Among other things I was also struck by the manner in which he argued Carolina’s 2005 team might’ve been more lucky than good in winning the title. Somehow, a balanced perspective might elude him. That ’05 team had a tough road to the Final Four and then had to beat that season’s overwhelming #1 ranked Illini less than a 100 miles from their campus. A little luck is always needed to win the big dance because it is so darn tough to win it, but the ’05 team deserved more respect, even from someone so partial.

Regarding Duke’s decline, it was curious that the author decided to blame Duke’s lack of recent NCAA success on the players recruited or not recruited to the program. Doesn’t it come down to talent AND coaching? I’m reminded of the saying: “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”

All too often Coach K has blamed his own players for a loss rather than give full credit to the opponent and accept responsibility himself. This is one of the ways his particular meglomania reveals itself during press conferences. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise then that the people worshipping at his basketball altar have adopted a similar philosophy of blaming the players for losses and crediting the coaches for the wins. That’s just coolaid they don’t serve at Carolina – if we ever had a coach who did, we’d lose something very special.

HeelYes: Again, I keep re reading your points and you did a heck of a job breaking it all down!

UNCFan: I have no doubt that all programs go up and down, my only thoughts was that the piece tried to make Duke look good in a way that right now they can not. If Coach K takes on the USA Team I dont see them improving at all.

AEM

I re read it four or five time just to absorb all the info you put into it!

AEM

Now, having given Duke some benefit of the doubt, my reasons for the relative decline of the Duke program:

1) Bad decisions for assistant coaches. Look at the bench in Durham versus Chapel Hill. If you were a big man, do you want Wojo or Chris Collins teaching you post moves? There are statesman on the bench who exude confidence in Chapel Hill and emotionally stunted sycophants that exude panic on the bench in Durham. Johnny Dawkins has all the charm of a pair of water-logged shoes.

2) Duke doesn’t have a great track record with developing players and putting them in great position for the next level. Duke has seen Josh McRoberts (correctly identified in the above article as the highest rated PF – above Hansbrough – in the ’05 class) unadvisedly bolt the program for the NBA. The same thing with Shavlik Randolph, another top player. Each of these and other early-NBA entrants and transfers sent signals there is discord within the Duke program. The defections of McRoberts and Randolph both seemed more about getting out of Duke than about pursuing NBA riches from a position of advantage (neither player was considered truly ready for the NBA at the time and each made their announcement to the surprise of observers).

3) Coach K is not loyal to his players – and its showing up now in his inability to recruit great players. This is debatable, of course, but I’ve always had the feeling Coach K wants to use loyalty as a PR tool, not as the guiding philosophy of his program. There are many examples over the years of highly touted underclassmen (remember Ricky Price?) who seem to lose support of their coach as they become juniors and seniors. The latest example is the career of Greg Paulus. Being relegated to the bench and a redundant after-thought with damaged confidence as a senior simply would’ve NEVER happened at Carolina. Smith, Guthridge, Doherty and Williams would’ve never allowed such a talented player and team leader to be treated thusly as a senior. The Carolina Way includes the old Native American attage “use all the parts of the buffalo.” No player is a wasted resource at Carolina but the road out of Durham is littered with the waste of talented underclassman who found a cold shoulder and a torpedoed career from Coach K the moment it suited him.

4) Coach K does not develop his bench. Even when they have 8 or 9 McDonald’s AA’s, Duke usually has a 6-7 player rotation and this is one reason some commentators have provided for their stumbles at the end of the season compared with the start and middle. I’m not sure how much I buy this argument since tired legs are an over-rated reason for Duke stumbles of late, but I think the combination of opponents seeing game tape of Duke and learning more how to beat them along with Coach K’s failure to get his team peaking late in the season with a deep bench of confident players is the story here.

No matter what the reason, what is most clear is few things in life can give we Carolina fans as much pleasure as the period we enjoy now: the afterglow of another Carolina NCAA Championship and the knowledge that sour grapes are becoming a steady diet in the basketball program at Duke.

Now, if we could just see Dick Vitale retire we’d really be enjoying a sea change in the buzz surrounding Duke basketball.