Duke On The Decline

Any list of “most hated college basketball teams” will include Duke.

Familiarity breeds contempt. And what breeds more familiarity than watching a school go to 16 Final Fours, 11 NCAA championship games and win five titles? Sure, the players change but the colors and the uniforms remain the same as does the head coach, Mike Krzyzewski (since 1981).

You love Duke or you hate Duke. It’s easy to love a winner and it’s easy to hate a dynasty. So when that perennial winner in recruiting and on the court finally hits a skid, well, it’s a hater’s party time. Break out the sweet tea and salty snacks!

The measure of Duke’s failure this season is relative to the measure of its longtime success. How many teams would chafe at being ranked 20th? But that’s as far down in the AP Top 25 poll as the Blue Devils have been in two years, and Monday night’s 64-62 loss to Syracuse was Duke’s third consecutive defeat. That’s the longest losing streak for Duke (14-5) since 2007.

If you love Duke, you know the team is a bit short on experience and healthy bodies. The Blue Devils are 6-4 since losing forward Amile Jefferson with a broken foot. If you hate Duke, you love that the Blue Devils still must play No. 2 North Carolina twice, No. 17 Louisville twice, No. 13 Virginia and No. 15 Miami (away). And that’s before the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Duke fans know that Duke will ultimately reload. And it probably won’t take long. In that short interim, those who dislike Duke should relish every minute of its stunning decline to … somewhat better than average.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman