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I understand that a big part of it is having one coach for a long period of time. But it seems that Duke is always in the mix season after season. After they lose good players, they seem to hover around the Top 15 to Top 20, not fall out of the rankings altogether. Since 1990, they have only failed to make the Sweet 16 six times (one season was when Coach K was out with hip surgery). So what is it Duke that makes their program so competitive year in year out?
Discounting Roy Williams' first season at UNC (he won the NC his 2nd season), the records for UNC and Duke since 2004 are the following:
211-68 (75.6%) for UNC
263-51 (83.7%) for Duke
UNC has won more NCs. They have made it to the Sweet 16 the same number of times. UNC missed the Tourney in 2009-10, posting a 20-17 record.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 03-10-2014 at 04:18 PM..
As a UNC fan, it hurts me to say this... But, Duke has the best coach in college basketball ever. The dude can flat out coach and his system is almost perfect. What he has done at Duke is nothing short of amazing, he is Duke in many ways! This is very evident considering how his players do outside of his system, not many Duke players have been that successful in the NBA. Just my $0.02 worth!
still one of bucket list sports (probably overall bucket list) things is a Duke/UNC game at Cameron
Also the good UNC team are/have been more talented - ever walk around the UNC Arena and see each team - is amazing really - Duke recruits a different player that fits with Coach K and does what he wants and how he wants it
I actually got to walk around (UNC's arena not Cameron) one random afternoon about 15 years ago killing time before a flight back to Philly - the one door was ajar and walked around the concourse - place was empty - Me and 2 fellow co-workers got walk onto the floor and in a lucky instance there was a roller cart full of basketballs - we proceeded to each shoot about 5 foul shots - in the middle of either a security or cleaning person looked down (at three dudes in bad suits) and kind of turned away and understood that moment was important - I only hit my last last foul shot (not surprising) but will always remember the moment...
Last edited by kidphilly; 03-10-2014 at 04:40 PM..
As a UNC fan, it hurts me to say this... But, Duke has the best coach in college basketball ever. The dude can flat out coach and his system is almost perfect. What he has done at Duke is nothing short of amazing, he is Duke in many ways! This is very evident considering how his players do outside of his system, not many Duke players have been that successful in the NBA. Just my $0.02 worth!
Exactly. It's like he knows how to pick the players who are just right for his system. They come in, they play hard, they buy into the system, they do their little huddle thing, and they perform. And you don't hear about his players causing too much trouble either in college or after. I'm sure there are some players who've had run-ins with the law, etc., but for the most part his players seem very disciplined. He's like the anti-Bob Huggins.
Besides being just an amazing coach, he's been able to bridge multiple changes in the game - he's gone from competing with the Dean Smith 4 corners type of game, in a landscape where players were looked at funny for leaving early to running against the one & dones in the world
He's competed against so many different styles and has adapted his approach countless times
Besides being just an amazing coach, he's been able to bridge multiple changes in the game - he's gone from competing with the Dean Smith 4 corners type of game, in a landscape where players were looked at funny for leaving early to running against the one & dones in the world
He's competed against so many different styles and has adapted his approach countless times
And is a Temple Killer in the Tourney sadly - maybe really stole the lone Temple (this coming from a NOVA fan) chance at a NC - will never forget that game think was like '88ish
And don't forget what he's done for USA basketball... He has resurrected USA basketball which was a joke under the previous coach (Larry Brown?)... USA basketball is back under his leadership!
Great coach.
Big name program.
Great school willing to bend admissions wayyyy below normal admitted students.
There ya go.
I mean, at least they aren't paying them and making up fake classes to keep them eligible like most of the other top-tier programs (other than similar programs like Kansas).
As a UNC fan, it hurts me to say this... But, Duke has the best coach in college basketball ever. The dude can flat out coach and his system is almost perfect. What he has done at Duke is nothing short of amazing, he is Duke in many ways! This is very evident considering how his players do outside of his system, not many Duke players have been that successful in the NBA. Just my $0.02 worth!
At least they have a college education to fall back on, which was kind of the whole point anyway.
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