Ivy Athletics: Can they be relevant again in the major sports?

[ring_of_fire_1]

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@k&s

Uhh, ever hear of UNC?

ESPN would disagree with you.
[Counting</a> down the most prestigious programs since 1984-85 - Men’s College Basketball - ESPN](<a href=“U-19 World Cup 2024 - Ubaid Shah five-for helps Pakistan seal semis berth in thriller - ESPN”>Counting down the most prestigious programs since 1984-85 - ESPN)
In the 64-team era that started in the 1984-1985 season, Duke has been the most dominant college basketball program period.</p>

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@k&s

Congrats on being the 'Bama of college BB!

Um, except the rest of the Duke student body constitutes a top 10 national student body academically so we can cut the athletes some slack.</p>

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@k&s

In that case, Coach K is an overrated coach since his teams have been getting prematurely bounced out of the Tourney for most of this decade to lower seeded teams (many times, significantly lower-seeded teams).</p>

<p>But in reality, Duke hardly gets the “best” BB recruits (Duke recruits tend to get overrated like those for ND FB).</p>

<p>The reason why Duke hasn’t been able to progress in the Tourney recently is b/c there hasn’t been a legit “big-man” presence on the team for years.</p>

<p>And aside from one or two players, the rest of the team tends to be less athletic and a little slow compared to players on major programs.</p>

<p>Basically, Duke lives and dies by the 3.</p>

<p>Yeah, great college BB knowledge there!

Everyone has their slumps. People forget how god awful UNC was in the late 90s and how bad Indiana and Kentucky have been for god knows how long and these are supposed to be “basketball powerhouses”.</p>

<p>Even in the past 5 years, which is arguably the worst stretch in Duke bball history, Duke has made it to 3 Sweet 16s. Not too shabby.</p>

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@k&s

2005 — No. 5 Michigan State 78, No. 1 Duke 68</p>

<p>2006 — No. 4 L.S.U. 62, No. 1 Duke 54</p>

<p>2007 — No. 11 V.C.U. 79, No. 6 Duke 77</p>

<p>2008 — No. 7 West Virginia 73, No. 2 Duke 67</p>

<p>2009 — No. 3 Villanova 77, No. 1 Duke 54</p>

<p>That’s failing to make the Elite 8 for FIVE straight years by falling to lower-seeded teams.</p>

<p>Since 2001, Duke has NOT defeated a team seeded higher than no. 5 in the Tourney.</p>

<p>In the 8 Tourneys from 2002-2009, Duke has been a 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 6, 2 and 2 seed; and has been eliminated by a lower seeded team SEVEN out of those 8 times.

Are you honestly this dimwitted? If a team is ranked first going to the tournament, HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT SUPPOSED TO BEAT A HIGHER RANKED TEAM? 1 IS THE HIGHEST SEED. That takes away 4 of those seasons by that logic. The remaining 4 seasons don’t really follow a pattern and it’s tough to live up to expectations when you are seeded #2 and #3 as well. The 2007 tourny result was just a monumental collapse. Hey, it happens.</p>

<p>Basically, you picked an arbitrary set of data points to prove that Duke is overrated. Epic fail on your part. How about the 2001 season when Duke WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP? Conveniently forgot about that didn’t you.</p>

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@k&s

Nice attitude by the Duke student body (do you even know what the minimum NCAA standards are?).

Who cares? We’re still better at Northwestern in everything. Remember when our football team embarrassed your at home? HAHAHAHA.</p>