Belmont got yhe short end of it in the game against Duke. Here's a video clip of a call late in the game that saved Duke. The quality is not real good, but you can see what happened.

Belmont vs Duke

wow, ONE call makes or breaks an entire game? not sure I would go that far. Yea it was a definite missed call, but put the whole game on video and count from the start the missed calls. There is no such thing as luck in sports!

That's okay. They got bit back by West Virginia today and ousted.

I love Duke but if you look at the last few NCAA tournaments they have not had a lot of success recently. I can't remember the last time they made an Elite 8 or Final Four.

They are not recruiting the same type of players they did in the past.

I wouldn't say that, just now they're leaving for the NBA before they reach their maximum at Duke.

Elton Brand was the first to leave Duke for the NBA, I believe.

Before when they would recruit these guys they'd get them for four years, now they're getting them for less.

Brand was a while ago. He has not been recruiting the tougher urban kids that may split and go to the NBA anymore. Look at the kids on that current team, are any of those going to have a chance in the NBA? More than likely not. The story is when Brand, Maggette, and that last crew left and went to the NBA he was really hurt/mad and is not recruiting that type of athlete currently.

He needs to get over it and get back to his old ways or he's going to be seeing a lot of 1 or 2 and done in the NCAA.

I strongly agree with what you say. It's like Duke's team is now made up of hard working guys who don't really have a lot of talent. In the late 90's and early 00's they had guys like Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Elton Brand on every team. French543 is right on when he says they have nobody on this team right now who will be successful in the NBA or even make it to the NBA.

They beat North Carolina this year folks, at North Carolina! You guys are acting like they are the Cubs of college hoops or something. They won an insane amount of games this year and spent the entire season in the top 10. What is wrong with that season? WV is not a terrible team to lose to at all. They do have one of the best coaches in college basketball. They continue to recruit the good classroom kinda kids they always have, but they have underachieved a little as players. Coach K can take a normal small town little white kid, and make him into a conference leader in assist, steals, TO to ASSIST ratio, etc... The man doesn't want a bunch of Duke Lacrosse thugs. He wants men who want to go on and make something of themselves and not wind up playing for the Rimrockers or something.

1. He is a great coach, never said he wasn't.
2. I'm not buying the "underachiever" tag. He's getting what he's recruiting. Good players, good students, and more than likely good people. BUT, not necessarily great players and future NBA players like he had when he was winning championships.

If he continue to do what he's doing right now and have a good record, rank well, but I don't think he's going to see a lot of rings doing it.

you're forgetting they beat UNC when UNC was WITHOUT Ty Lawson. They wouldn't have won that game had Lawson been playing....anybody that has watched NC play this year knows the wide gap between their starting and backup point guards.

Bearbait, you make some great points. I respect Coach K more than any coach in any sport. I think you are right when you say that he recruits good kids and I am all about that. All I am saying is that even though Duke was in the Top 10 for most of the year, it seems like the level of talent at Duke has diminished over the years. I love the Greg Paulus' and Steve Wujokwoskis' ( I am sure I spelled that wrong), but those kind of players compliment the superstars. It seems like Duke's whole team is now made up of players like these. Don't misunderstand me, these players are great, but they need more Trajan Langdon's, Corey Maggete's, and Luol Deng's.

They haven't won a March Madness ring in a handful of years, but they still haven't had to settle for the NIT, they still get the best student athlete McDonald All-Americans every year, and the coach has over 800 wins in his career.
There are a lot of great coaches that have what they consider average years(top 10, 20+ wins, top 3 ranking in tournament). I think Coach Pel is a great coach, but our great year was a 9th seed, 20+ wins, and 2nd in the conference on our side). Not really a comparison. I would love to take Duke's average seasons at Arkansas. The thing with Duke is they win every year, and every year people jump on the hate wagon more and more. It comes with winning. Roy always had mediocre seasons at Kansas. Give him a couple of years to let the newness wear off at NC and he will be having the Duke type seasons as well. Remember Duke went from 92 into the 2000's before winning another championship, and all the Duke haters were saying the same things then. Watch Out!!!

You can't compare Arkansas and Duke in college basketball, though. Duke has so much more tradition, exposure, talent and prestige than Arkansas. Yeah we had a solid program under Nolan but Duke is in another stratosphere.

Not really trying to compare the 2 as much as I was just saying that people love to hate on Duke and say they xxxx, but I WOULD LOVE TO BE THAT GOOD year in and year out!!! They beat UNC this year! With our without a player it doesn't really matter, because 10 years from now people will remember that UNC lost a couple games and one of them was to Duke. We got killed by UNC! If there is any comparing at all it is in how much more I would love to see the Hogs beat UNC as opposed to Duke every year.

I say give Pel a couple years and then lets bring on UNC and give them back what they deserve for having the starters in with 1:18 left to go in the game!

Let's end this thread shall we! Duke's home, Belmont's home, let's send this thread to the house! Good stuff Falcon5! Let's talk on a different subject someday!