Beating Duke. So Easy The Twerps Can Do It...Twice

Beating Duke. So easy a Caveman can do it was one of the many clever signs in College Park the last time Duke played Maryland and consequently lost 72-60. Dating back to the 2004 ACC Tournament Final, Duke has now lost 5 of the last 7 against Maryland. I think it's fair to say that they have Duke's number. Gary Williams always gets them up to play at Cameron and last night was no different. The Twerps executed their game plan to perfection putting 85 on the board against an historic defensive team in the Dukies. What can I say? They are a terrible matchup for Duke. An athletic backcourt with a number of adequate, front court options. If you look at all 8 Duke losses this season, all of them have come to teams with much more athletic backcourts.

Mike Jones, who?, had 25 points last night. For most of his career, he's been hit or miss, with the latter happening much more. But, when he gets going, Maryland is virtually unstoppable and they proved it last night. This clown Vasquez, who is going to be a solid player, is easily becoming my most hated person in college basketball right now. Really, the difference in this game was experience. Maryland has a ton of Seniors and right now, they are on a mission. They will beat NC State at home this weekend and fulfill the prophecy of DJ Strawberry before the first Duke game that they would win 7 straight games.

Greg Paulus, although Vasquez presents matchup problems for him, continues to be fantastic shooting the ball. Sheyer heated up late but he didn't get enough touches at the end of the game. Gerald Henderson is beginning to show signs that he will be the go-to guy come next year. He is much too talented offensively to be scoring 5 points a game. Brian Zoubek, for the most part, played inspired basketball but it's tough for him to succeed down the stretch when he's never gotten big time late minutes before. Josh McRoberts wasn't on Planet Earth last night. There are games where his mind just isn't there and last night was one of them. I can't believe they didn't go into McRoberts in the post more. He dominated them in the loss on Feb. 11th.

Here's why I'm not really upset with the loss last night. First, Duke ran up against one of the hottest teams in the country and couple that with their own personal hatred for Duke then I don't care where they play, it will be a struggle. Second, even if Duke had won, they would've had to beat UNC and had Maryland lose at home on their Senior Day against NC State to get 5th in the ACC. The reports that Duke still had a shot at the 4th spot and a bye were completely overblown. For that to have happened, Duke would've had to sweep and BC, and only BC, would've had to lose their final two games. If UVA and VA Tech had lost their remaining games, they would've still had the tiebreaker over Duke head-to-head since they beat Duke and played them only once this season. So, really the difference between finishing 5th or 6th in the conference means nothing to me. Instead of playing Miami in the 1st Round of the ACC Tournament, they'll play Wake Forest, a game they should win. Then, instead of playing BC, they'll probably play Virginia, who I would love to have another shot against after that heartbreaking loss on Feb. 1st.

Next up for Duke is North Carolina in the Dean Dome on their Senior Day. Talk about a tough game. I love Duke and expect them to come out and fight but it would be nothing short of being a homer picking them to win. They have a shot but everything better go right. Let's do to them what they did to us last year and that's ruin Senior Night. Even if Duke goes down, all they really have to do to lock themselves into a high seed (I mean a #5 or less) is win in the 1st Round of the ACC Tournament. Two wins would be nice and reasonable.

Prediction: Duke plays hard and leaves it all on the court. Ahhh, what the hell, Duke 69 UNC 68