Duke Sucks (a Coach K retrospective)

[eball]

I mean, I’ve kept pretty quiet on this front all season but now it’s time to call Coach K what he is…an arrogant whiner and sore loser who wouldn’t know sportsmanship and personal accountability if it bit him in the arse.  Since the early 80s he has gotten cream of the crop recruits and while he managed to win 5 national championships arguably no coach has ever done less with more — and he did it while whining the whole time.  You want to talk about character?  This is a coach whose players are known as much for their cheap shots and dirty play as they are for their talent (Laettner, Henderson, Allen).  He also hung an assistant coach out to dry during a season in which he knew he had a subpar team and chose to leave with “back issues.”  He actually petitioned the NCAA to have losses expunged from his coaching record that season; arrogance personified.  Now, did he embrace the 3-pt shot more quickly than others?  Yes, I’ll give him credit for that.  The guy can coach.  He emphasized tight man-to-man defense and took advantage of a home court that probably adds 10 points per game.

 

Coach K announcing his retirement a year early and then going on the “praise me” tour this season was as absurd as it was predictable.  Look no farther than down the road in Chapel Hill where Dean Smith and Roy Williams — K’s equals in every way — retired at the conclusion of their seasons, and their celebrations were conducted in house without detracting from their team’s environment.

 

Recently we’ve been hit in the face with Duke’s “The Brotherhood” marketing campaign — clearly and unmistakably initiated to compete with the 100% organic “Carolina Family” with which all college basketball fans are familiar.  Nice try coming from a program that may be the all-time leader in “one-and-done” players; yeah, I’m sure those guys who spent fewer than 300 days on the Duke campus feel that bond of brothers for life.

 

And then there was last Saturday night.  Oh, how glorious that was, first watching the Dookies self-destruct in the 2nd half to be blown out by their fiercest rivals, and then seeing Coach K blame his players by telling the packed house at Cameron their effort was “not acceptable.”  Not a single word congratulating the opponent until his press conference hours later.  It was cringeworthy and I loved every minute of it.  His assistant coach and former player Chris Carrawell deliberately ignored UNC coach Hubert Davis in the handshake line, and then after being called out over social media claimed it was because UNC didn’t “honor” Coach K in Chapel Hill earlier in the season.  Hey, when you learn from the master of pettiness it comes easy.

 

It’s so easy being on the “right” side of a rivalry.  Goodbye, Coach K — I’m counting on your team to exit the NCAAs before Final Four weekend so we can finally put this chapter to rest and see which path Jon Scheyer chooses.  Hubert Davis — coaching a team FAR less talented — already has the signature win of his career in a karmic victory of all-time.

 

Dook Sucks.

 

P.S.  Absolutely loved the shots of the crying fans in the stands.

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by eball

[K-9]

The jealousy and bitterness ooze from every word. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

I always wondered if Mr. Bookman from the NYC Library posted here. 🤔

[eball]

3 hours ago, K-9 said:

The jealousy and bitterness ooze from every word. 

Jealousy of what exactly? I’ve enjoyed 5 Tar Heel championships over the same timeframe. Why don’t you point out where I’m wrong instead. 

[Back2Buff]

A strange thread indeed.

[K-9]

17 minutes ago, eball said:

Jealousy of what exactly? I’ve enjoyed 5 Tar Heel championships over the same timeframe. Why don’t you point out where I’m wrong instead. 

I can’t point out where you’re wrong because opinions aren’t subject to a right or wrong standard. You hate Duke and coach K. Fine. I was just pointing out how your post was seems to drip with petty bitterness and envy. That’s just my opinion. Regardless, coach K’s record as the all time winningest coach in the game stands on its own. It’s understandable how that fact might fill the hearts of Tar Heel fans with acrimony. I guess it’s easier for some to hurl insults and hatred rather than tip their hats. 

[Steve O]

2 minutes ago, Back2Buff said:

A strange thread indeed.

Thinking the same thing but this is an off Bills Topic page during the off season so I guess anything goes. That being said, guessing the OP isn't a huge Bobby Knight fan either...

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Thinking the same thing but this is an off Bills Topic page during the off season so I guess anything goes. That being said, guessing the OP isn't a huge Bobby Knight fan either...

Mother Theresa...Coach K.......................................................................Bobby Knight...Hitler.

In descending order, and it's all relative.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Augie]

16 minutes ago, eball said:

Jealousy of what exactly? I’ve enjoyed 5 Tar Heel championships over the same timeframe. Why don’t you point out where I’m wrong instead. 

 

I have a serious UNC bias. My boys went to hoops camp there every summer. When the older boy was in camp I’d take the younger son to the planetarium every day for great shows. Then we would walk around Chapel Hill and the campus, have lunch and hit a pub with arcade games. we both had a blast!  Beautiful school! After a few years I’d take the younger son and his friends to camp there. I think I spent one week in the summer there for six straight years. 

 

While in the area I’d go to visit Duke on occasion.  The campus could be described as impressive. It could also be called formally stuffy with a pompous feel. (Much like Coach K.) The opposite of UNC Chapel Hill’s comfortable, homey feel. Somehow we wandered into the administrative area to find kids with heat stroke sweating half conscious lying on slippery leather sofas. While the UNC hoops camp used several gyms (admittedly without AC) on campus and local schools, Duke had many of the kids playing in the sun on blacktop. NOT good. 

 

One thing I’ll give Duke credit for is keeping Cameron Indoor open to the public. I never found that iconic venue to be locked. It was VERY cool for the kids to walk that floor and stand at the free throw line thinking about all the special moments that took place in that very spot. The arena in Chapel Hill was pretty generic by comparison, but my older son did get to play a game with some of the top players from a a Final Four quality team. THAT was pretty cool. 

[Teddy KGB]

Coach K sucks.      A fraud who quits when his team isn’t stacked.   
 

Not sure why ESPN rides so hard for him.  

[BADOLBILZ]

10 hours ago, eball said:

I mean, I’ve kept pretty quiet on this front all season but now it’s time to call Coach K what he is…an arrogant whiner and sore loser who wouldn’t know sportsmanship and personal accountability if it bit him in the arse.  Since the early 80s he has gotten cream of the crop recruits and while he managed to win 5 national championships arguably no coach has ever done less with more — and he did it while whining the whole time.  You want to talk about character?  This is a coach whose players are known as much for their cheap shots and dirty play as they are for their talent (Laettner, Henderson, Allen).  He also hung an assistant coach out to dry during a season in which he knew he had a subpar team and chose to leave with “back issues.”  He actually petitioned the NCAA to have losses expunged from his coaching record that season; arrogance personified.  Now, did he embrace the 3-pt shot more quickly than others?  Yes, I’ll give him credit for that.  The guy can coach.  He emphasized tight man-to-man defense and took advantage of a home court that probably adds 10 points per game.

 

Coach K announcing his retirement a year early and then going on the “praise me” tour this season was as absurd as it was predictable.  Look no farther than down the road in Chapel Hill where Dean Smith and Roy Williams — K’s equals in every way — retired at the conclusion of their seasons, and their celebrations were conducted in house without detracting from their team’s environment.

 

Recently we’ve been hit in the face with Duke’s “The Brotherhood” marketing campaign — clearly and unmistakably initiated to compete with the 100% organic “Carolina Family” with which all college basketball fans are familiar.  Nice try coming from a program that may be the all-time leader in “one-and-done” players; yeah, I’m sure those guys who spent fewer than 300 days on the Duke campus feel that bond of brothers for life.

 

And then there was last Saturday night.  Oh, how glorious that was, first watching the Dookies self-destruct in the 2nd half to be blown out by their fiercest rivals, and then seeing Coach K blame his players by telling the packed house at Cameron their effort was “not acceptable.”  Not a single word congratulating the opponent until his press conference hours later.  It was cringeworthy and I loved every minute of it.  His assistant coach and former player Chris Carrawell deliberately ignored UNC coach Hubert Davis in the handshake line, and then after being called out over social media claimed it was because UNC didn’t “honor” Coach K in Chapel Hill earlier in the season.  Hey, when you learn from the master of pettiness it comes easy.

 

It’s so easy being on the “right” side of a rivalry.  Goodbye, Coach K — I’m counting on your team to exit the NCAAs before Final Four weekend so we can finally put this chapter to rest and see which path Jon Scheyer chooses.  Hubert Davis — coaching a team FAR less talented — already has the signature win of his career in a karmic victory of all-time.

 

Dook Sucks.

 

P.S.  Absolutely loved the shots of the crying fans in the stands.

 

 

 

 

 

Agree........coach K blows.

[Steptide]

Im excited to see Duke suck in the coming years. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 minutes ago, Steptide said:

Im excited to see Duke suck in the coming years. 

With the Canadian Tire off-season gig secured, Mr. Williams will fare quite well in Regina, Saskatchewan.  Haters gonna hate. 🤨

[eball]

58 minutes ago, K-9 said:

I can’t point out where you’re wrong because opinions aren’t subject to a right or wrong standard. You hate Duke and coach K. Fine. I was just pointing out how your post was seems to drip with petty bitterness and envy. That’s just my opinion. Regardless, coach K’s record as the all time winningest coach in the game stands on its own. It’s understandable how that fact might fill the hearts of Tar Heel fans with acrimony. I guess it’s easier for some to hurl insults and hatred rather than tip their hats. 

You clearly don’t know much about the Carolina-Duke rivalry or Coach K’s origins. He’s as petty and self-serving of a coach as there has ever been. Envy? LOL. I wouldn’t want to trade places with a Duke fan for anything. I can count far many more “big” Carolina wins vs. K than the opposite. I despise Duke like anyone despises their rival, and I can feel proud about how my team’s coaches have conducted themselves (we will agree to forget about that little Matt Doherty hiccup).  The K retirement tour was ridiculous and couldn’t have ended with more poetic justice. 
 

[Rico]

11 hours ago, eball said:

I mean, I’ve kept pretty quiet on this front all season but now it’s time to call Coach K what he is…an arrogant whiner and sore loser who wouldn’t know sportsmanship and personal accountability if it bit him in the arse.  Since the early 80s he has gotten cream of the crop recruits and while he managed to win 5 national championships arguably no coach has ever done less with more — and he did it while whining the whole time.  You want to talk about character?  This is a coach whose players are known as much for their cheap shots and dirty play as they are for their talent (Laettner, Henderson, Allen).  He also hung an assistant coach out to dry during a season in which he knew he had a subpar team and chose to leave with “back issues.”  He actually petitioned the NCAA to have losses expunged from his coaching record that season; arrogance personified.  Now, did he embrace the 3-pt shot more quickly than others?  Yes, I’ll give him credit for that.  The guy can coach.  He emphasized tight man-to-man defense and took advantage of a home court that probably adds 10 points per game.

 

Coach K announcing his retirement a year early and then going on the “praise me” tour this season was as absurd as it was predictable.  Look no farther than down the road in Chapel Hill where Dean Smith and Roy Williams — K’s equals in every way — retired at the conclusion of their seasons, and their celebrations were conducted in house without detracting from their team’s environment.

 

Recently we’ve been hit in the face with Duke’s “The Brotherhood” marketing campaign — clearly and unmistakably initiated to compete with the 100% organic “Carolina Family” with which all college basketball fans are familiar.  Nice try coming from a program that may be the all-time leader in “one-and-done” players; yeah, I’m sure those guys who spent fewer than 300 days on the Duke campus feel that bond of brothers for life.

 

And then there was last Saturday night.  Oh, how glorious that was, first watching the Dookies self-destruct in the 2nd half to be blown out by their fiercest rivals, and then seeing Coach K blame his players by telling the packed house at Cameron their effort was “not acceptable.”  Not a single word congratulating the opponent until his press conference hours later.  It was cringeworthy and I loved every minute of it.  His assistant coach and former player Chris Carrawell deliberately ignored UNC coach Hubert Davis in the handshake line, and then after being called out over social media claimed it was because UNC didn’t “honor” Coach K in Chapel Hill earlier in the season.  Hey, when you learn from the master of pettiness it comes easy.

 

It’s so easy being on the “right” side of a rivalry.  Goodbye, Coach K — I’m counting on your team to exit the NCAAs before Final Four weekend so we can finally put this chapter to rest and see which path Jon Scheyer chooses.  Hubert Davis — coaching a team FAR less talented — already has the signature win of his career in a karmic victory of all-time.

 

Dook Sucks.

 

P.S.  Absolutely loved the shots of the crying fans in the stands.

 

 

 

Awesome post! … but I will say Dean Smith was also a big POS. 

[eball]

7 minutes ago, Rico said:

Awesome post! … but I will say Dean Smith was also a big POS. 

You’ll have to enlighten me on that one. Dean was a civil rights advocate and I can’t think of a single thing he did (besides win a lot of basketball games) that would cause anyone to say that. He was accused of receiving favorable treatment from referees, as is every dominant coach.  He personified good sportsmanship and respect, and demanded it from his players. In my opinion he is a true icon deserving of admiration and respect. 
 

[Rico]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

You’ll have to enlighten me on that one. Dean was a civil rights advocate and I can’t think of a single thing he did (besides win a lot of basketball games) that would cause anyone to say that. He was accused of receiving favorable treatment from referees, as is every dominant coach.  He personified good sportsmanship and respect, and demanded it from his players. In my opinion he is a true icon deserving of admiration and respect. 
 

Three words: four corners zzzzzzzz

[eball]

5 minutes ago, Rico said:

Three words: four corners zzzzzzzz

Ok, you didn’t like his strategy. That’s cool. But he’s no POS. 
 

[Rico]

2 minutes ago, eball said:

Ok, you didn’t like his strategy. That’s cool. But he’s no POS. 
 

Character-wise, no. Ruining the game, yes. 
 

But I will always take NC over Duke every time.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Rico

[Jauronimo]

32 minutes ago, Rico said:

Awesome post! … but I will say Dean Smith was also a big POS. 

When your full-time, multi-million dollar job is to lure 18 year old boys into your ginger bread house, you're probably a scumbag.