Mar1

Coach K and Duke are having a hard time tasting their own medicine

College Basketball, Wild Fire 15 comments

Joe Harris - Virginia Cavaliers

Lance King/Getty Images North America

Joe Harris (12) and Virginia celebrate beating Coach K and Duke.

The Duke Blue Devils were beaten Thursday night by the Virginia Cavaliers 73-68.  But Virginia’s victory is being overshadowed by the controversy “Coach K” Mike Krzyzewski started, when during the post game press conference he insinuated that Virginia’s security was not appropriate in getting his team off the court while it was being stormed by Virginia fans.

But this video from thesabre.com clearly shows that Coach K and his team in fact did get off the court safely.

Maybe Krzyzewski is angry that he had to wait a few seconds for security to clear a path, or that the Virginia fans didn’t take a knee and bow as he and his team left the court.  But I don’t see a problem there with security.  I actually see security doing their jobs in escorting the team off the court in the excitement of fans celebrating.

Coach K graciously acknowledged Virginia for their win, and he may have stated that he wasn’t trying to take away from a great victory, but by publicly complaining about security, that’s exactly what he’s done.  And that’s a shame, because Virginia executed a brilliant game plan by coach Tony Bennett, and star shooting guard Joe Harris clearly outplayed Duke’s Mason Plumlee and other higher regarded Duke players.

I think this goes beyond a security problem, but what’s really going on here is that Coach K and Duke are finding this defeat a bitter pill to swallow.  Calls went against Duke, that normally goes in their favor, and Virginia didn’t simply roll over and die because Duke graced them with their presence.  They took the fight them and earned a hard-fought victory.

After years of Duke’s own “Cameron Crazies” harassing visiting teams with distasteful taunts and unruly behavior, it seems that Duke doesn’t like it very much when that treatment is returned to them in kind.  By blowing this issue out of proportion, Coach K has unwittingly brought even more attention to a surging Virginia program, and may have unintentionally started a heated rivalry between the teams that warrants close attention for the forseeable future.

 

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  • Tophatal

    Saturday’s game between the Blue Devils and Miami (Hurricanes) at Cameron Indoor Arena will tell us a great deal about this Duke team and their ACC ambitions and towards the NCAA Tournament . Canes’ coach Jim Larrinaga has this Canes’ team heading in the right direction and a win guarantees them the ACC regular season crown .

    I’ll be in Blue Devils’ country along with some work colleagues for the game itself .

    Krzyzewski in recent years his integrity has come into question , because of certain questions arising from his actions in visits and associating with potential recruits outside the windows allowed by the NCAA . And much of that comes down to the lack oversight with Infractions Committee as well as the various AD’s around the country . Simply at the ongoing investigation by the NCAA of the football program of the Miami Hurricanes and their association with the now incarcerated financier Nevin Shapiro . (Ponzi scheme )

    NCAA President Mark Emmert simply doesn’t get it , he’s almost as asinine as Goodell , Stern and Selig combined !

    • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

      Larrinaga has done an outstanding job at Miami, and it will be a fight against Duke. But I think the ACC refs will ensure Duke wins, since Coach K spent a large portion of the loss to Virginia complaining to the refs.

      And both Duke and North Carolina have considerable pull inside the NCAA that most teams don’t have. The NCAA has no interest in tarnishing the image of the “great” Coach K, so they don’t even bother.

      And you see that North Carolina has yet to recieve their due punishment for having a sports agent working on their football staff as the associate head coach under Butch Davis, and not to mention academic tutoring scandal. While Miami and others face the wrath of the NCAA, North Carolina eludes it.

      • Tophatal

        When it comes to impropriety and coaches having full access to a program , look no further than the Canes’ athletics’ program and the idiocy of AD Shawn Eichorst and university President Donna Shalala . NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is given full access to the campus but yet both of those idiot members of the faculty continue to act nonplussed !

        Roy Williams is no different from any other damn coach in college sports , as one time or another each of them will commit a mea-culpa and then seek to hide behind a lie . Then you have @ssholes such as Digger Phelps and Dick Vitale quickly jumping to their defense and defending the indefensible .

        Then you have the improprieties of Jim Calhoun and the Huskies’ program .

        The Paterno family are a bunch of indecent human beings who have not once sought to offer any sort of condolence to the victims of the families involved Sandusky’s venal acts. But yet there have been dumb a##holes within this forum seeking to defend the school and the ” so-called Paterno legacy ” !

        Even a dickhead such as Matt Millen who sat on the board of Second Mile the charity founded by Jerry Sandusky used to procure the majority of his victims. The former Lions’ executive was still seeking to defend the charity’s standing and that of Joe Paterno when evidence came to the fore concerning all of the malfeasance that was tangible evidence .

        Matt Millen doesn’t understand any part of jurisprudence but yet his dumb @ss was out there being critical of anyone and everyone who had anything bad to say about Penn State and it was the same with that moron Franco Harris a Nittany Lion alumni .

        Bobby Bowden while at FSU sat idly by while there allegations of not only recruitment violations , cheating and sexual assault accusations against his players and he claimed he didn’t know what had been going on . There are no longer any coaches at the collegiate level that can be trusted wholeheartedly to have any integrity or to be honest .

        Harris verbally disparaged NCAA President Mark Emmert in public because of the penalties levied by the NCAA against Penn State . Yet did Harris ever state he felt any condolence as to the acts perpetrated by Sandusky and the coverup executed by the school’s faculty . And now look at the state’s dumb governor Tom Corbett and he sat on the board of trustees who in principle agreed to the penalties brought against the school . All this being from a former state Attorney General as Corbett was and who stupidly almost messed up a prosecutorial case when he headed Attorney General’s Office in the now infamous Hershey School sexual abuse scandal and trial .

        Tophatal

        • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

          Money has a way making people choose to compromise their integrity. College athletics are supposed to be an amatuer endeavor, but the considerable entertainment aspects that generate billions of dollars each year from it, makes people justify the cheating that goes on.

          The Penn State scandal should have been the incident that made people take a step back and examine the state of how college athletics has been corrupted. But as you can see, it’s business as usual because people are still making money hand over fist regardless of the collateral damage that ensues.

          • Tophatal

            Maurice

            When has this nation ever taken a step back in light of a tragedy beyond 9/11 ? Hell there are idiots still refusing to acknowledge the hideousness of what took place in Newtown Conn , and also after Sandusky’s heinous and venal actions . So what makes you think that the NCAA would be any different ?

            . That collegiate body much like the US Congress and this Presidential administration, is being overseen and ran by a bunch of unsympathetic , uncaring ” a$s wipes” and the nation with its lame @ssed apathy will continue to follow suite !

            Tophatal ……………..

          • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

            I dont expect it to take a step back, it’s just an observation. But Penn State should have shut their program down to get their priorities in order. However, the freight train that is the business of sports in this country won’t stop for anybody, not even children being sexually assaulted and molested. Try to get in it’s way and it will just run you over. There’s too much money changing hands for people to want to stop the gravy train.

          • Tophatal

            Shutting down the program would not have been the solution . The right thing to have done at the time was to fire Paterno and then seek the immediate removal of the entire board of trustees , who enacted this coverup . As to Tom Corbett , a former attorney general and the state’s present governor , why the f##k is he still a member of the board of trustees ? As to their alumni association , hell wouldn’t the right place for them , because they are a bunch of f##king a##holes !

            Tophatal ……………….

  • Tophatal

    I attended the Duke Miami game at Cameron Indoor Arena with some work buddies who are alums of Duke and Miami respectively . Great part of the country to attend a college basketball game .

    • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

      The ACC has a great basketball tradition. I grew up on it. But part of the problem with the league is that everything is slanted for either Duke or North Caroliona to win it.

      The refs are biased to those schools and the ACC tournament is typically located in Greensboro, which is just a short drive from Durham and Chapel Hill.

      This is one of the main reasons I think the ACC has fallen behind other conferences. By catering to Duke and North Carolina and helping them stay on top, the ACC has weakened the other programs in the league.

      • Tophatal

        I believe that would apply to many of the more renowned programs not just within collegiate basketball , but also across the panacea of NCAA team sports . And of course , that is also now mirrored at the professional level . Look no further, than the NBA in the postseason , and what tends to take place there .

        Tophatal ………………..

        • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

          As much as I love basketball, that’s one of the things that I hate about the NBA. Typically, you already know who will be the champion before one game is played.

          In the ACC it’s an anomaly that anyone other than Duke or North Carolina will win that conference. The only reason Miami has a shot to win it is because they have so many seniors on that team.

          And even if Miami wins a share of the regular season title, the fact that the ACC tournament is in Greensboro again pretty much ensures that Duke will more than likely win that.

          • Tophatal

            The NCAA Tournament you rarely hear or see any major controversies concerning the officiating . However , can the same be said of the NBA postseason in recent years ?

            David Stern remains a pompous @ss , backing the referees to the hilt , even when they have made grave mistakes with questionable calls .

            Tophatal …….

          • http://fanonfiresportswire.com/ Maurice Barksdale

            In the NCAA Tournament there’s so much scrutiny, that it’s hard to for the referee’s to affect games that way, especially in the later rounds, where basically everyone is watching every call that’s made.

            In the NBA, since they have series and not single elimination games, it’s easier for referee’s to have an impact on the series.

            In the NCAA Tournament anything can happen in a given game, so upsets are more frequent. However, in the NBA if the higher seed loses early in a series, then a course correction can be made and the team essentailly gets a do over, and the NBA gets an opportunity to help the preferred team win through use of the refs.

          • Tophatal

            The NCAA can ill afford to have any controversy sully the integrity of the NCAA Tournament , and I believe that’s why the vast majority of basketball fans prefer the college game and specifically this tournament as being so special .

            In the NBA , David Stern will implicitly stand by the incompetence shown by the officials during the postseason ,even when they are making some grave mistakes . And we’ve seen the same imbecilic stupidity also being shown by Roger Goodell in the NFL !

            Tophatal …………….

  • Tophatal

    Dropped this on the weekend’s sports events , if at all interested ? Click on link to view .

    http://tophatal.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/pti-it-was-a-weekend-of-highs-and-lows-more-lows-than-highs-i-believe/

    Tophatal ………..

 
 
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