Pac-10 Thoughts, Uncle Charley Says Enough to the Duke Bashing

First of all, per my buddy James' request, I wanted to jot down a few notes on my thoughts on the Pac-10. First of all, I agree with Joe Lunardi, ESPN's bracketoligist, that is the season ended today, the Pac-10 would deserve six teams in the dance: UCLA, Washington St., Oregon, Arizona, USC, and Stanford. The other four teams, Cal, Oregon St, Arizona St. and Washington, make up a relatively weak bottom tier of the league. Washington, in particular, has been extremely disappointing this season. Ranked in the top 10 to start the year after a strong finish last year (remember they should be beaten UConn in the Sweet 16 and let it get away), some good returning players, and one of the best freshmen in the land in 6-11 Spencer Hawes.

On the flip side, I love this Washington St. club. They remind me of Texas A&M< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Acie Law to take over games down the stretch. But they are so well coached by Tony Bennett, who evidently learned a few things from his old man, and they just play great team ball and superior defense. This may be the least heralded Top 10 type team of all time. Seriously. This is another team that higher seeded teams hope will be eliminated before they have to play them in March. They have also proven they can win on the road, winning in Tucson and beat USC in LA.

As for the other squads, UCLA is chugging along, and is a legitimate title contender. I do not read anything into their loss at West Virginia, as Morgantown is a tough place to play, combined with the fact that it is difficult to go across the country in February to play a non conference game. They also have the coaching, the defense, the experience and the go-to guy, all the ingredients needed for a potential run deep into March.

Of the other tournament teams, I view Oregon and Arizona as teams least likely to get out of the first round. Arizona cannot play defense to save their lives, and Oregon seems to have some back to reality after a torrid start. Stanford presents an interesting case study, as they have some big wins this season (5 against the RPI top 50) and have these Freshmen twins who are getting better each week. They could be an interesting Sweet 16 darkhorse. USC has had a surprisingly good year under Tim Floyd, a very good college coach, but I just cannot get a good enough feel for them yet to predict their lot in the tourney.

Overall, I think the Pac-10 is way up from last year, probably the second best conference in the country behind the ACC. And speaking of the ACC....

Duke finally got on the schneid last night. They played great for the first 30 minutes, and completely squashed the spirit of BC, beating them to every loose ball, and getting dunk after dunk after dunk on the Eagles. BC woke up and made a run, but it was too late. Duke's recent four game losing streak has brought out the Duke haters by the millions. Duke is overrated, Duke gets all the calls, Duke is horrible, etc. Well, Charley Scher, otherwise known as Uncle Charley, has had just about enough of this. And he said "I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore." After reading Jim Donaldson's article in, as he calls it, the Providence rag yesterday, he instigated an exchange with the author. Here is the text from the article, followed by the exchange....

The Article: (Note: courtesy of the Providence Journal)

Memo to Boston College fans who’ll attend tonight’s basketball game against Duke at Conte Forum: When you win, don’t rush the court.

And you will win.

Playing Duke these days is like playing Notre Dame in a bowl game — it looks like a glamour game, but it’s really an easy “W.”

Everybody beats Duke now — Maryland, on Sunday in College Park; before that, two in a row last week — both, shockingly, at home, in front of the Cameron Crazies — to (gulp) arch-rival North Carolina and (gasp) Florida State; and, before that, a loss at Virginia.

That’s four in a row — the first time the Blue Devils have dropped four straight conference games since the 1995-96 season.

Yes, this is still lordly Duke, a Southern version of an Ivy League institution — the older buildings on campus even look like they were transported (you might even say copied) from Princeton — a school whose halls, and hoop tradition, are hallowed.

The mere mention of Duke prompts television analysts (and the Blue Devils are on TV all the time) like the voluble Dickie V. to ascend to Mount Everest heights of hyperbole and Billy Packer to get all teary-eyed in verbal veneration.

But the fact is that the Blue Devils are 5-6 in the ACC and aren’t even ranked in the top 25, while the Eagles are in first place at 9-2.

And that’s despite dumping shot-blocker supreme — and soon-to-be NBA first-round draft choice — Sean Williams for repeated rules infractions seven games ago.
Instead of falling apart in the aftermath of the talented Williams’ enforced departure, coach Al Skinner’s Eagles have pulled together and gone 4-2 in conference games (5-2 overall), including a win Sunday at Florida State, which — it needs to be repeated to be believed — recently beat Duke in Durham.

So, BC fans, unless you want to look like the sort of total yokels who’d make fans from N.C. State and Clemson seem sophisticated, then when your Eagles beat the Blue Devils tonight, you’ll give them a well-deserved cheer and then say: Bring on the Tar Heels — a real basketball team.
The reality is that Duke isn’t all that good. In large part because their longtime coach, the legendary Mike Krzyzewski, suddenly seems to be having as much trouble winning games as most people do spelling his name.

If ever a man is resting on his laurels, it’s Coach K.

His career record is dazzling: three NCAA championships — in 1991, 1992, and 2001 en trips to the Final Four; ten ACC tourney titles; eleven ACC regular-season championships; a total of 22 NCAA appearances in the last 23 years.

It’s no wonder Krzyzewski already has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But he certainly hasn’t been coaching like a Hall of Famer lately.
Last March, in the NCAA Tournament, his top-seeded Blue Devils, with a roster loaded with high-school All-Americans from across the country, were upset by LSU, led by three kids who went to high school in Baton Rouge.

Then, last summer, Coach K was in charge of the array of NBA All-Stars who made up Team USA in the World Basketball Championships. That star-studded aggregation of top talent wound up losing in the semifinals to Greece, 101-95. Two days later, the Greeks were trounced in the finals by Spain, 70-47 — raising the question of what the Spanish coach knows about defense that Coach K doesn’t?

How can it be that a team comprised entirely of NBA players — supposedly world-class athletes — and coached by a man who has a reputation as a hoops genius, couldn’t hold a Greek team that didn’t have a single NBA player to under 100 points? And yet that same Greek team couldn’t score 50 points against the Spaniards two days later?

Remember that old, homespun line about former Texas football coach Darrell Royal, of whom it was said: “He can take his his’n and beat your’n, or he can take your’n and beat his’n?”
Well, apparently you can give Coach K the most talented players in the world and he can’t design a defense that can keep a team of Greeks from surpassing the century mark.
Just like his more talented —or, perhaps more accurately, more highly touted — Duke team couldn’t beat the Bayou Bengals last March.

And now here are his Blue Devils, once again boasting a slew of highly recruited, high school All-Americans, yet most definitely not boasting of a sub-.500 record in conference play, having lost at home to the likes of Virginia Tech, tied for sixth place in the ACC.

So try to keep things in perspective, Eagles fans. Yes, it’s a kick to have Duke come to Chestnut Hill. But you’re the team in first place, not them. You’re the team favored to win. When you do, don’t rush the court. Everybody beats Duke — and Coach K —these days.

Uncle Charley's Response:

You, sir, are a clown. Could you be any more parochial in your thinking?
You couldn't possibly believe at least half of what you wrote, could you?.
On the other hand, you've probably received more attention today than you'll get the rest of the year. Which I'm sure was your intended purpose.

Donaldson's Reply:

If I'm a clown, then what's coach K?
If he's doing a Hall of Fame job of coaching and recruiting, then why is Duke under .500 in the ACC in mid-Feb.?
What does the Spanish coach know about defense that coach K doesn't?
And how did Duke, with a roster loaded with HS all-Americans from across the country, lose last March to LSU, which was led by three kids from Baton Rouge? Could it be that LSU did a better job of developing its talent?

Uncle Charley's Retort:

Coach K is a man with a raging ego and a bad dye job. He's also won three national titles and nearly 800 games. You are not exactly the Coach K of sports writers.
People dislike the media because you are so reactionary and short-sighted.
You can't judge the USA basketball program on one game. It didn't sink to where it is overnight, and it will take more than a year to straighten it out. You also can't judge K based on a four-game losing streak. The team's RPI was 18. The ACC is loaded, with the exception of Wake, Miami and N.C. State. There is no shame to losing to the four teams that beat Duke, three of which went down to the last minute.
He has 12 freshmen and sophomores and no seniors. That's primarily why they are struggling, although K's many distractions have affected this team.
The loss to LSU was one game. That happens in college basketball. It's not the NBA, with best of seven series. Duke gagged against LSU, no doubt.
I don't think it makes John Brady a great coach, and K a dog. LSU peaked
at the right time, and K undoubtedly deserves a large portion of the blame.
By the way, you are a really persuasive man. I guess all of the folks in Chestnut Hill read your column, because they sure stayed off the court after the game.

I guess we have to give the knockout to the Uncle. Donaldson was floored by the last line and did not even both to reply. If you are interested in writing Jimbo and telling him what a buffoon you think he is, please feel free. His email address is jdonalds@projo.com (please copy me at brian @dilsheimer.com, and I will forward to the Uncle for his enjoyment).