The Sports Guy

Wow.

I was 8 when UNLV thrashed Duke 103-73 in the 1990 national title game. I don’t remember much about that night. I was probably in bed by the time the game even ended. But Thursday’s thrashing is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

What happened? Where’d the Duke team go that won the ACC tournament and nine of its last 10 games? I am always going to be partial to my favorite team, because that’s what fans do. But since working in sports for a living, I’ve learned to value a team’s win rather than its loss.

Not Thursday.

Villanova made plays when it needed to, and stuck to its gameplan — drive to the basket, and apply pressure to the ball. But even in that gameplan, the Wildcats looked less than sharp. Duke looked like a JV team from the mountains of N.C.

Duke flat out built seven houses for Habitat for Humanity Thursday with the bricks it threw up. The sad thing about it is, many of them were wide-open shots. When the Blue Devils weren’t working on their carpentry skills, they were throwing balls to their parents up in the seats.

Jon Scheyer has been so good since moving to the PG position, but he was nowhere to be found Thursday. He was indecisive, and in a key five-possession spurt midway through the first half, his indecisiveness led to three turnovers, which in turn gave the ‘Cats control of the game.

I will never question a head coach’s calling, but I can’t understand why Duke didn’t try to pack it in a little bit defensively. Villanova isn’t a very good shooting team, and with Duke’s overplay on the defensive end, it gave the Wildcats layup after layup. At what point do you say, “Hey kids, this isn’t working. Let’s try something else.”?

The Clemson game was bad in January, but Thursday’s game was worse. It’s by far the worst one I’ve witnessed since becoming a Duke fan early in my youth. Villanova had a lot to do with that, but Duke did more.

Going 30-7 is a pretty good year. But when your seventh and final loss comes like Duke’s did Thursday, it makes the 30 wins much more meaningless.

I’m sure all of North Carolina Nation is raiding Franklin Street right now. After what I just saw, I might join them.