NCAA: It's easy to hate Duke

A couple of weeks ago, I turned on the Duke-Michigan basketball game, halfway expecting a contest. After all, it was new Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker's shot at taking on his mentor, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. It was at Ann Arbor, in front of large and vocal crowd. Amaker wanted to make a good showing.

I turned it on with about ten minutes to go in the first half, Duke up 34-8. So much for that.

Last Tuesday night, Duke played Kentucky. The Wildcats seemed poised for the upset, playing well and leading by a dozen at one point in the second half. But with Jason Williams exploding in the second half, Duke pulled out an overtime win -- as if this series needed any more drama, what with Laettner in '92 and all -- but there it was, somehow, Duke winning by three in OT. Good grief, will Duke ever go away?

The answer: as long as Mike Krzyzewski is calling the shots in Durham, probably not.

It's time for a confession: I don't hate Duke. Far from it, actually. I've been an admirer of Coach K and his program for fifteen years now, ever since 1986. Ah, yes, the Johnny Dawkins-Jay Bilas-Mark Alarie-David Henderson squad, which set an NCAA record for wins in a season (37) only to come up three points short to Louisville and Pervis "Never Nervous" Ellison in the 1986 Finals in Dallas, 72-69. I was in my driveway the next day, in Raleigh, N.C., shooting shot after shot, replaying the game again and again -- only, in my mind, Duke came up with the plays to win.

See, I was a fifteen-year-old kid, who still believed that you could somehow change the outcome of a game by playing it out yourself; I still believed that, the next day, there was some way Duke could still win. I remember David Henderson's comments when Duke came home, a bit bloodied but unbowed -- "it hurts like hell." That was one of my first lessons in falling short of a dream, something the real world has reinforced many times over in the years since. Yeah, it hurts like hell when you lose, but you get through it. The only way to avoid the hurt is to never try, which isn't an option; the only way to get over it is to get out there and do it again. Great lesson for a fifteen-year-old kid. Little did Henderson or I know that was just the beginning for college basketball's reigning dynasty.

That's right -- I did use the "D" word there. Dynasty. Duke is the defending national champion and a favorite in many circles to repeat. The only other repeat NCAA champion in the last thirty years: Duke, in '91-'92. Duke has been to nine Final Fours, one barometer of college hoops excellence, since 1986, far more than any other school. They've played for seven national championships in the same span and won three, and were within a minute or so of at least two more. In these days, that's a dynasty. OK, so it's not a UCLA-style dynasty, with a straight decade of titles. Right here and right now, I'll put anything down you want: that'll never happen again. This is a different era -- take nothing away from John Wooden and the Bruins, they were great, but that was a different time and a different game and there isn't much comparison. Time to gush: replacing five starters with five second-teamers early in the second half against Kentucky was as masterful a coaching move as any I've seen. I can only gawk in admiration. Is Mike Krzyzewski good or what? The College Basketball Hall of Fame can answer that for you. Krzyzewski was inducted earlier this year.

About the only thing Krzyzewski hasn't accomplished at Duke is an undefeated season, something else that will likely never happen again. It could happen this year. After all, Duke is 10-0 right now, but the rugged ACC and at least two dates with Maryland remain. But Coach K doesn't care about undefeated seasons. He wants titles. He has as many as any active coach in the game, and, at just 54 years old, there's no one to say he won't get another one, two, three, or more.

This is not to say that Duke repeating is a foregone conclusion. March Madness is a breeding ground for upsets. Duke can go down at any time once the field of 65 opens next year. March is dangerous, and don't think Krzyzewski doesn't know it. Of course he does; that just makes Duke dangerous, too. They won't underestimate anyone.

He has All-America talent: Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer (when his head's in it) and Chris Duhon. He's got recruits: maybe the best class in the history of the sport. He's got great assistants: former All-American Johnny Dawkins, former players Steve Wojechowski and Chris Collins. After Tuesday night again Kentucky, he suddenly has a bench. He's got experience. He's got prestige.

Right now, love them or hate them, Duke is king.

Boy, if I haven't been a fan since '86, I'd probably hate 'em, too.