The Possible End of Two Amazing Duke Basketball Streaks

[Grasshopper]

Long time regular reader (since the Juliovision days), first time poster.

I am breaking my silence to note and lament the distinct possibility that two of the greatest Duke basketball streaks of all time may be on the verge of coming to an end.

1. The Streak of Seasons with at Least 10 Wins

As someone (Jim Sumner?) pointed out on this site a couple of years ago, Duke has won at least 10 games in 92 consecutive seasons --- going all the way back to 1928-29. That is the longest streak in NCAA history.

Here we are in January with only 3 wins. We still have 17 games scheduled, plus 2 postponed games that could be made up, plus the postseason. So it seems likely that, if there are no more COVID disruptions, we should be able to hit double-digit wins. (Certainly not guaranteed, given how young and inexperienced our team is --- and how much more seasoned the competition is getting around us. But likely.)

But that it a very big “if.” Our last two games have been postponed. We cancelled the non-conference season. The women’s team has already cancelled its entire season. Coach K has expressed skepticism about continuing to play, at least for now. The pandemic is worsening all around us. Etc.

I wonder whether we will end up getting in enough games to hit 10 wins. If we don’t, the ending of the streak might carry some sort of an asterisk. But some teams already have 9 wins, and no doubt a great many teams will reach 10 wins this season --- even if the season gets cut short. So others’ streaks will go on and will eventually eclipse ours.

2. The Duke/UNC Game Ranked Team Streak

Duke and Carolina play each other two or three times a year. When was the last that the time the two teams met when neither one was ranked?

If you go by the AP poll, the answer is February 27, 1960. But Carolina was ranked in the coaches’ poll that week. The last time that Duke and UNC faced each other when neither team was ranked in either poll was February 25, 1955.

That’s a streak of 168 games spanning more than 65 years. To me, this is one of the most amazing streaks in existence. And it is a big part of what makes this rivalry the best in all of sports.

Yet it may be on the brink of ending.

Carolina is off to a rough start this season (boo-hoo!), and is currently unranked in either poll. They are not far down in the “others receiving votes” category, and could surely bounce back. But they play only one ranked team (at FSU) between now and their first game with us, so they don’t have a lot of chances to impress the voters. Plus, they suck.

Duke is currently ranked number 20 in the AP poll and is unranked in the coaches’ poll. But with only 3 wins (against two losses), and games getting cancelled left and right, how much longer will the voters keep us in the poll? The next lowest win total for a ranked team is 5, by UVA and FSU. Everyone else has at least twice as many wins as us.

If we can’t get on the court, I suspect that we will drop out of the rankings. And if we do play, even a single loss between now and the first UNC game on February 6 would probably be enough to drop us out of the rankings, at least temporarily. Our team seems likely to suffer through some growing pains in the next phase of the season --- especially since most of the competition is older and has played many more games this season. Winning the next 8 in a row (or even 6 or 7 of the next 8) seems like a tall order. If we even get to play the games at all . . . .

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that two of the most remarkable streaks of all are in danger of ending. Stupid COVID.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Long time regular reader (since the Juliovision days), first time poster.

I am breaking my silence to note and lament the distinct possibility that two of the greatest Duke basketball streaks of all time may be on the verge of coming to an end.

1. The Streak of Seasons with at Least 10 Wins

As someone (Jim Sumner?) pointed out on this site a couple of years ago, Duke has won at least 10 games in 92 consecutive seasons --- going all the way back to 1928-29. That is the longest streak in NCAA history.

Here we are in January with only 3 wins. We still have 17 games scheduled, plus 2 postponed games that could be made up, plus the postseason. So it seems likely that, if there are no more COVID disruptions, we should be able to hit double-digit wins. (Certainly not guaranteed, given how young and inexperienced our team is --- and how much more seasoned the competition is getting around us. But likely.)

But that it a very big “if.” Our last two games have been postponed. We cancelled the non-conference season. The women’s team has already cancelled its entire season. Coach K has expressed skepticism about continuing to play, at least for now. The pandemic is worsening all around us. Etc.

I wonder whether we will end up getting in enough games to hit 10 wins. If we don’t, the ending of the streak might carry some sort of an asterisk. But some teams already have 9 wins, and no doubt a great many teams will reach 10 wins this season --- even if the season gets cut short. So others’ streaks will go on and will eventually eclipse ours.

2. The Duke/UNC Game Ranked Team Streak

Duke and Carolina play each other two or three times a year. When was the last that the time the two teams met when neither one was ranked?

If you go by the AP poll, the answer is February 27, 1960. But Carolina was ranked in the coaches’ poll that week. The last time that Duke and UNC faced each other when neither team was ranked in either poll was February 25, 1955.

That’s a streak of 168 games spanning more than 65 years. To me, this is one of the most amazing streaks in existence. And it is a big part of what makes this rivalry the best in all of sports.

Yet it may be on the brink of ending.

Carolina is off to a rough start this season (boo-hoo!), and is currently unranked in either poll. They are not far down in the “others receiving votes” category, and could surely bounce back. But they play only one ranked team (at FSU) between now and their first game with us, so they don’t have a lot of chances to impress the voters. Plus, they suck.

Duke is currently ranked number 20 in the AP poll and is unranked in the coaches’ poll. But with only 3 wins (against two losses), and games getting cancelled left and right, how much longer will the voters keep us in the poll? The next lowest win total for a ranked team is 5, by UVA and FSU. Everyone else has at least twice as many wins as us.

If we can’t get on the court, I suspect that we will drop out of the rankings. And if we do play, even a single loss between now and the first UNC game on February 6 would probably be enough to drop us out of the rankings, at least temporarily. Our team seems likely to suffer through some growing pains in the next phase of the season --- especially since most of the competition is older and has played many more games this season. Winning the next 8 in a row (or even 6 or 7 of the next 8) seems like a tall order. If we even get to play the games at all . . . .

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that two of the most remarkable streaks of all are in danger of ending. Stupid COVID.

Welcome to the fray! You get sporks for Juliovision reference.

Good analysis. And yes, this 2020 hangover for sports is lame. Hard to get fired up for things.

[msdukie]

Long time regular reader (since the Juliovision days), first time poster.

I am breaking my silence to note and lament the distinct possibility that two of the greatest Duke basketball streaks of all time may be on the verge of coming to an end.

1. The Streak of Seasons with at Least 10 Wins

As someone (Jim Sumner?) pointed out on this site a couple of years ago, Duke has won at least 10 games in 92 consecutive seasons --- going all the way back to 1928-29. That is the longest streak in NCAA history.

Here we are in January with only 3 wins. We still have 17 games scheduled, plus 2 postponed games that could be made up, plus the postseason. So it seems likely that, if there are no more COVID disruptions, we should be able to hit double-digit wins. (Certainly not guaranteed, given how young and inexperienced our team is --- and how much more seasoned the competition is getting around us. But likely.)

But that it a very big “if.” Our last two games have been postponed. We cancelled the non-conference season. The women’s team has already cancelled its entire season. Coach K has expressed skepticism about continuing to play, at least for now. The pandemic is worsening all around us. Etc.

I wonder whether we will end up getting in enough games to hit 10 wins. If we don’t, the ending of the streak might carry some sort of an asterisk. But some teams already have 9 wins, and no doubt a great many teams will reach 10 wins this season --- even if the season gets cut short. So others’ streaks will go on and will eventually eclipse ours.

2. The Duke/UNC Game Ranked Team Streak

Duke and Carolina play each other two or three times a year. When was the last that the time the two teams met when neither one was ranked?

If you go by the AP poll, the answer is February 27, 1960. But Carolina was ranked in the coaches’ poll that week. The last time that Duke and UNC faced each other when neither team was ranked in either poll was February 25, 1955.

That’s a streak of 168 games spanning more than 65 years. To me, this is one of the most amazing streaks in existence. And it is a big part of what makes this rivalry the best in all of sports.

Yet it may be on the brink of ending.

Carolina is off to a rough start this season (boo-hoo!), and is currently unranked in either poll. They are not far down in the “others receiving votes” category, and could surely bounce back. But they play only one ranked team (at FSU) between now and their first game with us, so they don’t have a lot of chances to impress the voters. Plus, they suck.

Duke is currently ranked number 20 in the AP poll and is unranked in the coaches’ poll. But with only 3 wins (against two losses), and games getting cancelled left and right, how much longer will the voters keep us in the poll? The next lowest win total for a ranked team is 5, by UVA and FSU. Everyone else has at least twice as many wins as us.

If we can’t get on the court, I suspect that we will drop out of the rankings. And if we do play, even a single loss between now and the first UNC game on February 6 would probably be enough to drop us out of the rankings, at least temporarily. Our team seems likely to suffer through some growing pains in the next phase of the season --- especially since most of the competition is older and has played many more games this season. Winning the next 8 in a row (or even 6 or 7 of the next 8) seems like a tall order. If we even get to play the games at all . . . .

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that two of the most remarkable streaks of all are in danger of ending. Stupid COVID.

Unwise to assume that Carolina won't be ranked by February. What would the Weaxfgods say?

[Matches]

The Braves won 14 straight division titles even though they actually didn’t. As far as I am concerned this season straight-up doesn’t count where streaks are concerned.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

The third amazing streak is the consecutive games with a made 3. That almost ended last year, but thanks to AOC it didn’t.

Zporked you, hoping to get you that second Zpork soon!

[wsb3]

The last time that Duke and UNC faced each other when neither team was ranked in either poll was February 25, 1955.

I recall reading this many years ago. It is indeed a remarkable stat.

[CameronBlue]

Unwise to assume that Carolina won't be ranked by February. What would the Weaxfgods say?

That eventually we will learn that COVID-19 was a weauxfxgods creation?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

That eventually we will learn that COVID-19 was a weauxfxgods creation?

Well, UNC clearly manufactured the virus so they wouldn't be excluded from the NCAA Tournament last year.

(Just because of the world we live in, I feel obliged to explain this is NOT true... To my knowledge)