Duke Buries Wake

Duke defeated Wake Forest 62-40 in one of the worst college basketball games of all time. I mean, how bad was that 2nd Half? Duke sat on 39 points for about 7 minutes and they still won by 22!! Greg Paulus continued his resurgence at point guard by scoring 17 points, including hitting 5 big 3-pointers to spark an otherwise dismal Blue Devil offense.

Now, I have been accused my many as being a "bandwagon" fan. To those people, all I can say is "Erroneous, erroneous on all counts!!!" I am a REALIST and I tell it how it is. If a player sucks on a given night, I will call them out. If a player plays at a high level, I will praise them. Bandwagon? Please, I have been with this team longer than anyone who reads this blog combined. Sure, I've had the luxury of enjoying three championships but I stayed by this team when Coach K took off a year and finished in last place of the ACC. Where were all of you? I endured back to back heartbreaking losses in the 1998 and 1999 Tournaments, each of which Duke blew huge leads in the process. Where were all of you? I love Duke, I bleed the royal blue. BUT, I am a realist. Duke will NOT win the NCAA Tournament this year, that's a guarantee. I believe they will make the tournament but they don't have the talent and experience to go all the way. I would love to be proven wrong but I most likely won't be. Next year is their year. This year is all about getting better.

Greg Paulus has been terrific the last couple of games. He was terrible against VA Tech and Georgia Tech. I never jumped off of the Duke bandwagon or his bandwagon. I did say that they may need to consider benching him if he doesn't regain his confidence because his play was hurting the team as a whole. Remember, when you root for a team, you are essentially rooting for the uniform. Paulus or McRoberts or even Pocius can get hit by an elephant tomorrow and I will still love Duke. It's not about the individual player, it's about the program, it's about the team. So, don't for one second call me out as being a bandwagon fan. Fans don't look at things with rose-colored glasses when it is so painfully obvious that this team doesn't have the type of talent like a Florida, a UNC, a Kansas, a UCLA, to legitimately compete at the highest stage. That's not bandwagon baby, that's realism with a capital R!

Back to the game. Even though it wasn't pretty, the Blue Devils did what they had to, they won the game and W's are what they need with a tough February coming up. Next up for Duke is NC State in Raleigh, which should be a tough game despite the disparity in talent between the two teams. State has been sitting the whole week waiting for Duke, watching tape and they are at home on national television. This is a tough game for Duke but I look for Duke to win, somewhat comfortably.

Prediction: Duke 65 NC State 57