Duke 2008 season preview show

I’ll start this post with full disclosure. I am incredibly biased against Duke basketball. It is part jealousy, part arrogance, part misplaced hype, and part Coach K’s nasally voice. With that said, I do respect the program. I know they are a really good team every year, sometimes even great. It still doesn’t change the fact that they are the only ACC team that I don’t root for in non-conference games. I wanted to make sure you knew all the facts before reading this post.

Minute 1: Heather Catlin is back in our lives, and once again, order is restored. Heather does not waste any time causing my frustration level to rise higher than the Eiffel Tower (the King’s Dominion one though, not the real Eiffel Tower in France. I’ll save that frustration level for later.)

Here is the quote: “[Duke] proved once again that the road to the ACC Championship runs through Durham.” HMMMMM….. See, I thought that finishing second and seventh in conference the last two years and not making a conference championship game (or even getting out of the opening round two years ago), indicated that the ACC championship, in fact, DOES NOT, run through Durham. See, Duke makes me so mad; I can’t type grammatically correct sentences.

Minute 2: Duke started the conference season 10-0 last year, and won seven of their first eight by double digits. I guess nobody told Belmont or West Virginia.

Minute 3: Excuse me, please. I have to vomit. Lots of Kyle Singler love. Here’s the thing. In reality, I know Kyle Singler is a good basketball player. He got a scholarship to play at Duke, and he can do things on the court, I could not ever come close to doing. He scored double digits as a freshman and led his team in rebounds. I get it. The problem I have is the four terrible games he played in the postseason last year.

So he hit a freshman wall you say? Fine, I’ll give you that. The man lives off open three’s and open shots created by Duke’s superior ball movement (of which he certainly contributes). Now, if Singler played on UVA, I’d be thrilled to have him, and I’d be talking about how great he is. However, I’d be the only one and that is the point. Singler’s a fine player, who finished 27th in the conference in offensive efficiency. If he played for UVA or FSU or Boston College, he would not be getting nearly so much attention.

Minute 5: Paulus returns as a four year starter, which would be great, except he’s not. This is the Duke hype machine at work. Paulus has been so touted the last three years. He’s the active ACC leader in career assists, yet he’s not even starting on his own team! Paulus has value, and he can hit an open three. He also can be a train wreck of a point guard who cannot blow by anyone off the dribble.

Minute 6: Thickburger is back as a sponsor. Thank goodness. For a moment, I thought I was going to have to start eating healthy.

Minute 10: Interview with coach K. Here’s the recap: Olympics, blah blah blah, Duke is great, blah blah blah, I’m amazing, blah blah blah, I just made another 5 millions in endorsement deals, blah blah blah (I may have slipped in that last one.)

Minute 17: Fox Sports is finally paying attention to people other than Singler and Paulus. This begins a profile on Gerald Henderson who along with Jon Sheyer and Nolan Smith comprises the core of Duke players that when mentioned do not make me want to jam pencils in my ears.

Minute 18: It is mentioned that Henderson is one of the most explosive players on the Duke team. Are there other explosive players on the Duke team? I wasn’t aware of this. Could any other player on that Duke team have made that last drive against Belmont? (Nelson doesn’t count, because he would have committed a turnover.) When I picture Duke basketball, I picture many things: selflessness, precision passing, three point shooters that scare me to death when there is a hint of an opening, disappointing NBA careers, Reggie Love passed out. Sorry, I got off on a tangent there. To recap, I picture many things, but explosive players are not one of them. How is there even a debate about Henderson being the most explosive player on Duke’s roster?

Minutes 20-25: You know what is in this section. It is the All ACC preview team which still includes Kyle Singler as the sixth man. Here’s what bothers me about this. Have you ever seen an All-anything preview team that included a sixth man? You see a first team, maybe even a second or third team, but I have never seen an All-conference preview team with a first team, and then a “Here, let’s throw in one more guy.” I am convinced that the people who determined this team looked around the room, realized there were no Duke players on the preview team, and whipped up this sixth man idea to prevent Duke from throwing a hissy fit.

Minute 27: G-man and Tom Werme note that Paulus had his minutes cut last year which made him better as he cut his turnovers. You mean, Paulus had turnover issues when given the primary ball handling responsibilities for the entire game? Shocking! Paulus and Sheyer are touted as the primary ball handlers this year. I’m sorry, does Nolan Smith not exist. Is he not the starting point guard for Duke? I better get out of here before my frustration levels hit the heights of the real Eiffel Tower.