Anyone else disappointed about the sad state of affairs at Cuse, Louisville etc.

[Billy Dat]

The following sentiment may fall on extremely deaf ears and no judgement if that is the case.

When the new expanded ACC was created a few years back, I relished the fact that K would be finishing out his career battling Pitino and Boeheim and Jaime Dixon in addition to Huck Hound and the other coaches in the ACC.

With the deepening scandal at Louisville, the mess up in Syracuse, and the disaster down 15-501, I feel like we are being cheated a bit.

Granted, this feeling barely exists for the trouble in Chapel Hill, if it exists at all, but it does take the gleam off the overall diamond.

K has the program firing on all cylinders and it would be great if these other programs were closer to their crest. With Virginia, NC State and Notre Dame in fine shape, Florida State and Miami being led by "program guys" who have their ships steering in the right direction, Danny Manning and Buzz Williams sure to keep their programs improving, this conference could be, more than ever, appointment television every night. It still is, but more Kardashians than Breaking Bad.

K, Boeheim, Pitino and Roy are not long for the sideline, I wish they had all been peaking together (kind of). Obviously, their misfortunate ultimately accrues to our benefit from a recruiting and W-L perspective, which feeds our title hopes which is the ultimate goal, but those weeknight league games when both teams are top 20 and desperate to win...can't beat it.

[nyesq83]

It simultaneously tarnishes the conference, and Duke's dominance thereof, but it polishes Duke Basketball's reputation*
as a family-run operation where young men are coached and taught to be responsible, caring individuals
or they will be sent to Maryland as punishment.



*(perhaps the reputation for all Duke men's sports, since 2006-7)

[Matches]

It's sad, and I include UNC in that too. I'm tired of having to hold my nose to follow college athletics.

I'm confident nothing like this would happen on K's watch, but I can say that if it ever did (under K or an eventual successor), it's pretty likely I'd just leave college sports behind. I've been tempted as it is.

[MarkD83]

The sad thing about all of these scandals is the excuses being made by the leadearship at these Universities. Yes a coach or administrator can claim plausible deniablity, but what happened to taking responsibillity. It would be refreshing to hear a coach or administrator just come out and say "We are self-imposing penalties until we get to the bottom of this issue. We will work with the NCAA to clean this up because some things are more important than athletics."

[OldPhiKap]

The sad thing about all of these scandals is the excuses being made by the leadearship at these Universities. Yes a coach or administrator can claim plausible deniablity, but what happened to taking responsibillity. It would be refreshing to hear a coach or administrator just come out and say "We are self-imposing penalties until we get to the bottom of this issue. We will work with the NCAA to clean this up because some things are more important than athletics."

Of course the flip side is, Duke did exactly that with the lacrosse team and the allegations turned out to be bull manure. So there is a point at which due process needs to work itself out.

Having said that, in the case of something like UNC where there has been an independent investigation which apparently is not contested in its majority, I am not sure why you would not go ahead and show some maturity and responsibility by imposing sanctions on yourself. That is not only the smart thing to do in terms of the NCAA, it is the right thing to do. Y'know - what universities are supposed to instill.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I echo the disappointment. When it comes to rivals, I wallow in Weber State losses and Austin Rivers three pointers, but not in academic scandals, recruiting scandals, or whatever is going on in Louisville. I want the ACC to be the gold standard of college basketball, not a reflection of SEC football.

[Li_Duke]

Did Louisville get some players they wouldn't have by offering sex and strippers?
If they hadn't gotten those players, would they have stopped Duke from winning a title that year?
If the extra benefits had been discovered earlier, would they have been eligible for the post-season?
Now, instead of thinking we lost to a team that was better than us that night, I wonder if we could have, should have, gone further that year.

[Dev11]

K, Boeheim, Pitino and Roy are not long for the sideline, I wish they had all been peaking together

It's tricky because Pitino doesn't peak for long.

I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, somebody had to do this. Carry on.

[Steven43]

Granted, this feeling barely exists for the trouble in Chapel Hill, if it exists at all, but it does take the gleam off the overall diamond.

K, Boeheim, Pitino and Roy are not long for the sideline, I wish they had all been peaking together (kind of). Obviously, their misfortunate ultimately accrues to our benefit from a recruiting and W-L perspective, which feeds our title hopes which is the ultimate goal, but those weeknight league games when both teams are top 20 and desperate to win...can't beat it.

Don't get too far ahead of yourself there, pal. In case you hadn't noticed, UNC is the #1 ranked team in the nation entering this season. How much more 'peaking' could be occurring at the moment than that? You might be making a big mistake by casually discounting UNC. They have a way of surprising us (Duke), often when we least expect it. No smugness here.

[Billy Dat]

Don't get too far ahead of yourself there, pal. In case you hadn't noticed, UNC is the #1 ranked team in the nation entering this season. How much more 'peaking' could be occurring at the moment than that? You might be making a big mistake by casually discounting UNC. They have a way of surprising us (Duke), often when we least expect it. No smugness here.

Stevie43, ringing in with your usual panache. I don't discount UNC this year, even a broken clock is right twice a day. I think it's pretty clear that their prospects over the next few years are not quite what they were from 2003-2012 due to the impact that the academic scandal is having on their recruiting. But, you are on record and if and when UNC beats Duke is year, you can feel good about it.

[Steven43]

But, you are on record and if and when UNC beats Duke is year, you can feel good about it.
You obviously know nothing about me if you think I would ever feel even the slightest bit of good about UNC beating Duke. I think the source of your comments is skin being too thin.

[CDu]

I'm sad for the scandals, but not sad for the state of their teams. I don't care about the strength of the rivalry. I want Duke wins. The 8-20 year for UNC was glorious, as was the 2010 year with their NIT appearance. I'd take that every year. I want Duke to be the hammer to their nail. I don't want any peers for Duke basketball. I want Duke dominance.

[hallcity]

Is anyone really surprised that there's a scandal at Louisville? We may not have expected anything as tawdry as what apparently happened at Louisville but we all knew that Louisville was anything but classy. There were reasons that Louisville hadn't been picked up by any other conference.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

The following sentiment may fall on extremely deaf ears and no judgement if that is the case.

When the new expanded ACC was created a few years back, I relished the fact that K would be finishing out his career battling Pitino and Boeheim and Jaime Dixon in addition to Huck Hound and the other coaches in the ACC.

With the deepening scandal at Louisville, the mess up in Syracuse, and the disaster down 15-501, I feel like we are being cheated a bit.

Granted, this feeling barely exists for the trouble in Chapel Hill, if it exists at all, but it does take the gleam off the overall diamond.

K has the program firing on all cylinders and it would be great if these other programs were closer to their crest. With Virginia, NC State and Notre Dame in fine shape, Florida State and Miami being led by "program guys" who have their ships steering in the right direction, Danny Manning and Buzz Williams sure to keep their programs improving, this conference could be, more than ever, appointment television every night. It still is, but more Kardashians than Breaking Bad.

K, Boeheim, Pitino and Roy are not long for the sideline, I wish they had all been peaking together (kind of). Obviously, their misfortunate ultimately accrues to our benefit from a recruiting and W-L perspective, which feeds our title hopes which is the ultimate goal, but those weeknight league games when both teams are top 20 and desperate to win...can't beat it.
The disappointing and disheartening thing to me is the disgust I feel for sports fans who are so ignorant that they boo players from a program like Duke's rather than the scum these other institutes bring out on the floor. Lots of sickos out there, bless their hearts. Love, Ima

[howardlander]

At the risk of being flamed:

Honestly, I think the scandal at UNC is much worse than that at Louisville. I know sex scandals get everyone's interest, but I can't compare this to the UNC scandal. Yep, young males like to have sex and yes it's wrong to use prostitutes to lure recruits. But if your kid was a major college basketball recruit which would you rather hear: A) Don't worry sir, we'll make sure your boy has sex occasionally or B) Don't worry sir, your boy won't have to bother going to class. Now if you told me the girls had been coerced into doing this, then I'd have a much more serious view of it, but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

Howard

[CameronBlue]

At the risk of being flamed:

Honestly, I think the scandal at UNC is much worse than that at Louisville. I know sex scandals get everyone's interest, but I can't compare this to the UNC scandal. Yep, young males like to have sex and yes it's wrong to use prostitutes to lure recruits. But if your kid was a major college basketball recruit which would you rather hear: A) Don't worry sir, we'll make sure your boy has sex occasionally or B) Don't worry sir, your boy won't have to bother going to class. Now if you told me the girls had been coerced into doing this, then I'd have a much more serious view of it, but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

Howard

I'm not sure I understand the rush to compare these two incidents. Both are pretty bad in their own way but whether one is relatively worse than the other is not possible to determine objectively. I presume what you find particularly galling is that the response to the L-ville scandal relative to UNC's orchestrated, faculty-complicit decades long scandal seems far more "lynch-mobish". I'm wid ya there bro. Light me a damn torch.

[summerwind03]

Yes, I am disappointed as well. It was unpleasant to hear my ten year old describe what happened at Louisville to me! He prefaced with, "This is inappropriate, but..."

[weezie]

I'm sad for the scandals, but not sad for the state of their teams. I don't care about the strength of the rivalry. I want Duke wins. The 8-20 year for UNC was glorious, as was the 2010 year with their NIT appearance. I'd take that every year. I want Duke to be the hammer to their nail. I don't want any peers for Duke basketball. I want Duke dominance.

You go CDu!!!

Bang that hammer on Roy's tiny pinhead!

[dukebsbll14]

At least we have Notre Dame to honorably carry the ACC Expansion flag.

I also cannot help but feel cheated out of a home-and-home series with Maryland this year. Man, those would have been some fun games. Basketball gods, please reward us with a tournament match-up.

[weezie]

At least we have Notre Dame to honorably carry the ACC Expansion flag.

Uuuugh, well, you seem like a very nice young man. Don't be blind to the scourge that is nd. You'll learn, in time....
But, I'm a bitter old Dukie, so perhaps your embrace of the leprechaun is kinder.