Big 10 takes down the ACC! SUCK IT DUKE

[PVnRT]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/12606923/big-ten-has-many-reasons-to-celebrate-challenge-victory">CBS Sports

"I, Gary Parrish, swear on everything I own -- including my iPod, portable GPS and hundreds of thousands of Marriot points -- that I will never leave Wisconsin unranked in the preseason as long as Bo Ryan is coaching with his NCAA tournament streak intact. It'll never happen again. Never. Ever. There's no sense in annually being wrong about the same thing."

Wisconsin 73, Duke 69

[trumad]

1. It happens so little

so I understand your excitement.

[Condem]

2. First time in 11 years.

The Illini came from 23 down to beat Clemson. Well done, Big Ten. Truly, America's Premier Athletic Conference.

[AndreaCG]

8. As a Big East (Syracuse) fan I beg to differ

Even our bottom feeders are playing relatively well so far.

[brendan120678]

12. Yep - I'm a St. John's grad, and even we...

are at 6 - 0 at this point. Of course, we've played pretty much nothing but fluff teams to this point. Last night was the first real "big" challenge, and that was only against SUNY-Stony Brook. And honestly, St. John's played like crap.

The Redmen -- er, Red Storm -- play Duke this weekend.

[DaveinMD]

22. Sienna was a good win

most people thought Sienna was better than St. John's. I didn't go to school at St. John's but I grew up watching the teams with Chris Mullin and Walter Berry. Those teams were great.

[unc70]

23. "We got our tails beat" is how Roy W. politely described what they did to my Tar Heels

We looked pathetic most of the second half against Syracuse. Wes Johnson was impressive, looks like Syracuse will again be one of the best teams. While I am a UNC and then an ACC fan, I have a lot of family connections to Syracuse (alums, endowed scholarship) and often find myself pulling for them. Of course, I had to hear about this over Thanksgiving.

In that game Carolina looked big, slow, careless with the ball, and mostly clueless. I don't know just what happened to us, but we played poorly and they made us pay dearly in return. I suspect Roy was able to use that game as a "teaching moment" because the UNC guard play and overall team speed was dramatically different against Mich State.

Good luck the rest of the season.

[LisaM]

17. I can't believe the Illini won!

I saw a little at the gym (I was mostly watching the BC-Michigan game) and really thought the Illini were sunk.

Note to Michigan: got to get the shooting percentage out of the 20%-30% range. I'm beginning to think the players all have the flu or something!

[PVnRT]

3. You're just upset that your boys at Duke lost

[trumad]

5. Actually I could care less about Duke...

I just get a chuckle about chest puffers with very little history to puff about.

[PVnRT]

6. Little history?

You're right. The Big 10 is a newbie conference that has never done anything in the history of NCAA basketball.

Speaking of no history, Miami has gotten into the tournament less times than Miami (OH). Weird.

[trumad]

18. Nope---didn't say it wasa new conference

I meant little history in beating the ACC--- as in this was the first time ever.

[BOSSHOG]

13. Don't you mean

You could NOT care less?

[madinmaryland]

4. Nice post, Coach K!

[joeybee12]

7. Yeah, always a good day when Duke loses!!!

:toast:

[madinmaryland]

9. Actually, I despise UNC even more.

I always hated Dean Smith's four corner offense. That was a real offense to the sport of basketball.

[joeybee12]

10. Naw, I've only begun to hate UNC since they've been so successful lately...

...my hatred for Duke goes back to the beginning of time.

[madinmaryland]

16. I hated the four-corners offense. It was an offense to basketball.

I try to keep politics out of sports, unless someone says something so outrageously douchey, that I have to comment.

[PVnRT]

11. At least Dean Smith is a good Democrat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Smith#Political_activities

Desegregation, anti-Vietnam, anti-Death Penalty....fuck, this guy is more to the left than a lot of DUers these days.

[unc70]

14. Dean is way to the left of MOST DUers these days. K is a Repub

While more publicly partisan since he retired from coaching, Dean Smith always seemed on the "good" side of most issues. If I were to find myself opposite Dean or Bill Friday, I would quickly reevaluate my positions.

I am reminded of a instance of the interplay between sports and politics here at UNC. The UNC AD in the late 1970's was Bill Cobey who ran for Lt. Gov. in 1980. From the outside, it appeared that Cobey was attempting to leverage his UNC position for personal poliltical advantage. Suddenly, Cobey "resigned" as UNC AD and became the executive director of the local YMCA! Quite a advance for a Wharton MBA.

Cobey was the Repub candidate in 1980 for Lt. Gov. losing to Jimmy Green, the Dem incumbent. I knew each personally, though not well, and could not vote for either. Bill was a RW AH who later worked for the Congressional Club (Jesse Helms). Green was a crook (charged several times, eventually convicted for fraud related to one of the incidents of arson involving his tobacco warehouses -- my father would have no dealings with Green) so I did not vote for him either; I voted Libertarian for Craig Franklin, a longtime friend. Bill still lives near me in CH and lead the Huchabee campaign in NC last year.

[joeybee12]

15. A good Dem, like Dean, in NC back then was rare...n/t

[TZ]

19. Maryland beat Indiana

And they aren't looking that good this year. Though seems like Wisconsin is pretty good.

Its always good to see Duke lose though..

[Kingofalldems]

20. Gary does alright --he's at a huge disadvantage on recruiting

[DaveinMD]

21. Maryland

should be decent this year. Not great, but they should make the NCAAs.