MathewFinger

Duke haters, can we have a word?

First, you probably slurped up Tuesday night with a spoon. Ohio State was ahead 11-0 faster than you can say Mike Krzyzewski, and ended up winning by 22. The Blue Devils hadn't played here since 1964, and it might be 47 more years before they come back.
And get this. Duke took the floor in a hostile arena and didn't even draw the loudest boos of the night. What's the world coming to?
LeBron James was in the house. In Ohio, treason trumps being Duke.
But we need to address another issue. Aren't these awkward days for Duke haters?
Presumably, Krzyzewski's program is reviled by so many because it is perceived as rich and only getting richer with constant media adulation. The Blue Devils are the 1%. Occupy Durham.
But times being what they are in college sports, it'd be hard to make the case that untainted success is a character flaw.
Consider Tuesday night. Duke-Ohio State was the headline game, but the spotlight was on a 36-point blowout win by Syracuse, after which Jim Boeheim took the podium and talked about … well, you know.
Southern California won't be playing in the Pac-12 Conference championship game Friday because of sanctions. Connecticut won a national basketball title under some clouds last April. No need to even get started about Penn State.
The basketball game wasn't even the biggest news in Columbus this week, what with the arrival of Urban Meyer, who, lest we forget, is only here because Jim Tressel did a belly flop into the soup.
Meanwhile, Duke trots out a lineup with national Latin prize winners (Ryan Kelly) and math whizzes (Andre Dawkins) and sons of solid NBA citizens (Seth Curry and Austin Rivers) and several members from the Plumlee family Thanksgiving table.
Remind me again why they're the team to loathe.
The Blue Devils are certainly guilty of one thing: having their heads handed to them by Ohio State.
"Sometimes you just get your butt kicked," Krzyzewski said afterward. "Tonight, my butt's sore."
As the kickers rather than the kickees, the Buckeyes' message was plain. "This basketball team is something special," said Jared Sullinger, Ohio State's main man.
Could well be. Sullinger is one of the nation's most dangerous loads inside, even down 15 pounds. The basketball public is only beginning to catch on how good Aaron Craft can be at point guard, on both ends. There is lavish sophomore potential in Deshaun Thomas and savvy senior leadership in William Buford, who just started his 105th game.
The Buckeyes are an accomplished team on defense, and Thad Matta is steadily pushing his program toward the upper elite, even if he is sometimes obscured by more glittering names. He's even 14-2 against Michigan. If he coached football and had that record, he could be governor.
What he needs, of course, is a national championship.
Matta cautions this team is trying to thrive with "a plethora of freshmen and sophomores." You don't see that very often. Not the freshmen and sophomore part, but a coach coming into a press conference and using the word "plethora."
Nor is he ready to go predicting big things.
"I don't do that anymore, because the last time I did that, the next game (All-American) Evan Turner broke his back," he said. "So we're still not very good."
Yes, they are, though this pounding must come with a disclaimer. It was the fourth game in nine days for each team. Duke's other three came five time zones away in Hawaii, against Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee. Ohio State did not leave its zip code in breezing past North Florida, VMI and Valparaiso.
Krzyzewski said his team played tired, and he looked weary himself. Though fatigue from a self-made schedule can't be an excuse, and he didn't try to use it as one. "Maybe," he said, "we don't beat them, anyway."
Conclusions? Ohio State is formidable, and Duke will be fine, especially as spectacularly gifted freshman Rivers finds his college legs. Many might wince at more Blue Devils' fortune, and that's OK.
But hate them? Look around.