other than it seems to make A LOT of people feel better about themselves. Of course, I find it also makes them look quite lame....as if they have nothing better to do with their lives.

I'm always against UNC and I do get some glee when things are going poorly for them, but even my extreme dislike for the Tarholes doesn't ever quite reach the level of top shelf hatred many people (basketball fan or not) have for Duke.

[davekay1971]

If Kansas is good, they'll beat the winner of our half the bracket....and that's either uconn, unc, or UK...and they've all proven themselves worthy and taken out every other team (duke, OSU, zona, SDSU)...if they win, they'll have proven they deserved it, and probably would have beaten most opponents to get there, howerever formidable. If they are actually bad and haven't been exposed due to the easy road, then they'll be exposed in the final. That's the theory....the transitive property FOR SURE works in sports :P

I agree, but I think the point of the OP is that such logic was never applied to Duke's 2010 championship. Butler beat very good teams to get to Duke, but somehow Duke faced a patsy, right? WVU beat the Kentucky team Duke was so incredibly lucky to not have to face. Etc, etc, etc... It's been a continuous drone of disrespect to the 2010 Duke team AND every opponent they faced.

[turnandburn55]

People just don't hate on other teams/schools like they do with Duke.

Could you IMAGINE the outrage and indignation if Duke had won a game the way Butler beat Pitt? I seriously think the internets might have collapsed in on itself. There would have been a gosh-darned ESPN special just discussing whether or not that last second call should have been made...

[Bluedog]

Frankly, we were fortunate that WV beat Kentucky in the Elite 8 in my mind. KY would have been a tougher matchup, but shot terribly from 3-point land the game before. That's not to say we faced an easy path or didn't deserve winning it all, but winning a tournament like this in a one-and-done format often requires breaks falling your way. There is undoubtedly some luck involved. We can't blame Kansas for beating who they have in front of them - that's just the way it falls sometimes. That's all they can do. Other teams should have been able to take care of business to face Kansas, and they were unable to do so. But I understand that your point was simply to support the fact that we didn't face an easy path last year and people still claim the championship was handed to us, while they might not be as vocal about Kansas this time around.

[weezie]

Allow the unwashed their miserable gruel.
Stay above the masses and treat them kindly, they don't know any better.
They may not want our pity but they deserve it.
In spades.

[turnandburn55]

Frankly, we were fortunate that WV beat Kentucky in the Elite 8 in my mind.

I'll take luck wherever I can get it.

I made the observation in 2000 when UNC fans gleefully reminded me how "the Tar Heels made the Final Four while Duke lost in the Sweet 16!".... we both lost to the same freaking team!!!!!!

From 1998 to 2004, our last game of the season was against the National Champion or Runner-up. Think about that for a second. 7 years in a row... and we had the misfortune of running into most of them prior to even making the Final Four.

So I don't think anyone needs to apologize for catching a couple (relatively minor) breaks in 2010. This wasn't Florida catching GMU instead of UConn in 2007.

[brevity]

Pretty crazy. Where is all the hate and outrage? We put up with SO much after the title last year, and that is really a pretty mean bracket. Yet where is the anger for Kansas?

Kansas hasn't won anything yet. Even if they did, couldn't you have waited a week or so for this thread?

And the official term for Baylor playing in Houston is "semi-home." They allow dancing in Houston, but it's too humid to try.

[uh_no]

I agree, but I think the point of the OP is that such logic was never applied to Duke's 2010 championship. Butler beat very good teams to get to Duke, but somehow Duke faced a patsy, right? WVU beat the Kentucky team Duke was so incredibly lucky to not have to face. Etc, etc, etc... It's been a continuous drone of disrespect to the 2010 Duke team AND every opponent they faced.

Haters gonna hate. Their tears are delicious.

[biscuit30]

Could you IMAGINE the outrage and indignation if Duke had won a game the way Butler beat Pitt? I seriously think the internets might have collapsed in on itself. There would have been a gosh-darned ESPN special just discussing whether or not that last second call should have been made...

Or what about in the Little East conference game with St. Johns and Rutgers? They would be calling for the end of college basketball.

[JG Nothing]

Pretty crazy. Where is all the hate and outrage? We put up with SO much after the title last year, and that is really a pretty mean bracket. Yet where is the anger for Kansas?

Why should there be anger at Kansas? What does Kansas stand for? There is nothing to get angry about. Duke is a symbol; it stands for something. For better or worse, we mean something to people. Whether people love us or hate us, Duke is important in a fundamental way. That is just not true of most other programs.

[DukeDiva]

I put a condensed version of this in my fb status yesterday for my KU friends. I got little response except that they felt that Duke still had an easy road since they were the last #1. The most vocal hawk fans didn't comment except to call me a hater...which of course made me giggle. Pot meet kettle:D I am hoping for VCU to handle KU today so I can watch FB melt down!

[MaxAMillion]

I don't understand why people keep focusing on stuff like this. People hate Duke the way they hate the Yankees. If it makes you feel better, no one hates Duke football. You can watch them without concern about other people's feelings about the program.

[RelativeWays]

I put a condensed version of this in my fb status yesterday for my KU friends. I got little response except that they felt that Duke still had an easy road since they were the last #1. The most vocal hawk fans didn't comment except to call me a hater...which of course made me giggle. Pot meet kettle:D I am hoping for VCU to handle KU today so I can watch FB melt down!

Duke wasn't the last number 1, Syracuse was since they lost the tournament and the injury to their post player affected their seeding.

[InSpades]

I think the biggest difference here is that Duke was seen as having an easy path *before anyone played any games*. The way Duke's path ended up playing out the road wasn't that easy (aside from Butler, we played a team seeded at or 1 below the best we could have played in every round). Although Purdue was seen as a "weak" #4 due to the Hummel injury. Kansas's road is easy based on the ridiculous amount of upsets which is an entirely different type of story.

Just because you win the tournament doesn't mean you were the best team. Kansas can get to the Final 4 without playing a top 25 team. Meanwhile a team like Kentucky will have to play 2 top 10 teams to get there. It's a pretty significant difference and as we saw with Duke-Arizona... anything can happen on a given night. I don't think this takes anything away from the tournament or the championship. In fact, maybe that's what makes it even more special.

[DevilWearsPrada]

Could you IMAGINE the outrage and indignation if Duke had won a game the way Butler beat Pitt? I seriously think the internets might have collapsed in on itself. There would have been a gosh-darned ESPN special just discussing whether or not that last second call should have been made...

That was a nasty ending period. On both ends. I bet my laptops would have blown up with emails and hate Duke email and blogs.

Lets pull for Kentucky today over the Tarholes. And I hope VCU can handle Kansas and serve it up on a silver platter. IT would brighten a dreary Sunday. I am still in Duke Depression.

[Gthoma2a]

It is nuts to watch this tournament. A play in team is killing their number one seed to get into the Final Four to play a weak seed who made it to the championship last year.

[Jderf]

Apparently, our path last year was easier...

[ThePublisher]

Kansas definitely had an easier path, and they just lost to an 11 seed.

How cool would it be for Butler to beat UNC for the title? Sounds great to me.

What would be even better is if Butler beats Kentucky. Everything that is right with college basketball vs everything that is wrong. Good v bad.

[tele]

Kansas definitely had an easier path, and they just lost to an 11 seed.

How cool would it be for Butler to beat UNC for the title? Sounds great to me.

What would be even better is if Butler beats Kentucky. Everything that is right with college basketball vs everything that is wrong. Good v bad.

yeah, be like that Steinbeck book "East of Indy".