Kansas vs North Carolina championship - Monday night 9:20pm ET, TBS

[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

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[bwgood77]

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Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

[bwgood77]

And? Can people from other countries not be fans of NBA teams even if they haven't stepped foot in that team's city, hell even stepped foot in the country before?

I grew up on the coast of California and never stepped foot in North Carolina. I can safely say the vast majority of people wont meet a bigger Duke die hard than myself. I started watching Duke during JJ Redick's freshman year. I was in middle school and on the basketball team. Not being the biggest guy and with Duke being on ESPN multiple times a week my dad saw a couple Duke games and told me to watch how JJ play and try to copy that.

And guess what Ive been a die hard Duke fan since. I didnt stop following them after JJ left and started watching again when they started to recruit OADs this past decade. Nope I kept watching them even during the Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts time.

I dont think where you live or when you started being a fan means anything. Its if youre still a fan even during the down times. And guess what even on down years Duke still has a bigger fanbase than 99% of college basketball teams.

Well said.

Tough one. Once the Zags we're bounced, I didn't have a horse in the race. But as a neutral, it certainly lived up to it.

I didn't either once AZ was bounced. Just usually pull for the underdogs. About the last part in your quoted posts, I wouldn't really say Duke has many down years. Before not making the tournament last year, the last time they didn't make it was 95. I don't know if there are any other teams that had only missed it twice in 27 years. Maybe Kentucky and Kansas.

[RiotPunch]

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Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

Calipari was a moron and had Booker parked on the bench in favor of the Harrison bros down the stretch.

Coach K worked the refs hard and Dekker's shooting came back down to Earth, but that was my Badgers' year.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

Calipari was a moron and had Booker parked on the bench in favor of the Harrison bros down the stretch.

Coach K worked the refs hard and Dekker's shooting came back down to Earth, but that was my Badgers' year.

Well you can feel good about your Badgers knocking out my Wildcats in two consecutive years in the elite eight in very close games, once in OT, because it made me feel like ****.

Yeah, the Harrison twins were supposed to go to the NBA that year, which was why Booker committed, and then when they came back the coach felt he had to start them being the vets. But yeah, I'm sure if Booker played as many minutes as possible, it would have made them even better.

[th87]

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Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

Calipari was a moron and had Booker parked on the bench in favor of the Harrison bros down the stretch.

Coach K worked the refs hard and Dekker's shooting came back down to Earth, but that was my Badgers' year.

Yeah those damn refs got activated when Wisconsin went up 9 late in the second half, with Duke in foul trouble. Just robbery. Not sure Wisconsin will ever be in that position again.

[RiotPunch]

Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

Calipari was a moron and had Booker parked on the bench in favor of the Harrison bros down the stretch.

Coach K worked the refs hard and Dekker's shooting came back down to Earth, but that was my Badgers' year.

Yeah those damn refs got activated when Wisconsin went up 9 late in the second half, with Duke in foul trouble. Just robbery. Not sure Wisconsin will ever be in that position again.

I certainly never expect them to be in that position again.

[Jamaaliver]

[th87]

That and the fact that 99% of Duke fans

1. Have never set foot in North Carolina much less been near the campus.
2. Don't know of anyone who has ever attended the school.

And? Can people from other countries not be fans of NBA teams even if they haven't stepped foot in that team's city, hell even stepped foot in the country before?

I grew up on the coast of California and never stepped foot in North Carolina. I can safely say the vast majority of people wont meet a bigger Duke die hard than myself. I started watching Duke during JJ Redick's freshman year. I was in middle school and on the basketball team. Not being the biggest guy and with Duke being on ESPN multiple times a week my dad saw a couple Duke games and told me to watch how JJ play and try to copy that.

And guess what Ive been a die hard Duke fan since. I didnt stop following them after JJ left and started watching again when they started to recruit OADs this past decade. Nope I kept watching them even during the Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts time.g

I dont think where you live or when you started being a fan means anything. Its if youre still a fan even during the down times. And guess what even on down years Duke still has a bigger fanbase than 99% of college basketball teams.

I'm kind of the opposite. If ESPN rams a team down my throat and Dickie V constantly goes crazy over them it turns me off. Then they have the distinct recruiting/talent advantage so they automatically have the edge in talent before any season.

I can see being a fan more in the days where the athletes were there for longer like with Grant Hill. I couldn't really stand Laettner but Hill was great.

But in the 1 and done era for them it seems like it would be kind of hard to connect with any players very much since they only play for your team for 1 season.

2 seasons I can kind of see because you see them grow with the team, etc, and especially 3 and without a doubt 4, but a bunch of 1 and done guys makes it tougher for me.

Pretty spot on. Speaking for me, I hate Duke because:

1. Built-in recruiting advantages, tons of exposure, and favorable officiating. If they win, they're supposed to win, so why should there be so much celebration? It's like watching a teenager dunk on elementary school kids. It's not fun. It's punching downward.

But that's not enough, as other teams have this too (Kentucky, Alabama in football), but I don't hate them as much because they lack (to my eyes):

2. Historically douchebag-looking/acting players like Cherokee Parks, Battier, JJ Redick, Grayson Allen, etc. That escalates my mild annoyance at point 1 to a "general dislike" tier.

So built in advantages + douchebag players = general dislike. Other teams on this tier include the Lakers (Rick Fox, Horry, early Kobe) and Yankees (Damon, Jeter, Rivera).

But there is one more thing that propels Duke higher (lower?):

3. Their smug nerdy fanbase...the Cameron Crazies. Just ew. No other fanbase comes close to this level of bandwagon + not really basketball fans + obnoxious + goofy looking on a consistent basis.

I know I'm terrible. This isn't civil behavior. But I just can't help it.

[ElectricMayhem]

How was that lay up by Duke not a continuation? That should have been an And-1.

NCAA rules are a lot more strict than the NBA on continuation fouls.

I guess that’s it. That’s an And-1 in the NBA all day long.

In the NBA, you can get fouled, sit down to a seven course dinner, go out for drinks after, Uber home, brush your teeth and put on your pajamas, get tucked in by your mom and then shoot the ball and get continuation.

[Balls Deep]

NCAA rules are a lot more strict than the NBA on continuation fouls.

I guess that’s it. That’s an And-1 in the NBA all day long.

In the NBA, you can get fouled, sit down to a seven course dinner, go out for drinks after, Uber home, brush your teeth and put on your pajamas, get tucked in by your mom and then shoot the ball and get continuation.

Lol. I prefer continuations (not over exaggerated ones) because they punish silly fouls.

[The Rainmaker]

So Caleb Love is just Devonte Graham playing in college.

[The Rainmaker]

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Getting to the final four is rare. This is actually a good finish for him. The last time they got to the final four was 7 years ago, when they won it all, behind the great Jahlil Okafor and highly coveted Justise Winslow along with Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee....knocking out Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company.

They were probably lucky they didn't have to meet Kentucky with Towns, Booker, WCS, Lyles, etc due to the undefeated Wildcats losing to Kaminsky and the Badgers in the other semi final.

But getting to the final four for any team is rare and winning the championship is very rare. In the previous 12 years of the tourney, they either didn't make it or didn't make it past the round of 32 or 64 in half of the tournaments (6x couldn't get past the first weekend and into the sweet 16).

Their previous championship was against small school #5 seeded Butler.

Prior to that it was 2001. So since the turn of the century they have won it 3 times in 22 years, which is a lot for any school.

They had actually only made the final four 1 other season prior to this year. So including this year they only made it to the final four 5x since 2000.

In Coach K's 20 years before 2000 he won it twice, in consecutive years, which is when is fame rose, particularly in his first championship run knocking out the overall #1 seeded 1 loss UNLV Runnin Rebels....probably one of the, if not the best college teams ever...they had rolled through the tourney the year before and through that tourney until then.

But he's won 5 championships in 42 years. Lost in the final four 3 other times.

And he's probably had a top 3 recruiting class, usually the top recruiting class, for the past 35 years or so.

Calipari was a moron and had Booker parked on the bench in favor of the Harrison bros down the stretch.

Coach K worked the refs hard and Dekker's shooting came back down to Earth, but that was my Badgers' year.

The Harrison scrubs are trash. Trash in college as well as the NBA. Chris Wallace is the only reason Andrew Harrison didn't go undrafted imo.

[ReginaldDwight]

Lots of Coach K haters, and I think I cheered for Duke for the first time in my life last night. Love him or hate him I am 33 years old and Coach K has been a fixture of my love of hoops and I think alot of yall can relate that its crazy how long he has been at the top for. His players always seem to love the guy and hes been a great heel for almost his entire career

[CobraCommander]

And? Can people from other countries not be fans of NBA teams even if they haven't stepped foot in that team's city, hell even stepped foot in the country before?

I grew up on the coast of California and never stepped foot in North Carolina. I can safely say the vast majority of people wont meet a bigger Duke die hard than myself. I started watching Duke during JJ Redick's freshman year. I was in middle school and on the basketball team. Not being the biggest guy and with Duke being on ESPN multiple times a week my dad saw a couple Duke games and told me to watch how JJ play and try to copy that.

And guess what Ive been a die hard Duke fan since. I didnt stop following them after JJ left and started watching again when they started to recruit OADs this past decade. Nope I kept watching them even during the Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts time.g

I dont think where you live or when you started being a fan means anything. Its if youre still a fan even during the down times. And guess what even on down years Duke still has a bigger fanbase than 99% of college basketball teams.

I'm kind of the opposite. If ESPN rams a team down my throat and Dickie V constantly goes crazy over them it turns me off. Then they have the distinct recruiting/talent advantage so they automatically have the edge in talent before any season.

I can see being a fan more in the days where the athletes were there for longer like with Grant Hill. I couldn't really stand Laettner but Hill was great.

But in the 1 and done era for them it seems like it would be kind of hard to connect with any players very much since they only play for your team for 1 season.

2 seasons I can kind of see because you see them grow with the team, etc, and especially 3 and without a doubt 4, but a bunch of 1 and done guys makes it tougher for me.

Pretty spot on. Speaking for me, I hate Duke because:

1. Built-in recruiting advantages, tons of exposure, and favorable officiating. If they win, they're supposed to win, so why should there be so much celebration? It's like watching a teenager dunk on elementary school kids. It's not fun. It's punching downward.

But that's not enough, as other teams have this too (Kentucky, Alabama in football), but I don't hate them as much because they lack (to my eyes):

2. Historically douchebag-looking/acting players like Cherokee Parks, Battier, JJ Redick, Grayson Allen, etc. That escalates my mild annoyance at point 1 to a "general dislike" tier.

So built in advantages + douchebag players = general dislike. Other teams on this tier include the Lakers (Rick Fox, Horry, early Kobe) and Yankees (Damon, Jeter, Rivera).

But there is one more thing that propels Duke higher (lower?):

3. Their smug nerdy fanbase...the Cameron Crazies. Just ew. No other fanbase comes close to this level of bandwagon + not really basketball fans + obnoxious + goofy looking on a consistent basis.

I know I'm terrible. This isn't civil behavior. But I just can't help it.

As a person in the DMV/dc area where a ton of duke kids come from and other dukies come to for work and I have a connections to duke, I can tell people here love and hate them.

The funny thing is since Maryland university used to be in the acc and a “rival” of duke and North Carolina, we generally should hate all things blue...but alas Coach K and Duke and UNC are name brands that are as big as supreme used to be to hype beast...

so The bar I watched the game with 100+ fans was engaged and loving the game from start to finish...with women that couldn’t name a player but on either team and men that could quote every stat and everyone in between, we’re all in on the game and it made for a great time for all regardless of outcome.

Also it didn’t hurt that Keels and Jeremy Roach are local to the DMV and those kids/ young men are be- loved. They went to a local catholic school (PVI) but they both ball at gyms in the area with civilians. 24 hr fitness and lifetime etc....

Plus the best thing is...when they play pick up, they play against each other and pick randoms! Plus they call me and every other man sir at the gym, and are GREaT EXaMPLES (dare I say role models) to the local kids.

You have to admit, apart from Greysons weirdness ON the court, dukes top players are generally great guys even if you dislike them...it’s not cause they tyrek hill or Antonio brown...it’s because they Tebow or Russell Wilson...too good to be true nice guys...

Gonna suck that the rivalry is probably dead with coach k retiring. I don’t think duke is going to stay as relevant in basketball post coach K...dukes a really exclusive private school that aspires to be perceived as an IVY, but is playing ball at the high end public school level for 40 years... Minus coach K and his Nike and USA basketball relationship...and it’s literal proximity to UNC...I don’t see how they gonna recruit when Duke isn’t a cake walk for students...you better be one and done or you gotta actually GET a DUKE education...which is amazing but it ain’t gonna be easy...lol - I can see duke being a school with a lot of 1 and done hopefuls that are in the transfer portal as soon as they get hit with that year two school work lol

[Fencer reregistered]

Kansas vs. UNC -- who does Roy Williams root for?

[Castle Black]

Kansas vs. UNC -- who does Roy Williams root for?

His alma mater of course.

[LoveMyRaps]

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Michael Jackson]

Gonna suck that the rivalry is probably dead with coach k retiring. I don’t think duke is going to stay as relevant in basketball post coach K...dukes a really exclusive private school that aspires to be perceived as an IVY, but is playing ball at the high end public school level for 40 years... Minus coach K and his Nike and USA basketball relationship...and it’s literal proximity to UNC...I don’t see how they gonna recruit when Duke isn’t a cake walk for students...you better be one and done or you gotta actually GET a DUKE education...which is amazing but it ain’t gonna be easy...lol - I can see duke being a school with a lot of 1 and done hopefuls that are in the transfer portal as soon as they get hit with that year two school work lol

Doubt the rivalry ends. have the Lakers and Celtics ended? Has USC and Notre Dame ended? No Duke is still elite and will continuer to be. Coach K retiring is much like Dean retiring. It is a thing for sure but UNC didn't disappear after Smith either, will it ever be what it was? Well maybe not, but it as a program in its apex likely is, but teams like Kansas, UCLA, Kentucky etc... survive changes. Duke just had a long run but being a Duke recruit still means a lot and as long as that doesn't drop off they will be fine, maybe not the top powerhouse they were but they will replace the coach then if need be. Duke is a legend in this modern era, and I am a UNC guy (and Illinois hence why I hate Kansas drats you Bill Self!) and this is one of the most influential basketball sera's ever. Duke should be just fine IMHO.

Small side note I had a cousin at UNC who as in the frat house for the infamous Reggie Love incident. LOL

Also to the point do Gonzaga or Baylor ever really fall into obscurity again? Maybe one day but they can still recruit and I can't imagine Duke not recruiting for a long time either. I think that rivalry is very alive.