Ed. Note: the previous posts in this series (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Atlantic South, Deep South, Mid-South and Lower Midwest) are located here.
It’s time for the seventh installment of our RTC 2009-10 Impact Players series, the group of very cold, very northern states that we’re calling the Upper Midwest. Each week we’ll pick a geographic area of the country and break down the five players who we feel will have the most impact on their teams (and by the transitive property, college basketball) this season. Our criteria is once again subjective – there are so many good players in every region of the country that it’s difficult to narrow them down to only five in each – but we feel at the end of this exercise that we’ll have discussed nearly every player of major impact in the nation. Just to be fair and to make this not too high-major-centric, we’re also going to pick a mid-major impact player in each region as our sixth man. We welcome you guys, our faithful and very knowledgeable readers, to critique us in the comments where we left players off. The only request is that you provide an argument – why will your choice be more influential this season than those we chose?
Manny Harris – G, Jr – Michigan. The mastermind behind the turnaround of Michigan’s basketball program may be John Beilein and his 1-3-1 zone defense, but the catalyst has to be Beilein’s explosive 6’5 scoring guard/forward, Manny Harris. The lone bright spot in a 10-22 campaign in 2007-08 was the freshman Harris and his 16.1 PPG, strong enough to garner All-Big Ten Second team honors. Much like Beilein’s other reclamation projects, the Wolverines, and Harris, improved drastically in their second season under the former West Virginia head man. While his scoring average didn’t even jump a full point, it was Harris’ all-around production and on-court leadership that propelled Michigan to a 13-3 start, respectable Big Ten record and second-round NCAA tournament appearance, their first in 11 seasons. 6.8 RPG for a 6’5 guard is an accomplishment that cannot be overstated, a mark that tied forward DeShawn Sims for the team lead. Harris led Michigan in assists by a wide margin at 4.4 APG, upped his FG% from 38% to 42% and played nearly 33 MPG to lead the Wolverines. Harris has also become a much more efficient playmaker for Beilein, increasing his assist and scoring rates (even while attempting and making over 20% of Michigan’s shots) while his turnovers have dipped. One area where Harris must improve is outside shooting, which jumped from 32% to 33% behind the arc a year ago. With Harris’ tremendous penetration ability and explosiveness to the rim, making opposing defenses respect his outside shot will only enhance an already lethal game. The All-Big Ten first teamer is the straw that stirs the Michigan drink, having started 67 games in a row for Beilein. Should he improve his defense, Harris’ draft stock will shoot up in a season that could be full of accolades, and, for the first time since the Steve Fisher era of the 90s, a legitimate chance to lead Michigan deep into March.
Lazar Hayward – F, Sr – Marquette. Lazar Hayward’s role on this year’s Marquette squad should not be understated. Three guards and team leaders through the Tom Crean and Buzz Williams eras – Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews – saw their illustrious college careers end in the second round last March, leaving the program in the hands of Williams’ outstanding recruiting efforts off the court and Hayward’s all-around play on the court. The 6’6 multi-dimensional forward is now the face of a proud basketball school that may take a step back this season with the losses of those three guards that starred for four full seasons in Milwaukee. But it’s unlikely that Hayward will take a step back. Often overshadowed and underappreciated, Lazar averaged 16.3 PPG and 8.6 RPG as a junior last season while shooting 36% from three and 82% from the line, offering another outside threat to go along with McNeal and Matthews. In fact, Hayward finished in the top ten in a historic Big East in scoring, rebounding and free throw percentage last year. He even refined his game on an international stage over the summer, averaging 9.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG on the bronze medal-winning USA team at the World University Games. Hayward is now the face of the Marquette program for his senior season. While the Golden Eagles could struggle, Hayward must step into the departed guards’ shoes as team leader for the junior college and freshman influx headed to the Bradley Center in 2009-10, not only to facilitate success this season, but also for the future.
Rush the Court currently does not have a correspondent from the MAC so if you would like to represent the conference and educate the rest of us, please e-mail us at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.
Predicted Order of Finish:
East
Akron (12-4)
Buffalo (11-5)
Kent State (10-6)
Bowling Green (9-7)
Miami (OH) (8-8)
Ohio (7-9)
West
Ball State (8-8)
Northern Illinois (7-9)
Eastern Michigan (7-9)
Central Michigan (6-10)
Toledo (6-10)
Western Michigan (5-11)
All-Conference Team:
David Kool (G), Sr, Western Michigan
Darion Anderson (G), Jr, Northern Illinois
Jarrod Jones (F), So, Ball State
Brandon Bowdry (F), Jr, Eastern Michigan
Zeke Marshall (C), Fr, Akron
6th Man. Brett McKnight (F), Jr, Akron
Impact Newcomer. Zeke Marshall (C), Fr, Akron
What You Need to Know.To begin with this is the MAC not the MAAC. Sienadoesn’t play in this conference so if you came here expecting to see a preview for them you are in the wrong place (at least for a few days). This conference, the MAC, is ridiculously unbalanced. While none of the the teams in the MAC would be considered contenders for a national title there are four good teams in the East that might actually pique some interest when they played a decent BCS school as an “Upset Alert.” There isn’t a single team in the West you could say that about even if they were playing a cellar-dweller in any of the BCS conferences. In fact, last year the last-place team in the East (Ohio) would have been tied for first in the West. The winner of the automatic bid will almost definitely come from the East with Akron and Buffalo being the top contenders. The edge may go to the Zips who lose less of their championship team from last year (only Nate Linhart) and add a 7′0″ center in the middle with Zeke Marshall while the Bulls will not have Greg Gamble and Andy Robinson this year.
Predicted Champion. Akron Zips (NCAA Seed: #13). Coming off a 20-win season and the MAC title/NCAA bid the Zips are loaded by MAC standards. The only significant player they lose is Linhart (the MAC tournament MVP), but the Zips should have more than enough to stay up at the top of the MAC with the McKnight brothers (Chris and Brett) leading the way. Even though Brett came off the bench last year, he still led the team in scoring and figures to do so again although I’m not sure if he will stay on the bench with Linhart’s departure. With the McKnights and Marshall controlling the inside, Daryl Roberts and his 39.6% from beyond the arc should get his fair share of quality looks. With so much returning talent, the key for the Zips will be how quickly Marshall adapts to the college game. Marshall, who FoxSports.com rated as the #13 impact freshman this upcoming season, could give the Zips something the MAC hasn’t seen in a long-time–a legitimate seven-foot center. His presence, even if tips the scales at a relatively svelte 218 lbs, could be just the boost that the Zips need to repeat in the MAC and scare some big-name school in the 1st round.
Greg Miller of WPSD Local 6 is the RTC correspondent for the OVC and MAC Conferences.
What in the world has happened to the MAC? Check out Monday’s edition of bracketology and you’ll see Bowling Green as Joe Lunardi’s choice to be the MAC’s representative in the NCAA Tournament. No problem with that, considering they edged Buffalo for the MAC regular season title on Sunday. The problem lies with where they are seeded. A #16 SEED!?!?!? WHAT?!?!?!? This conference is at maybe it’s lowest point in decades. Scratch maybe. This is rock bottom for the MAC.
With that being said, the play has been super-competitive within in the league. Going into the final four game stretch, every team in the MAC East was alive for the league title. We’re not even going to touch the West. They were a flat debacle. Nobody had a winning record. Ball State had the most wins in the West and the Cardinals won 13 games. Just sad.
The league did announce their postseason awards Monday. Click here to take a look.
The league tournament starts on Tuesday and, if you throw out the West, the tournament should be wide open.
Welcome back to another edition of Boom Goes the Dynamite. I’m back as your semi-regular host after a day off with John Stevens covering for me. Today is a kind of weird day of basketball with the best games later in the day going head-to-head against the NBA All-Star game. So hopefully everyone will be sticking with us throughout the day and the real basketball fans (the ones who actually like defense and competition) will stay with us into the night.
1:00 PM: Our early games today are Illinois at Indiana on CBS and Clemson at Virginia on ESPN Full Court and ESPN360.com. We’ll be updating you with highlights of those games throughout the day, but like always if there is something going on that we are missing or we make a mistake leave us a message in the comment section.
1:10 PM: Illinois is up 10-7 early. Bruce Weber’s club must be riding high after their amazing comeback at Northwestern in their last game. Clemson is tied 3-3 in Charlottesville with 15:54 left in the first half. I’m guessing today is Sean Singletary day at UVA today based on the parts of the pre-game that I caught. Singletary, a 3-time 1st team All-ACC player, is one of three players in ACC history (Danny Ferry and Johnny Dawkins being the others) to have 2,000 career points, 500 career assists, and 400 career rebounds.
1:25 PM: Illinois is up 15-7 as we go to a TV timeout. CBS just showed a graphic about Indiana’s tough losses this year by featuring the games they led, but lost. You know the Hooisers are having a bad year when having a lead of 2 points at some point during the game is highlighted as a tough loss. Meanwhile, UVA is up 16-7 with 11:54 as they head into a timeout as well.
1:30 PM: I just noticed the electronic board on the side of the court at Assembly Hall. I guess it’s a nice fan friendly feature and probably generates some revenue through ads, but I think it looks horrendous in this famous arena. I haven’t noticed it at Cameron Indoor, but I think they should avoid it in the historic arenas.
1:40 PM: Jeff Jordan just hit a jumper for Illinois. As we noted before, he was recently was given a scholarship at Illinois. For those of you who haven’t seen him play, we think you might have missed his only big play of the day if his performance this season is any indication of what we can expect today. He’ll probably be out there quite a bit since Indiana is awful so watch for #13 on Illinois.
1:45 PM: UVA is up 22-16 coming out of a timeout with 5:11 left in the first half. Illinois is up 27-13 with a little less than 5 minutes left in the first half. I’ll be focusing on the UVA-Clemson game for now unless the Illinois-Indiana game gets interesting.
1:55 PM: UVA is up 33-25 at half. That 3 by Terrence Oglesby with a little over a minute left in the first half was Clemson’s first of the day after the Tigers missed their first 10 straight. The Cavaliers might have a chance if the Tigers continue to have difficulty hitting from the outside. Trevor Booker has had a big first half with 10 of Clemson’s 25 points, but it wasn’t enough as none of the other Tigers are playing well today. Illinois is up 38-21 at half.
Ed. note: if you have some nominees that we missed, send them to us at rushthecourt@yahoo.com or leave it in the comments and we’ll try to get a photo up…
While we were sitting around watching a closer-than-it-should-have-been game between Memphis and Central Florida a couple of weekends ago, it occurred to us that we were spending more time staring at the appallingly hideous UCF Knight plastered onto the middle of the floor. And when the tv cameras took us to one end of the court, away from the menacing black knight ready to swallow up half of the players, my eyes were forced to contrast their two-tone floor where everything within the three point line was one color (light beige) and everything outside of it, another (beige). It was horrible. But our visual disaster is your gain, as it gave us an idea for a neat post comparing the ugliest home floors in America.
Central Florida – UCF Arena
The first thing we did was contact our loyal RTC correspondents, because who else will know about some abominable court hidden away in the BigMountainSouthUSA whatever Conference than our guys. Here are some of their entries:
Eastern Michigan – Convocation Center
It’s never a good thing when you start painting giant basketballs on the court and coloring in the three-point areas. Never. A. Good. Thing.
Moving to the Big 12, which has not one, but two nominees…
Texas A&M - Reed Arena
We’re uncertain what bugs us about this particular floor, other than the bizarre checkerboard parquet and the enormous outline of the state of Texas in the middle of it. Yeah, Texas is a big state, but come on… And the T-star situation isn’t helping – what is that thing?? We thought the A&M logo always had the letters “A” and “M” in it.
Baylor – Ferrell Center
This one isn’t all that bad except for one minor major annoyance – unless you’re sitting in the first five rows, who thought it was a good idea to paint the new 3-point line in yellow on a hardwood-colored floor? Especially when watching Baylor on tv, it’s nearly impossible to track what is a three and what isn’t a three because of that fact (sorry, we haven’t moved to HD in the RTC West Coast Compound yet).
Georgia Tech – Alexander Memorial Coliseum
This place has always bothered us – something about the deli mustard borders and the gigantic bee in the middle of the floor. Why not go with the black/gold setup like Vandy or Wake instead?
Colorado State – Moby Arena
Oh, Lord, no… this just can’t be allowed to continue. The photo isn’t great but you can clearly make out the outline of a ram’s horns all over this court.
Boise State – Taco Bell Arena
But the school that takes the cake, not once, but twice, has to be our blue-turfed friends in Boise. Both incarnations of their home floor in recent years (the top is their current one) have been downright offensive (the horse heads are bad enough, but we esp. hate the half-basketballs in the corners).
Princeton – Jadwin Gymnasium
Honorable mention goes to Princeton, not so much for its floor (which is solid) but for its multipurpose arena known as Jadwin Gymnasium. The space-age Epcot-style lighting and airport-hangar background there really scares us. For Chrissakes, they have temporary restraining walls on the sidelines so the ball doesn’t roll into the indoor track/field area. What a disaster.
WYN2K. The MAC’s new logo is just a small part of the change that the Mid-American Conference is hoping will push their league to the next level. Seven of the league’s twelve head coaches are either in their first or second year, a sign that it really is a new era in the MAC. The league is hoping to make the leap that leagues such as the Missouri Valley have made over the past decade. It’s been ten long years since the MAC has had two teams in the NCAA Tournament. That was back in 1999 when Kent earned the automatic bid while Miami (OH) picked up the league’s last at-large bid. They proved very worthy as Wally Szczerbiak carried the RedHawks to the Sweet 16. But the MAC has not since been able to recapture the glory of 1999. Yes, they did watch Kent make a run to the Elite Eight in 2002, but it’s been quantity rather than quality that has plagued the MAC in the new century. Since that multiple bid year of 1999, the league has sat back and watched a number of conferences do what they’ve been unable to do. We mentioned the Valley, who has been a multi-bid league eight times in the interim. Additionally, the Mountain West (8), WAC (7), West Coast (5), Horizon (2), CAA (2), Sun Belt (1) and Big West (1) have all been a multi-bid league at least once. In order to make that leap to a multi-bid league, the MAC must schedule better and most importantly take advantage of the opportunities they do get against the major conference teams.
Predicted Champion.Kent (#13 NCAA). As it’s been 7 of the past 10 years, the winner of the MAC will come from the East. Just what team from the East remains to be seen? Miami, Kent and Ohio all should make serious runs at the title, but none would be anything higher than a #12 seed in the Big Dance.
As long as Jim Christian was at Kent, the Flash were guaranteed a 20-win season (ten straight). But Jim Christian left for TCU. Kent assistant coach and former MAC superstar Geno Ford (Ohio ‘97) takes over the bench for the Flashes, but he will have some familiar faces to help him in his first season. Guard Al Fisher (13.9 ppg, 4.0 apg) is the first returning MAC Player of the Year since 2002. Fisher leads a group of eight returners that made up 65.1% of the KSU attack. Chris Singletary and Jordan Mincy help Fisher solidify the backcourt. The frontcourt is where Kent will have to fill some holes. Gone are Hamminn Quaintance and Mike Scott, both All-MAC performers who averaged over 23 points and 13 rebounds per game.
Miami (OH) has veteran leadership on their side. Charlie Coles, the dean of MAC coaches, is back for his 13th season with the RedHawks and he returns four starters and eleven letterwinners. The most significant is Michael Bramos, a POY candidate. Bramos (16.3 ppg) is a sharp-shooter who has the ability to light it up at anytime. He went for 30+ points four times last year. His scoring and the RedHawks always-frustrating defense will keep Miami in the hunt all year. Miami has to find someone to replace the production of All-MAC frontcourt star Tim Pollitz.
Ohio might be the longshot of these three, but don’t sleep on the Bobcats. Like Kent, they have a new head coach in John Groce who comes from Ohio State where he played a big part in the recruiting of Greg Oden and Mike Conley. It will take Groce some time to work his recruiting magic in Athens, but he does have some talent to work with. Jerome Tillman (13.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg) might be the best player in the league. He’s been very solid the past three years for the ‘Cats, posting 18 double-doubles. The only question with Tillman is can he do it without his tag-team partner of the past two years? Gone is Leon Williams, who garnered double and triple teams throughout his career in Athens. Williams opened things for Tillman, but with him gone on the inside, how will Tillman handle the bulk of the attention? The Bobcats also return senior starter Justin Orr in the frontcourt, a player who has yet to tap into his full potential. Michael Allen is the only other senior on the team. He’ll be asked to be a leader on the floor from the point guard spot where he showed flashes of brilliance last year. The Bobcats must find a way to win on the road if they want to be a serious contender. They were 7-1 at home in the MAC, 2-6 on the road last season.
Others Considered. Eastern Michigan hasn’t been dancing since 1998 and hasn’t had a winning season since 1999-00. So why would we mention the Eagles? Well, they could be a darkhorse in the West. All-MAC guard Carlos Medlock returns as well as 2006-07 All-MAC freshman forward Brandon Bowdry who missed all of last year with a stress fracture. The Eagles did finish second in the West last year at 8-8, so a winning season in 2008-09 is not out of the question. Western Michigan will be considered the West favorite thanks to the return of All-MAC guard David Kool. Along with having one of the best names in the MAC, he averaged over 16 points per game. The Broncos will struggle trying to find a replacement for inside workhorse Joe Reitz. In the East, Bowling Green and Buffalo could be sleepers. BG returns almost everyone and has a talented coach in Louis Orr. Buffalo was only 3-13 in the MAC last year, but they return all five starters and ninth-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon has won in this league before.
RPI Boosters.
The MAC does have a number of games against the BCS schools. But overall, the league has done a pretty poor job of scheduling. They’re aren’t nearly enough key games at home. It’s been an ongoing problem for years in the MAC in trying to get bigger schools to come on-campus and play. This year is no different. But with that being said, there are chances to make some noise in the non-conference season. The league plays quite a few mid-majors including a handful of teams from the MVC and Atlantic 10. Here is a list of the top 25 games where the MAC really has a chance to put themselves on the map. The italicized games are the rare times a big school has agreed to play at a MAC school. If the MAC is able to pull a few upsets in these games, then what those teams do in conference will go a long way in earning them a possible at-large bid.
Miami at UCLA (11.13.08)
Toledo at Florida (11.14.08)
Miami at Pitt (11.17.08)
Toledo at Xavier (11.17.08)
Eastern Michigan at Purdue (ESPN2) (11.17.08)
Akron at Pitt (11.21.08)
Bowling Green at Ohio State (11.24.08)
Kent vs. Illinois (South Padre Invitational) (11.28.08)
Kent vs. Texas A&M/Tulsa (South Padre Invitational) (11.29.08)
Miami at Xavier (11.29.08)
Kent at Kansas (ESPNU) (12.01.08)
Central Michigan at Marquette (12.02.08)
UMass at Toledo (12.03.08)
St. Mary’s at Kent (12.04.08)
UConn at Buffalo (12.04.08)
Ohio at Louisville (12.07.08)
Purdue at Ball State (12.09.08)
Ohio at Xavier (12.10.08)
Eastern Michigan at Michigan (12.13.08)
Western Michigan at UNLV (12.14.08)
Southern Illinois at Northern Illinois (12.17.08)
Miami at WVU (12.20.08)
Houston at Toledo (12.20.08)
Western Michigan at Southern Illinois (12.22.08)
Eastern Michigan at Illinois (12.28.08)
Central Michigan at Kentucky (12.29.08)
The league is set up for teams to open with five division games, six cross-division games and then five division games to finish. So we’ll have a good idea of the front-runners in both the East Division and West Division by late January. It also sets up for some potentially big games in late February/early March to decide the division races. On paper, the East Division is again stronger than the West Division. The Michigan directional schools will all get their cracks at the East to prove otherwise in late January.
Kent at Ohio (01.11.09)
Ohio at Miami (01.14.09)
Miami at Kent (01.17.09)
Eastern Michigan at Kent (01.27.09)
Kent at Western Michigan (01.31.09)
Miami at Eastern Michigan (01.31.09)
Eastern Michigan at Ohio (02.07.09)
Ohio at Western Michigan (02.11.09)
Bowling Green at Toledo (02.11.09)
Western Michigan at Miami (02.14.09)
Miami at Ohio (02.16.09)
Ohio at Kent (02.17.09)
Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan (02.18.09)
Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan (02.28.09)
Kent at Miami (03.01.09) (could decide East champion)
Central Michigan at Western Michigan (03.08.09)
Neat-O Stat. If history is any indicator, Kent will be there in the end. They’ve played in the MAC Tournament title game 7 of the last 10 years, winning five of them.
Hello, My Name Is…
The league has 7 coaches who are either in their first or second years.
First-Year Head Coaches
John Groce – Ohio
Geno Ford – Kent
Gene Cross – Toledo
Second-Year Head Coaches
Louis Orr – Bowling Green
Ernie Ziegler – Central Michigan
Billy Taylor – Ball State
Ricardo Patton – Northern Illinois
Veteran Coaches
Charlie Coles – Miami (13th year)
Reggie Witherspoon – Buffalo (9th year)
Keith Dambrot – Akron (5th year)
Charles Ramsey – Eastern Michigan (3rd year)
Steve Hawkins – Western Michigan (6th year)
65 Team Era. There’s a reason every coach gets a lump in his throat when the brackets first come out and he sees a MAC team opposite his sqaud, and it’s not necessarily because he thinks they’re going to lose. Rather, if history is any indication, he’s likely to win the first-round game, but he’s in for an all-out war in doing so. Despite an average seed of #11.9 throughout the era, MAC teams play their first-round opponents very tough, losing by 12 pts or less in all but seven of their first-round matchups. The overall conference record of 15-29 (.341) with four trips to the Sweet Sixteen isn’t too shabby either. Unfortunately for MAC fans, however, the conference is on a five-year streak of first-round losses, which is the longest such streak of the era.
Final Thoughts.
While the MAC desperately wants to make the move to the next level and earn multiple NCAA bids, the reality is, this might not be the year for that to happen. The league lost a lot of star power from last year and with a ton of new coaches, it might be a year or two before this league really starts to take off and maybe even return to the form of the late 1990s where they were not just earning NCAA bids, but winning NCAA games. 2008-09 will be like most years in the MAC. Once they get to conference play, it will be an all-out war with teams beating up each other. That makes it tough to earn an at-large out of this league. Despite the top-heavy league records, the MAC is a tough league to win within, especially on the road.
On a more positive note, this league is getting better. You will see some budding coaching stars in Geno Ford, John Groce and Gene Cross. Not to mention a few coaches who have been around the block that know a thing or two about winning like Charlie Coles, Ricardo Patton and Louis Orr. They do have stars to replace, but there are stars ready to shine. Keep an eye on Jerome Tillman (Ohio), Michael Bramos (Miami), Al Fisher (Kent), Carlos Medlock (EMU), Tyrone Kent and Boomer Tucker (Toledo) and David Kool (WMU).
This might not be a league who earns multiple NCAA bids in 2008-09, but they will make noise out of conference. Miami always gives people fits. Ohio is usually good for an upset. Kent has been rock-solid for the last decade. And with the much-improved Bowling Greens, Eastern Michigans and Toledos of the world, the MAC could jump up and surprise a big boy or two if they’re not careful.
With the news Wednesday that Duke whiffed on PF Patrick Patterson (who opted for Kentucky over Duke and Florida), combined with yesterday’s news that Roy Williams has extended his contract with UNC through the 2014-15 season, we started to wonder if we’re seeing an unusual blip in Durham, or if last season and the presumed immediate future signal a larger problem there.
Be-Deviled?
The last time Duke had such a blip was in the mid-90s. In 1995, with Coach K’s back hurting and Pete Gaudet at the helm for two-thirds of the season, Duke went 13-18 (2-14) and did not make the NCAA Tournament. There has been considerable harping over the years about whose record (K’s or Gaudet’s) all those losses should fall on, but at the time, it wasn’t a leap to see that even when Duke was 9-3 in early January 1995, a team led by the likes of Cherokee Parks and Jeff Capel (as opposed to Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley or Christian Laettner) was flawed. This was especially true in light of a stacked ACC that season (Each of Duncan, Wallace, Stackhouse, Childress and Joe Smith were all-americans in 1995).
The next season, when K was back on the bench, shows just how far the talent level at Duke had fallen. The 1995-96 team only performed five games better than its predecessor, going 18-13 (8-8) and losing both its first round ACC Tourney game and its first round NCAA game (by 15 pts) to… Eastern Michigan? The following year, 1996-97, Duke only got marginally back on track. The Devils finished with a 24-9 (12-4) record and won the ACC regular season, but they flamed out early again in the postseason, inexplicably losing to #8 seed NC State in the quarters of the ACC Tourney and barely scraping by Murray St. in the first round before losing to #10 seed Providence (by 11 pts) in the second round of the NCAAs. Does this sound familiar at all? It should, as Duke just finished its 2006-07 campaign with a 22-11 (8-8) record, culminating in a first round ACC Tourney loss and a first round NCAA loss to… VCU.
Is there cause for concern among Devil faithful, or is last year’s mediocre regular season and short-lived postseason just an anomaly?
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