Duke goes down. How much of a chance does this give us?

[UpNorthEagle]

% we make the Final Four?  Let the debate begin.

[SacWarrior]

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/realistic-announcer-shouting-how-kevin-durant-maki,19769/

What does a Duke loss have to with us at all?

[79Warrior]

% we make the Final Four?  Let the debate begin.

why does that mattter to us?

[MarquetteFan94]

% we make the Final Four?  Let the debate begin.

Arizona could have given the Heat a run for their money in the second half.

[warriors1991]

Has nothing to do with us but it does mean that if Arizona can paste Duke the way the did, ANYbody is beatable and if DJO, Jae, and others are hitting their shots, ANYthing can happen tomorrow night.

[texaswarrior74]

dook is 0-5 in the West region....they have NEVER made it out of the sweet 16 in the west....

refs tried to get them back in it....if it was played with ACC refs they would have....

Been telling people on this board all year they are not a good road team....always play most away games on a neutral floor.....lose when they play real road games.....that crowd was much more Zona than dook....

Shows what a sham last year was....they were handed the title

Really made my night

[brewcity77]

% we make the Final Four?  Let the debate begin.

Duke losing will have absolutely zero bearing on us going to the Final Four. It only effects us if we are trying to get to the title game.

This Marquette team has shown time and time again that they can play with anyone. Any random result in another region doesn't change that for better or worse. Does Wisconsin losing give us a better chance of making the Final Four? Does UConn advancing improve our odds? Of course the answers to all these questions are no. The only things that will impact our ability are the result of our game with UNC and the UK/tOSU game. That's it.

[MarquetteFan94]

dook is 0-5 in the West region....they have NEVER made it out of the sweet 16 in the west....

refs tried to get them back in it....if it was played with ACC refs they would have....

Been telling people on this board all year they are not a good road team....always play most away games on a neutral floor.....lose when they play real road games.....that crowd was much more Zona than dook....

Shows what a sham last year was....they were handed the title

Really made my night

Wasn't the final four in Indy last year.....in Butler's backyard?  Not sure why that was a sham.

[HouWarrior]

dook is 0-5 in the West region....they have NEVER made it out of the sweet 16 in the west....

refs tried to get them back in it....if it was played with ACC refs they would have....

Been telling people on this board all year they are not a good road team....always play most away games on a neutral floor.....lose when they play real road games.....that crowd was much more Zona than dook....

Shows what a sham last year was....they were handed the title

Really made my night

I agree... in early february I amplified on your thesis(see below)...to which I acscribe...Duke "jobs" its scheduling, game sites, and record every year to try to job the seedings, and tourney locations, and after last weekend in Charlotte, they were due to be exposed.

Feb 3 posts come true--I love it...
....."Agree. But this is like almost every year for them.

Duke has historically managed their ranking, seeding and tourney locations with smart, self serving scheduling to enhance themselves.

Prior to the conference season, they usually only play one good competition tourney, and always on neutral courts.

This year, Duke played  at home or on neutrals for 14, of their first 15 games(fattening up to 15-0). Their first true away game on real competition's home court, was FSU.. ..their first loss(15-1).

Duke is not much better than 50%(59%)(including the easier ACC road wins), in all true road games...so they avoid scheduling  them. See:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/590900-duke-basketball-loss-to-st-johns-exposes-blue-devils-road-problems-again

Rarely do they EVER play a non neutral, away from home game, against stiff non conference competition, at most one -two games per year---(see UW loss last season). It is unlikely they worried over this year's  away game with St John's, but rather planned on arguing they beat a BE team on an away court--ooops,surprise(their second loss).

The Acc gives them many relatively easy wins(home and away)...so except for UNC (7miles from home) and the likes of Maryland, Wake(in state), their away conf games/losses are minimized. Duke sets themselves up every year with no more than 3-5 tough road games. Cameron home court advantage(92%), and ACC scheduling locks up the rest of a perrenially good record.

Then, with the carefully crafted record, and their tourney history, they lobby hard to be seeded/placed in good locations for NCAA tourney rounds--one year they never left NC, until the final 4!

I would argue, in comparison to BE, and many B10, and B12 teams, who face tougher scheduling, they are over rated, almost every year. But by this careful schedule crafting, and the history that they produce enough ultimate success on two weekends per year (NCAA rounds Sweet 16 to finals), the press/coaches fawn over the success, and Duke always gets the benefits of any doubt on ranking, seeding, and locations.


Duke is the (blue) devil, and must be destroyed!!

Actually, mere win loss ranking is the very point--- such can be deceptive, and NOT always a true measure of a team's strength...When sdsu or Cincinatti were undefeated, did they merit their rankings? Does anyone think sdsu and BYU are 6th and 7th best in the USA?

Rankings are to rank the best, to the lesser. On such level, Duke is not yet proven to be 5th best in USA, especially as true road losses to FSU, and St. John's (T-9 in BE), leave serious doubts. I do not begrudge Duke's smart scheduling of neutrals and its advantage of playing in the weaker ACC, ...a good record is admired, even if it may mask the true strength of the team.

The real reason to call it out, as to its possible deception, is when it results in an easy 1 or 2 NCAA seed, when other "better" teams get lesser seeds, simply because they played more tough away games, or in a tougher conference, resulting in more losses.

Except for last year, previously, Duke was getting regularly exposed...as... twice as a No. 1 seed and once as a No. 2, the Blue Devils had lost to lower-seeded teams four straight years. Losing four straight years to lower seeds, leads to the question of whether it merits the seed, or whether  it gets in higher seeds than its deserved, ...i.e., more on good scheduling and prior reputation.

Duke is 5th ranked now-- but they will not be in the elite 8.This will be another year in which they lose to a lesser ranked team.  Mark it down.

[texaswarrior74]

Houwarrior

Great post...somehow I missed it the first time around.

After the loss to St Johns I think losing to UNC in Chapel Hill as badly as they did cost them their seeding position and sent them west.

Marquettefan94

Last year they were seeded in by far the least competitive bracket and had a virtual cakewalk to the FF.....many/most journalists (outside of ESPN and dookieV) were very critical of the ridiculously easy path they were given.....it was like it was preordained that k would get another MNC right after UNC won their second in five years and had lost the majority of their '09 MNC team either to graduation or leaving early for the NBA.