More Reasons to Hate Duke.....

Wow, so I haven't written here in two weeks? That's kind of bad form, isn't it? I guess I haven't had much inspiration lately. And yes, I'm aware, it's just a blog, you'd think it shouldn't take much to get me to write about something, ANYTHING. You'd think, at least. Apparently, that's the case though.

However, there was something that happened yesterday evening, that is getting more than it's share of press, and opinions written about it, that I couldn't resist. As most of you know, I hate all things Duke related. This is as much a function of my fandom for UNC as it is a product of just never really seeing much that I liked about Duke. Mind you, I didn't attend either school, nor did I grow up in, or near, North Carolina. It's just one of those things that's always been. I couldn't trace the exact roots of it if you paid me. It's just that simple.

So, as anyone who catches a glimpse of Sportscenter knows, yesterday Duke and UNC played their second game of the year at Chapel Hill, with not much more of importance on the line than the regular season ACC title for UNC (a nice to have, but not vital) and nothing but pride for Duke, (no comment).

Sporting a double digit lead with less than 20 seconds left, as you may have seen, one of Carolina's stars, Tyler Hansbrough, was shooting free throws. He missed them both. He got his own offensive board, because a) he's kind of crazy, and rebounds anything that moves, regardless of the situation and b) Duke isn't a good rebounding team. Having secured a rebound 3 feet from the hoop, he did the rational thing: He tried to put it back in. The hoop would have been meaningless, as the game was basically decided.

That's when a lot of stuff starting flying. Gerald Henderson through the air. His forearm into Hansbrough's face. Blood from Hansbrough's nose. A lot of empty explanations and lies. And defense of the action from the typical Duke apologists.

In short form, Henderson's blast through Hansbrough (a "hard foul" if your an apologist) got him tossed from the game, and a one game suspension to boot. After the game, Coach K said that it was unfortunate that there were still starters in the game at that point, and that his player (Henderson) wasn't trying to hurt anyone, b/c that's "not how Duke plays".

Here's my thoughts.

1) The whole thing was garbage. It was senior day, and with a little over a minute left, and still spoting a double digit lead, Williams had put back in Wes Miller, and left Rayshawn Terry (a third senior) in the game. Bobby Frasor (who also doesn't start) was in. The fact is, UNC is deep enough that they probably have 8 or 9 guys that would start at most of the programs in the country.
Duke was still pressing. Apparently, UNC was supposed to put the back end of it's roster in there and let the Black and Blue Devils pick their way back into it. I forgot that it's in the ACC bylaws that Duke is entitled every extra-ordinary opportunity to win a game that it can't win based on talent, coaching, and execution.

2) Saying that Henderson wasn't trying to hurt anyone is like saying that Barry Bonds has never shoved a needle in his ass. Do I think he was trying to bludgeon Hansbrough out of the game? Doubtful. But, there are different levels of hurt, I think. There's the kind that knocks someone out of a game, then there's the "send a message" style. The message being that Carolina was going to try and score anymore with the game more than likely out of reach, then they were going to pay for those buckets with bumps and bruises. Remember, Coach K comes from the Bob Knight school of coaching. That would be the school of coaching that belittles refs, throws tantrums the sidelines, and takes losing as a personal insult. It's "old school" which is a polite way of saying "occasionally dirty" Which is what that foul was.

To that end, it was dirty, and should be treated as such. I don't think that a one game suspension is enough, and it certainly won't deter it from happening again. It wasn't the first UNC player bloodied by a Dukie, and it won't be the last. However, I give the Dean Dome fans, and the UNC players, a lot of credit for not exacting any physical revenge. As Henderson was exiting, it would have been easy for the fans to throw things other than insults at him. They didn't. And, with only 14 seconds left, Carolina could have afforded to send a little used player in there to take a shot at a Duke player, but they didn't. I would have liked to see Roy Williams get a little more fired up over the whole incident, especially when he had a chance to give Coach K an earful while the officials were reviewing the tape. Then again, Roy also had the satisfaction of knowing that he's taken 4 of 5 from Duke, and that with the relative talent levels of the past two years recruiting classes, he's in good shape to take 4 of the next 5. That would be the best revenge of all.