The Duke Mystique

There are many mysteries in life, such as the pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle, the tree-falls-in-the-woods question and the chicken/egg conundrum, but none of those boggles my mind more so than Duke Basketball. How are they so good EVERY SINGLE YEAR? Really, how are they SO good year in and year out? And this year, they are at it again.

I think the answer to this question starts with the coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K looks like he should be cast in the role of Rat King from The Nutcracker, but by gosh, the man can coach. Or rather he once could and now he just needles the officials with under-his-breath curse words while living on his reputation. Does an official REALLY want to make a questionable call AGAINST Duke inside Cameron where a bunch of future CEOs, Doctors and perhaps Presidents are dressed up in blue and white paint, pompoming and cheering, ready to chant the official right off the court? No. Therefore the Rat-King gets almost every call. I am not saying he hasn’t earned his reputation. His resume includes three national titles, with a fourth title game appearance, countless ACC titles and an eye on the ultimate wins list. But what is even more impressive he how he is getting the wins.

Most of his players look like guys that should have gotten cut from their high school JV teams. Jon Scheyer looks like he should be in the Duke Pep band playing a trumpet instead of popping threes. Lee Melchionni, Shavlik Randolph, Josh McRoberts, Danny Ferry and Mike Dunleavy look like five guys that shoot by themselves at the local YMCA, waiting for a pick up game, so they will be picked next to last and simply told to stand down low. JJ Redick didn’t look like much entering a building as he was writing poetry. Then he stuck a dagger in you with his shot. Shelden Williams, all 6’9 of him was oh so imposing. How does Coach K (who my brother-in-law swears was separated from Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan at birth) get so much out of these guys? They just don’t look like the guys from UNC, UCLA, Kansas or Memphis. They look like they should just be walked right over when they play. But they walk over you.

After Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner led Duke to those back-to-back titles, America broke into two parties: either you loved Duke (a small number) or hated Duke (a MUCH larger number). So with all that hatred working against him, how Coach K is still getting people to come play for him is unreal. Does he say to a potential recruit, “Listen, you are going to come here and everyone else is going to hate you, but that’s OK, because Wojo will teach you how to slap the floor!” and that works? He was able to walk into Greg Paulus’s house during recruiting season and say, “I know Notre Dame wants you to come in and play quarterback. If you go become a golden domer, 50% of America will love you and 50% of America will loathe you. But if you come be my point guard, 99.98% of America will hate you, but you will have the support of the Cameron Crazies.” And Paulus went to Duke!? Wow.

I guess I am just jealous that Duke has this much success with guys out there that look just like the players at UGA, but Duke’s players can actually play. Oh well. I tip my cap to Coach K and that program. Duke has been great since the early 90s and I guess they’ll be good until the Rat King goes back to hanging with the Sugar Plum Fairy.
(Note, this article also appears on www.790thezone.com Hey, I wrote it, I can post it vairever the F*&^ I vant, as Teddy KGB would say)