Problems at Duke?

This offseason mirrors the last wayyy too much for duke fans to like...Long. The Duke men's basketball team suffered another early round loss in 2008(much to my love). This has led to much speculation about Coach K's recent style of recruiting and coaching methods. After you get passed the recent lack of success(A.K.A. Chokes), you see that that freshman guard Taylor King has decided to jump ship and head to Villanova. Not a big deal right? Doesn't sound that alarming....wait a minute, didn't Duke lose someone last year? If you're asking that question...you are correct. King will be the 4th player in the last 3 years that Duke has lost via transfer. Something sounds a little fishy there I'd say.
Duke is one of the premier academic schools in the country. That alone right there would make you think people would want to stay...then you factor in the fact that it's one of the top 5 basketball schools in the country. They recruit the most McDonald's All Americans every year. They are always top 10 in the polls(deserving or not deserving). What would make a player want to leave?
The answer sits right on the bench calling players or barking and whining towards the officials(95% of the time). The great Coach K has not recruited a good big man in quite sometime now(and by good...I mean a big man with a complete game, not this Shelden Williams crap) and this has led to many tournament chokes since...well...he's HAD a good big man(boozer). Players are finally beginning to realize that if they go to Duke, they aren't going to win anything by just chucking up 3's every possession...and that's what Coach K thinks works now.
Coach K also doesn't develop a bench at all. This season was the deepest I've seen him go, and it was about 7 deep. That's a problem. Enough said.
Finally, the ESPN duke love fest is over, as people are realizing "wow these guys really aren't that good." Belmont WANTED to face duke as their 2 seed because they felt duke was the one they matched up best with. When was the last time you heard that a 15 seed WANTED to match up with Duke? Times are changing, and they're for the best:)

Brad Thibeau

Men's Lacrosse: Duke runs away with ACC regular-season title, tops UVa 19-9

Max Quinzani scored a career-high seven goals and Duke scored 10 straight goals to close the contest as the second-ranked Blue Devils defeated third-ranked Virginia, 19-9, in front of a record crowd of 8,000 fans at Klockner Stadium on Saturday night in Charlottesville, Va.

The Blue Devils improve to 12-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC while the Cavaliers fall to 10-2 overall and 1-2 in league play. Duke captures the ACC regular season title for the third time in four seasons and earns the top seed in the conference tournament slated for April 25 and 27 in Charlottesville. The Blue Devils will meet fourth-seeded North Carolina at 5:00 p.m. while second-seeded Maryland takes on third-seeded Virginia at 7:30 p.m.

Tim Seames

BC Wins the National Championship

Boston College defeated the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 4-1 to win the National Championship. It was BC third trip to the Championship game in the last three years. they lost to Wisconsin in 2006 and to Michigan State last year. Nathan Gerbe had another outstanding game adding two goals and had two assists. Notre Dame got robbed in the third period when it was 3-1 at the time. They scored to make it 3-2 after the puck deflected off a Notre Dame player’s foot. After a long review, the goal was disallowed. 35 seconds later BC went up 4-1. It was clearly not kicked in the net. That changed the entire momentum of the game. Either way it was a great game.

Nathan Gerbe (BC) is an exciting player to watch. He was named the Most Outstanding Player ofthe Tournament. His performance could get him the final forward spot on Team USA for the World Championships. John Muse Boston College’s freshman goalie was named to the All-Tournament Team. He played in every game this season. This was the same kid who thought he was going to spend the year with the Indiana Ice of the USHL this season. That all changed when Cory Schneider signed wit the Vancouver Canucks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets drafted this summer.

Congratulations to Michigan forward to Kevin Porter who beat out Nathan Gerbe and Miami (Oh) forward Ryan Jones to win the Hobey Baker Award. The Hobey Baker Award is the Heisman Award for hockey. Porter is a Phoenix Coyotes draft pick and had 63 points including 33 goals.

That's My Take

Nathan Fournier

(Nathan also is a writer for MVN.com. He's the writer for the Asylum which covers the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. He's also a regular contributor to the NHL Source also at MVN.com. He can be reached at fbbhgfan@aol.com)

NBA Bound

Derrick Rose, a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Memphis, has announced his intention to enter the NBA draft. Rose is expected to be picked up early in the draft because of his dynamic presence on the court, having led the Memphis Tigers to an NCAA record 38 wins. In six NCAA tournament games, Rose averaged 20.8 points per game.

I believe that Derrick Rose’s exceptional basketball skills qualify him to enter the draft. He has obviously proved that he has what it takes to both win games and contend for championships. I think that that the team that signs a contract with Rose will be a perennial championship contender next season and well into the future.

Mark Zadakis

Death of a Teammate

Georgia Tech canceled Tuesday’s baseball game against rival school Georgia Southern so that the entire team could attend the funeral of pitcher Michael Hutts, who was found dead in his apartment late last week. It will take the coroner’s office several weeks before the cause of Michael Hutt’s death will be known. As a tribute to Hutts, the Georgia Yellow Jackets painted Michael’s familiar number 40 in front of the dugout. The school also canceled a game against Miami on Friday and went on to lose three consecutive games to the Miami squad.

I feel really bad for the family, friends, and fans of both Michael Hutts and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket baseball team. When a person dies tragically, it can be hard for the people closest to that individual to move on and remember the good memories they have of him or her. I think having the whole team at the funeral was a great idea because it allowed the team to support the family of Michael Hutts and say good-bye to him in person. The only thing that I don’t agree with is the cancellations of all of the games. The problem with not playing any baseball games after the death is that it could have made all the players stew over the tragic events and make them feel guilty about what transpired. Would Michael Hutts have agreed to cancel the games or play? I think he would have wanted the team to play on and win in his memory.

Mark Zadakis

Bill Self Says No Thanks to Alma Mater Oklahoma State

Not even 12 hours after Bill Self won his first championship with the Kansas Jayhawks(say thank you to Mario Chalmers/John Calipari/Memphis' horrid free throw shooting for that one) he found himself having to answer questions on if he would be staying at Kansas or jumping ship to coach at Oklahoma State. OSU recieved a big donation from alumni Boone Pickens who gave $165 million to the school's athletic department. This money made OSU willing to turn Bill Self into the highest paid coach in college basketball.
Bill Self has had an up and down career at Kansas. He had to fill some giant shoes left by 15 year head coach Roy Williams, and started off with a little struggle. Suffered quick exits in 2004, 2005, and 2006...including '05 and '06 in the first round to mid-majors...and then took a defeat last year in the elite 8 to UCLA. Seemed like this year would finally be the year, but with Brandan Rush's injury, a damper was quickly put on things. However, this Kansas team fought through that...and in the end(with a little help thanks to Memphis' big choke) ended up national champions. I feel this is a great move by Self, loyalty is a tough thing to come by when money and greed are involved these days.

Brad Thibeau

UCLA's Love And Collison To Enter Draft

Just about a week after losing a heartbreaking loss to Memphis in the Final Four, UCLA fans have another reason to sob. Star freshman Kevin Love and guard Collison will enter the NBA draft.

Kevin Love has had an outstanding career as a freshman. With him and Collison leaving to go pro however, UCLA has a lot of unanswered questions heading into next season.

UCLA has always been a school that gets excellent recruits and should rebound.

Adam Smith