Duke deserved the national title. There is no denying that. But if you can't admit that going in Duke's bracket was really weak then we are wasting our time discussing it with you. Purdue was missing their best player, Villanova was an awful 2 seed and had no business being there. Baylor never beat anyone good all year, and beat mid majors to get to Duke. It was a weak bracket. Duke took care of business though and they beat 2 great teams in the Final 4.

 

This.

Come on RP, Duke wasn't off the map but they had fallen off over the last 4 or 5 years. At the early part of this decade it seemed that Duke was one of, if not THE title favorite every year. You have to admit they had some years where they seemed less invincible. And I'm about the least biased towards Duke UK fan that you will find.

 

What's 4-5 years though? In those years they still hit an elite eight, a couple sweet 16's, were ranked #1 at points during the season, won the ACC.....they didn't get to the Final Four, but they've been to three in the last ten years, that's now bad, winning two titles. They seemed primed to be very good next season as well.

I know this is a Duke thread, and again I don't like them, but what were they supposed to do-lose to the team in front of them? Point 3-I think that is a matter of opinion. Many on BGP picked Baylor to come out of that region so they must not have been too bad. Point 4-that is the point of the tournament. You handle your business-win and advance. Point 5-I don't care who they beat in the finals. They won it, and Butler to me was the second best team in the country last year. I think they proved that in the tournament. I think your points prove the jealousy factor towards Duke. The bottom line is Kentucky did not advance to the level they were projected to by the committee in 2010, so they had the letdown, not Duke.

 

You must have just gone straight to my numbered points, because I gave them credit for taking care of business. I just said that they took advantage of lucky breaks. Would Duke have beat UK? Quite possibly. But could they have beated UK and Kansas consecutively? I highly doubt it.

Not taking anything away from Duke- they were maybe the best TEAM this season. Most talented? 100% no. They did what all champions do, and that's win games you're supposed to win and catch a few lucky breaks. Only it seemed this season Duke caught more than one lucky break.

1. Get a #1 seed which was highly questionable

2. Someone blew up the S-curve and Duke was dealth the weakest #2 seed

3. The rest of their bracket was turrible

4. Took advantage of WVU beating UK

5. Beat a cinderella in the title game

 

Like I said, they took care of business, but business was good to them.

 

Only one team cut'em down, and it was Duke, beating 4 ranked teams on the way to the title....they played Baylor in Houston, and Butler in Indy....they earned the title.

So where is the line of demarcation? My birth year is 1963. I believe yours is about 10 years later.

 

What about the guy on the site whose birth year is '53? He's been around to see an undefeated UK team ('54) which is a greater year than any team except UNC (1), UCLA (4 X), IU (1) or San Francisco (1) has seen.

 

Truth is that we can throw them all in a hat and talk history/shop and come up with answers as to why "our" team is better than "your" team arguments. I mean if it's just lifetimes then in mine UK has won more conference titles, had more tourney appearances, and trails in titles by only 1 to the Blue Devils thanks to this years Duke team.

 

The premise of the thread was a jealousy of Duke. I'm far from jealous. I acknowledge what they've accomplished. Like any fan, I will not admit to a Duke Superiority over UK just like a good Duke fan will not admit to a UNC superiority over the Dukies. :thumb:

It's not a definitive line per-se, but I certainly can't be jealous of something I wasn't around to be jealous of. Since 1977, (when I was born), Duke has certainly been one of the very best teams in the land, and they look up to nobody during that span.

Only one team cut'em down, and it was Duke, beating 4 ranked teams on the way to the title....they played Baylor in Houston, and Butler in Indy....they earned the title.

 

No doubt they earned it. Not debating that point. Just saying that got a lot more help than normal.

Again, if Duke falling off consists of losing in round 2 twice and losing in the Sweet 16 3 times in the last 3 years then cool. That makes UK, UConn, UCLA, and UNC dead as they have all been in the NIT once in the last 5 years. It's all good.

 

 

Just kidding with my boy Cats people, just some bantering amongst friends. Don't take it too seriously.

 

And yes, Cats is easily the least biased about Duke while being a UK fan. I can vouch for that.

 

I think I'm right up there with him...:lol: Heck, multiple Duke players past are amongst my favorites of all-time.

I think I'm right up there with him...:lol: Heck, multiple Duke players past are amongst my favorites of all-time.

 

I agree with this.

I have read a lot of your posts and have found you to be reasonable in every one that I have read. I mean that. But I am sincere when I say that you cannot base the school history or your history. I have done that myself. My father explained to me that Duke lost to UK in 1966 in the Nat semis and, had they won, all white Duke would have played Texas Western down the Glory Road instead of UK and maybe we would not have been looked upon as the bad guys in the movie. I was four then and unaware of that. I personally, at 16, watched James Lee dunk the last shot on Duke in the 1978 Championship game for a 94-88 victory only to lose to Gminski and co. the next year. They all count. Twenty years from now all these games this March will seem less impo and will be "dead yesterdays" to the young who have yet to be born. No disrespect intended because not many Duke fans who won the national title after losing Wall to the cats the same year could keep from letting us have it over and over. Just something to think about.

I have read a lot of your posts and have found you to be reasonable in every one that I have read. I mean that. But I am sincere when I say that you cannot base the school history or your history. I have done that myself. My father explained to me that Duke lost to UK in 1966 in the Nat semis and, had they won, all white Duke would have played Texas Western down the Glory Road instead of UK and maybe we would not have been looked upon as the bad guys in the movie. I was four then and unaware of that. I personally, at 16, watched James Lee dunk the last shot on Duke in the 1978 Championship game for a 94-88 victory only to lose to Gminski and co. the next year. They all count. Twenty years from now all these games this March will seem less impo and will be "dead yesterdays" to the young who have yet to be born. No disrespect intended because not many Duke fans who won the national title after losing Wall to the cats the same year could keep from letting us have it over and over. Just something to think about.

 

Again, no one is question UK's place in history....the thought of "Envy our Past", is something I can't do....while I respect their past, and their accomplishments, I wasn't there, I didn't have the ability to envy it.

I think I'm right up there with him...:lol: Heck, multiple Duke players past are amongst my favorites of all-time.

 

I'll give you that. You two are definitely reasonable when discussing Duke. I have had many more conversations with Cats so I had to give him the nod. I talked him into rooting for Duke in person at the preseason NIT at the Garden last year.:sssh:

I'll give you that. You two are definitely reasonable when discussing Duke. I have had many more conversations with Cats so I had to give him the nod. I talked him into rooting for Duke in person at the preseason NIT at the Garden last year.:sssh:

 

Hey man, the Duke fans we sat beside at the game were cool. They didn't even give us much garbage about being UK fans. But, the UConn fans on the other hand....... :thumb:

Again, no one is question UK's place in history....the thought of "Envy our Past", is something I can't do....while I respect their past, and their accomplishments, I wasn't there, I didn't have the ability to envy it.

 

This was for PurplePride. The new stuff is confusing.

He had a post way back and I did not enclose it correctly. My bad.

I think I'm right up there with him...:lol: Heck, multiple Duke players past are amongst my favorites of all-time.

 

Same here...big fan of Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, and Jayson Williams to name three. On the flispide, they've had a few (like Wojo) that I could not stand.

 

In the tournament, I think Duke benefitted more from avoiding the three teams that I felt would have been terrible matchups for them (UK, KU and Syracuse). But, that's how it goes. Those teams didn't make it and Duke did. RP is correct. They earned the title and deserve to revel in it. I know I'm going to when UK finally wins another. And, who they play to get there won't mean a thing to me.