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Let's see, for starters as a UCLA alum, I just get sick of all the incessant hype that compares Coach K with John Wooden. Anyone with any semblance of basketball knowledge or even common sense will at least acknowledge that 10 (the # of championships won by Wooden's teams) is much greater than 3 (the # won by K).

Yet, all the Duke honks in the national media and elsewhere seemed ready to anoint Coach K for sainthood when he surpassed John Wooden's total number of Final Four APPEARANCES. Given the huge disparity in national championships between Wooden and K, that indicates that when the pressure was on and the spotlight shined brightest, Wooden's teams came through nearly every time, while K's teams have choked more often than not. Wooden's Final Four record was 21-3, while K has barely a .500 record in the Final Four.

This year's tank job is yet another indicator that Duke's players, for all of their All-American pedigrees, seem to have the same sense of misplaced entitlement that many of their fans do. Just a bunch of spoiled and coddled athletes with no heart and no willingness to do the dirty work necessary for the TEAM to win in crunch time. Yet, the hype machine that accompanies the program has been all too willing to overlook those shortcomings, although two early NCAA exits in a row seems to have finally awakened the national media to what most fans have known all along -- that Duke is a choker's program, always has been and always will be.

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Posted By: William Haynes @ 03/25/2008 10:55:01 PM

I don't even hate Duke anymore. I'd send my son to play there in a heartbeat. Or, at least I thought I would. If the author is representative of the contemporary Duke student, I'd want my son to play for Stanford instead!
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Posted By: Woochifer @ 03/25/2008 3:25:16 AM

Yeah, we all wish our teams don't make it out of the NCAA tournament opening weekend! Duke's not winning, so all that arrogance/confidence is obviously misplaced.
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Posted By: Woochifer @ 03/25/2008 3:20:50 AM

Let's see, for starters as a UCLA alum, I just get sick of all the incessant hype that compares Coach K with John Wooden. Anyone with any semblance of basketball knowledge or even common sense will at least acknowledge that 10 (the # of championships won by Wooden's teams) is much greater than 3 (the # won by K).

Yet, all the Duke honks in the national media and elsewhere seemed ready to anoint Coach K for sainthood when he surpassed John Wooden's total number of Final Four APPEARANCES. Given the huge disparity in national championships between Wooden and K, that indicates that when the pressure was on and the spotlight shined brightest, Wooden's teams came through nearly every time, while K's teams have choked more often than not. Wooden's Final Four record was 21-3, while K has barely a .500 record in the Final Four.

This year's tank job is yet another indicator that Duke's players, for all of their All-American pedigrees, seem to have the same sense of misplaced entitlement that many of their fans do. Just a bunch of spoiled and coddled athletes with no heart and no willingness to do the dirty work necessary for the TEAM to win in crunch time. Yet, the hype machine that accompanies the program has been all too willing to overlook those shortcomings, although two early NCAA exits in a row seems to have finally awakened the national media to what most fans have known all along -- that Duke is a choker's program, always has been and always will be.