Barry Larkin's Son, Shane, Classy, Athletic Just Like Dad

The kid is here to endure the madness and mayhem of March, for the first time, as a Miami point guard. The bright lights from a baseball field that shone directly over home plate had fascinated Shane Larkin, taking swings in the cage with Tony Perez and Pete Rose and spending time with his dad and every Cincinnati player as a young kid.

For as long as he can remember -- back in early childhood -- Shane imitated Perez in his at-bats, wiggling his wrist and emulating the leg kick. When he was 5 or 6, he was sure to be a baseball player, and follow his dad's footsteps. Growing up going to spring training with his father, Larkin wasn't enamored with baseball like his father.

Deion Sanders, who was multi-athletic and played in the big leagues, gave him the nickname SugaShane. Inside the clubhouse, he walked around wearily, laughed and joked around with his dad's teammates and chewed all the bubblegum. While he looked on during games, he would dribble his basketball in the Reds' dugout.

Soon enough Larkin, the son of former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, could drain a breathtaking, game-winning shot to send his team to the Final Four in Atlanta, Ga., and in the meantime, whether the Hurricanes are bracket killers or not, he's stepping onto the court with a chance to reach the ultimate goal as a player. And yet, he pursued a different game to play, he chose basketball and now he's a star for the Miami Hurricanes.

He's the son of 12-time All-Star, a former NL MVP and a Hall of Famer. The kid mostly ran down fly balls blasted to him at spring training, and eventually he was eligible to play in a coach-pitch baseball league. At age 7, when he roamed the outfield and scaled the outfield wall, he made his decision, a smart decision. From that point on, he was dribbling a ball and shooting hoops, no longer jumping and kicking off the wall and then trying to catch a ball.

When he was in elementary school, the Reds began giving him tips on hitting and conditioning him for the big leagues, but then he returned home to Orlando, Fla., and his Little League coach turned him away from the sport by criticizing his swing. He gave up on baseball, but his father passed athleticism onto his son, so daddy is still proud and attends every game his son plays.

He couldn't believe it. Barry recalls the day his son told him he no longer wanted to play baseball. He was young, wealthy and gifted, deeply in love with baseball and was lucky enough to make a living as a pro athlete, while his son was just introduced to the game. Barry's greatest surprise was his son turning down the game, in frustration. There has been almost nothing but good fortune for him ever since he began playing basketball.

More than that, Barry remembers being incredibly upset and disappointed that he quit baseball. This was a chance for him to move out of his dad's shadows -- to make his own decisions. He had another goal in mind, and just like his father but in a different sport, Shane was driven and ambitious to grab a basketball, dribble it down the floor, make plays and finish at the rack. It's not that he chose the wrong sport. He didn't. It's just that he chose a sport opposite of what his father played, and his presence this season turned Miami into a superpower nationally.

It should certainly be noted that Larkin's emergence is the reason Miami began a 6-0 start for its first in conference play in school history. It's true, becoming attached to basketball, baseball had never been Larkin's sport of choice. It's really never been something that interested him because he found it boring and too slow. It was something Barry's son never wanted to pursue. Barry had never known this before, his mind amped up as if his son was the next baseball star of the family.

It turns out that he was the first basketball star of the family, a speedy 5-foot-11 Orlando native who has flourished in the Hurricanes ball-screen offense, scoring 14.6 points and dishing out 4.4 assists a game all season. He's a well-rounded guard, a natural-born talent, the kind of player every coach wants on his team. No one, of course, is more fully developed than Larkin, just as no one can play defense and run Miami's balanced offense better than him. The ball is secured in his hands, he's a playmaker, he hardly ever makes mistakes, and more importantly, he's unselfish with the ball.

His efforts to get his teammates involved in every game, unlike few sophomore players who are selfish sharing the ball and displaying teamwork, exceptionally put together a breakthrough season for the entire program. Larkin, 20, in many ways has emerged as a leader on the court among the four other seniors in the starting lineup. It was his father's idea to instill leadership qualities in him, for whatever he decided to work towards in life, which was becoming a stud in basketball.

For too long, we have ignored Miami in the ACC and respected Duke and North Carolina -- the Hurricanes are suddenly a national power, and deservingly they are a Final Four contender on a number of NCAA Tournament brackets, including mine. So it could be he took a detour and knew he had potential to be a premier star in basketball, with his solid ball handling, with his knack and love for the game -- zealous and keen, but respectively a skilled superstar.

It's time, now that Miami claimed its first ACC Tournament championship and earned a No. 2 seed, that we realize Larkin has grown into one of the nation's top point guards under veteran coach Jim Larranaga, who was most notably for guiding George Mason to 13 straight winning seasons. There's no doubting that Larkin has been taught and groomed by his father, as a kid, and has played with such passion and energy.

They are talking about him, reading about him, so everybody knows who Larkin is by now -- a burgeoning star in basketball, and the University of Miami Hurricanes are one of the biggest success stories of this tournament. All season, loudly, the Hurricanes have played tournament-style basketball with the grinding effort that makes them a potential Final Four threat. And Larkin has blossomed into one of top point guards in college hoops, and his team, the Hurricanes, finished the regular season with a 27-6 record and went 15-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

On Friday, the Hurricanes who were ranked fifth nationally in the poll will begin on the road to the Final Four. They will play against No. 15 seed, Pacific, in the East region of the NCAA Tournament. It's fair if you believe, as I do, that he's a more efficient basketball star than he is a baseball player, judging by his success on the hardwood where he's led Miami's charge to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In Chicago, DePaul wasn't the place he called home, and coach Oliver Purnell was trying to rebuild around him, but Larkin bailed out and transferred to Miami where he became the centerpiece for Larranaga.

It was Shane's decision to focus on basketball and not baseball. The coolest thing about Larkin is that he treats the game like an exam, and when he plays like a superstar that he is, he scores big and leads the Hurricanes to a positive outcome. It is especially all so familiar to Barry, who, like others, raised an athletic and classy son with the desire to succeed and the urge to reach his potential, but more importantly, to lead Miami to a national title.

The Hurricanes, for once in school history, are relevant in college hoops of Larkin's breakout season. The focus remains on school for the sophomore who decided to return for his junior season, staying in college and not making the jump to the NBA.

The son of a retired baseball player better put his shoes on. It's about to get good.

College Football Playoff: BCS Finally Adopts New Formula

You might have been bored by it all, unwilling to watch the one college sport that has fallen to its lowest, at a time thousands of fans have turned away from the chaos of a pedestrian and unpopular game for its latest hypocrisy.

In a sport of no structure but intense drama, in a sport of no legitimate playoff system but an unsound formula that defer schools hopes of fulfillment, implementing an eight-team playoff could rid the dysfunction as schools are entirely devoid of merit to rightly so vie for BCS bowl bids. The state of college football is disarray, with an epidemic of sullied computers and formulas mathematically deciding whether a program is worthy of playing on the national stage for a crystal football trophy.

In the creative world of innovation and technology, you can almost feel the BCS manipulating the more popular sport folks have grown attached to and immersed themselves in football, a far more appreciated game in the American culture — the primary sporting of pop culture. The 12-member BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, meeting some time on Tuesday, is likely going to approve a four-team playoff format. This is progress, a step closer toward a much-improved game with very little politics and more of a competitive balance. And so, reportedly, we notice the BCS commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director endorsed a four-team postseason arrangement a week ago.

“We’re very unified,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN. “There are issues that have yet to be finalized. There’s always devil in the detail, from the model to the selection process, but clearly we’ve made a lot of progress.”

If it goes as plan, under a proposed plan, there will be two national semifinals games and a national championship game. The four teams would be selected by a special committee and would take effect after the 2014 season, once the current BCS deal expires. The semifinals would be played at existing bowl sites and rotate every season, and the championship would be held at a neutral site. A bidding process would determine where the game is played each year.

The BCS is dead. It’s a flawed system that can soon rest peacefully, and every PC involved in college athletics can crash for that matter, as we are eager to welcome a playoff. Now we all wait to find out when a consensus decision could be reached to institute a new system that should satisfy schools, students, alumni, fans and student-athletes across the nation. In a seemingly contrasted move, the sport is aiming for a change, a new direction, ways to mend the game and jettison blemishes that have slightly damaged tradition, honesty and integrity.

It’s too often that schools, such as small programs with no prestige, no television audiences and financial deficits, are snubbed and rarely earn national regards. And so, it’s no real surprise that establishing a potential playoff can resolve the confusion and allow every team a fair advantage, putting aside bigotry and bias, which has weakened the sport after a number of universities have been devoid of top-tier bowl games and victimized by BCS fraud. It’s all happening because, over the years as we all know by now, college football’s broken formula and polls has dictated what schools played in what specific bowl game. This is where the NCAA withstood an outcry and a drumbeat of criticism — especially from programs like Boise State, Utah and TCU. The little guys could finally earn a fair share of respect if the proposed plan is approved no later than Tuesday.

It’s not exactly the first thing that comes to mind on his agenda, but President Obama insisted a long time ago there should be a playoff system to determine a legitimate champion. It’s not only going to increasingly modify the brand and target a new audience but a TV deal may be worth $3 billion. The bidding networks are prepared to make a run at a television contract that caters to the four-team playoff system. Right now, Walt Disney holds the rights to every BCS bowl game and the national championship game.

The current deal is $155 million combined from Disney for its ESPN and ABC networks, but with the new playoff system — which includes three games and two semifinals and a championship game — it should demand a TV rights contract greater than the current deal. The value of the football is growing and more games are televised nationally, considering the popularity, especially if the playoff system is approved. And beyond everything, with negotiations beginning in fall, the BCS could extend a relationship with ESPN, a major sports broadcasting company that could pocket $3.2 billion from an expected eight-year deal. If ESPN wants rights, it will have to outbid Comcast, a company owning the largest TV network in the country.

This is a day folks can’t wait to see for themselves, confident a playoff would change the way they view the game. This is a day fans can’t wait to be a part of for themselves, optimistic a four-team seeded playoff would settle the argument by rescinding bowl games, which could come to an end sooner than later. That’s a day college football will change for the better and forever, calling forth a committee to determine a team’s fate. It’s a new era of college football, and a playoff system may arrive in a matter of days, even though the Bowl Chaotic System should have been shot down a long time ago in favor of the long overdue playoffs.

This means there’d be no more outrageous polls, schools getting snubbed, computer standings and automatic qualifications. All of this is history with a playoff system, but it must be ratified before anything else. Just think of all the money that would be generated. Just think of the vast majority of fans, many of whom would keep a close eye on football as the average fan is fueled by a playoff atmosphere from all the excitement and thrills.

There won’t be much controversy from the BCS. It can’t please everyone one. It shows favoritism toward the SEC Conference — whether it was Alabama or LSU — and fails to acknowledge those worthy of BCS merit. It is deeply in love with Ohio State and Big Ten schools, um, yes, a conference with its own television network. Those are Pac 12 schools left behind. The wavering status of the Bowl Championship Series is anything but well balanced and instead is prejudice. Always biased and never to be trusted, the BCS credibility has withered as fans are hysterical and requesting a playoff system.

That’s not to say the playoff system would be completely fair, but it would be more credible than the BCS nonsense. Controversy will always be — particularly in college sports — where a program can whine and moan about No. 1 and 2 seeding. It’s about time they implement a new system not so disoriented and jaundiced. It’s likely nobody wants to see UConn get hammered by Texas. Logic is, SEC and Big 12 schools would dominate and play for a number of national titles. And Pac 12 and Big 10 schools will have a fair advantage, too.

It’s time for a legitimate winner. Put aside the BCS fraud and play fair.

Austin Rivers Hits Thrilling Shot, But Still Bearing Growing Pains

Austin Rivers, at the end of a college hoops spectacular, was mobbed by his teammates, his father, Doc Rivers, among them, went nuts watching his son drill a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to beat rivals North Carolina 85-84 Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.

As the clock trickled, he pulled up, launched a rainbow three-pointer and stunned the Tar Heel folks, taking the air out of a building that suddenly went silent -- an instant classic to send the Duke Blue Devils right back to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is, indeed, a true freshman with much promise, choosing to play for an institution where basketball is truly a tradition on Tobacco Road in Carolina.

He could have chosen North Carolina, a school eight miles away from Duke, but he had the motive to play behind legends, the popular athlete on campus until he eventually ventures off for the NBA. As of now, Rivers has NBA qualities, drilling threes from professional range with guard capabilities -- scoring a career-high 29 points after providing the unbelievable finishing touches.

"This is the best feeling I've ever had on the basketball court," Rivers said. "This is the best feeling I've ever had."

And yes, this is one of the best finishes we've ever witnessed in college hoops. This appears to be more relevant, all because it happened during rivalry week, a moment when Duke and North Carolina-- the best rivalry in college basketball -- battled in an epic theater on a night that Rivers generated much buzz after making magic happen in a hostile territory where Duke is always unwelcome on their rival's home court.

And now, after that incredible buzzer-beater, he is most believed for developing into an athletic sensation and perhaps the top young player in the nation. Fitting enough, he plays for a school that produces artistic, admirable guards. The growth of Rivers, a more polarizing player in the nation maybe for the uniform and colors he wears, has led to an abundance of progression in Duke's sudden rise -- in position to be an overweighing factor in March.

In the meantime, he is playing his best basketball and might be the fundamental piece if Duke is indeed in contention during the madness in March. For this young group of guys, it could either turn out as March Happiness or March Sadness, but as we all know, anything is possible in a tourney of underdogs and spectacular basketball. It's a month of surprises, a time that we pencil in our teams on those elusive brackets, predicting on what teams are worthy of the Final Four. The rare athleticism is what separates Rivers from most players, and it wouldn't surprise me if he leads Duke in the NCAA tournament.

Without a doubt in our minds, he is a scorer and that alone tells us he's a star player at a prestigious university, where Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and a well-known basketball program have produced many NBA stars. It's hard to ignore weaknesses, as it might be a mistake not to address Rivers' fundamental flaws often underestimating his deficiencies as a player.


This, then, means he must learn to play within a team and not individually and mature over time. If so, and imagine if he does, Rivers will become the most dynamic offensive player in the nation and will generate buzz all over the country -- maybe even more so that he wears a Duke uniform when the vast majority of its games are broadcast nationally for the world to embrace and see.

What if he does forgo his college career after this season? This is a sampling of a future NBA star aiming for the professional ranks, and Duke suddenly has become a school of one-and-dones. He's the most terrifying and supernatural 18-year-old, reaching his potential at a school where the expectations are largely vital and where losing is considered a failure in the business of tradition and an abundance of legendary athletes who once played for Duke amid historically a few incredible runs. But I have to wonder about Rivers, because in truth, he's a pull up shooter and hogs the ball.

If you can pinpoint his downside, it would be his lack of commitment to play defense, and without him working diligently on defense, Duke is not such a well-balanced, skilled team. There's no denying that he's a flourishing player. The flaws, though he won it remarkably for the Blue Devils, eclipse his strengths, an almost punitive measure to keep him from excelling as the best player in the country.

It's that one shot, the game-winner that might be historic and go down as one of the exciting classics in sports. Good as he is, Rivers must mature a bit if he desires to become an efficient and complete ballplayer in Duke history, taking over for Kyrie Irving as the best athlete on the court. While the product of Duke is exhilarating and fun to watch, in the perfect atmosphere being in the presence of Coach K -- who is a teacher of the game and has cultivated his kids over the years with his craft and brilliance of coaching the game, Rivers still has to improve his shot selection and decision making. The excitement and emotion of Rivers' style on the court is from him pushing the tempo, driving to the rim, and distributing the ball to his teammates for open shots -- a dimensional guard to Duke's offense.

Without him, the Blue Devils are only, at best, an average basketball program. In most ways, he plays the role as a combo guard and his maturation has gently polished. The electrifying shot that everyone raved about immediately after Wednesday night when it took many by surprise -- reducing the volume in a noisy environment -- created enough buzz for one night. And everyone is waiting to see how he produces in March, in what would be Rivers' first NCAA tourney, a chance for him to strive for an NBA livelihood. Or he can opt to stay in school and elevate his collegiate status at Duke, as many before him have done in previous years. It's all up to him. It's his call. But, even though he's somewhat NBA-caliber, he still needs much improvement before he jumps into the NBA.

One shot doesn't confirm that he's ready to take on a tougher, harder task on the professional level. Maybe considering he's ultra-talented player who is a scorer and has ultimately a unique shooting stroke in his arsenal. And that's fine. But he's just inexperienced and an undersized shooting guard at 6-foot-4 who has to play more aggressively on defense. He's far from it, not even close to being a complete shooting guard, nonetheless, a work in progress as a freshman. He has to be more than just a deep-range shooter, if anything, and be well-rounded in every department -- performing through the emotions and getting past the challenges of stiff competition.

It's not the lack of potential or skill that is slowing down his process of establishing himself as the best player in the country, but it's the thought that he hasn't fulfilled much experience and defended his opponents, giving up too many points to the opposing team. Clearly, he committed to the right program and now is playing for Krzyzewski, who has built a bond with his players giving them unconditional love and opportunities to grow as he cultivate and groom his players.

There's undoubtedly a reason that Rivers decided to commit to Duke, not only for the education, but also for the noteworthy program where he can expand his style of play with one of the well-respected basketball coaches. While folks are reliving that thrilling, game-winning buzzer-beater -- Rivers -- and Duke as a whole -- are bearing with growing pains as they adjust to a completely new style. But he may have had his signature moment with a come-from-behind victory over No. 5 North Carolina -- trailing by as many as 13 points in the second-half.

The Blue Devils were on the brink of dropping a conference game against their rivals, but never stopped playing and continued to battle, pulling off a miraculous rally near the end that led to a gratifying finish with 13 seconds left. When North Carolina's Tyler Zeller missed a free throw for what would have been a three-point advantage, it was Rivers who received the ball, and certainly, he hurried down the floor and launched it from the perimeter. Sure enough, it dropped in. This happened after his teammate Seth Curry, who had 15 points, scored a three that cut the lead within four with 1:48 left. And then, moments later, Ryan Kelly hit a jump shot off his own missed three that made it 82-80. That created magic of a celebrated rivalry.

"Obviously this is my favorite win I've ever had in my entire life," Rivers said. "And it's because we were down the whole game. The whole game, we were down. They just kept it on us - 10-point lead, 10-point lead. And then there was 3 minutes left and probably everybody thought we were going to lose, and we just kept fighting. To get a W, it's amazing."

However, he's still a work in progress.

Florida State Transforms From Inept to Competent, Almost Back to Relevancy

And so ends the beginning to an appealing chapter in one of the most inter-state clashes in college football. In the midst of an eventual upset, as crazed activities materialized in South Beach on the night women dressed in sexy attire and fanatics hosted tailgate parties, the Miami Hurricanes were supposed to deliver with an enormous win.

It’s impossible to sugarcoat Florida State for shocking the nation, taking control early with a 21-0 lead in the first half and eventually coasting to a 45-17 win. Every coach has a starting point and flashbacks in his career.

By waiting patiently behind legendary Bobby Bowden, who imprinted a signature on a prominent football program as the second-winningest coach in major college football history, his successor Jimbo Fisher symbolizes aspiration at Florida State.

The Seminoles, tired of being described as inferior, weren’t surrounded by mediocrity or anguish on Saturday, bound to win 10-plus games this season. So now Fisher, a recognizable guru, had been the voice of the program for the last few seasons, being groomed from the sidelines and watching the old-timer Bowden orchestrate his playbook. But eventually, you knew it would happen. And now, it has happened.

This week, of course, Fisher has a signature win in the Florida State-Miami rivalry. In my mind, clearly, he needed to pull off the biggest game on the schedule of the delighted and traditional program to declare citizenship. This week, in a convincing fashion, the Seminoles are dominant and haven’t suffered much despair in a season the team is bowl eligible, in a season the team is finally acknowledged.


By now, the Seminoles have vividly put aside the disillusionment, following a brutal, slaughtering rout. If ever there’s an appropriate moment for the Hurricanes to return among college football’s premier program, to leap into bowl contention, and to be discussed periodically, it wouldn’t be at this moment. A humiliating loss, a huge letdown, leaves behind a dubious notion in Miami.

And the likelihood of a Seminoles downfall is highly unlikely, given the compromising stance of Fisher and the infinite maturity of a sizable program. Ultimately, even without Bowden, the Seminoles cannot be ignored favored to win every game, until the final game on the schedule comes against the Florida Gators. The bragging rights clearly go to the Seminoles. On the same night the Gators were beaten by LSU in another breathtaking finish.

Even more than last year, when the Seminoles were distracted by Bowden’s retirement plans and coaching travails, Florida State owns three consecutive ACC wins recently. Deep down, as worthwhile as each victory inserts a strong hypothesis of superiority, Fisher is no longer coaching in the shadows of a legend.

For all the triumph of late, it initially restores relevancy and lifts the psyche of a program hallowed with tradition and cultural aspects. And, best of all, the Seminoles’ phenomenal turnaround shouldn’t be downplayed. Such is the reality of Florida State trashing Miami on the road in a rivalry game or having enough star power to reconstruct fortune in a regime.

Although the man he replaced, Bowden, oddly went against Florida State and picked Miami to win the game. He still dislikes the way his tenured ended. Eternally, however, he’ll pose as the iconic coach to ever lead the program, and we can argue that he never really desired to retire.

It wasn’t long ago, in a contest the Seminoles fell to the Hurricanes, when Bowden tried to diagram a play, but the coaching staff ignored his creative ideas. And still, Miami prevailed in the game on a last-second pass by the Seminoles that bounced incomplete in the end zone.

Given a chance to redeem dismay and erase the memories of heartbreaking defeats, the Seminoles prevailed while the Hurricanes wilted. If he’s presenting mental toughness and operating with his brilliant offensive tactics in his impressive tenure, Fisher, while mentoring in the shadows of a legendary coach, appears to be leading the Seminoles back to national title prominence.


If this happens to be the end of the twilight era and the beginning of a shinning age, as they persist in growing as ACC agitators and pose as a viable threat in the near future, the Seminoles could encounter a rematch with Miami in the ACC title game.

But, the school located in Tallahassee is good. And suddenly, the moment is here, but no one is enjoying the moment more than Fisher in his first season at the helm. With the vanity of sturdiness in an inadequate conference, the Seminoles easily can pull away and be crowned conference champs at the end of the season.

As the clock tickled down, Fisher was drenched in a Gatorade shower. It obviously cooled down the well-respected coach on a humid night, but it also was a nice birthday present. In celebration of his 45th birthday, he was presented with the largest margin of defeat in the series since Miami’s 49-27 win in 2001.

However, he’s not satisfied aiming for initiative goals, which is arising onto the national stage to win a national title and symbolize the meaning of football at Florida State.

“It was as good of a birthday present as I could have asked for, phenomenal,” Fisher said.

He tries to obstruct such sentiment because of his immense desires of inheriting the gleaming crystal balls in the future. Indeed, he’s well on his way. This time, the Seminoles buried the Hurricanes on their turf. The game was over, maybe before it even started and was controlled by the Seminoles invigorated ground attack, rushing for a total of 298 yards—the most against Miami since Virginia Tech had 272 yards earlier in the season in a 31-7 loss.

But more impressively, Ponder completed 12-of-21 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns. More than ever, he converted 6-of-12 third downs. It was evidently the turning point in Florida State’s offense, just as their head coach is the critical juncture.

By jumping out to an early lead, the Seminoles’ defense had momentum and energy to make it miserable for a struggling Miami offense. Early on, FSU’s defense seemed fierce and violently pressured and sacked Harris. Of the previous meetings between 1983 and 2001, the Florida State-Miami rivalry has determined the national champ seven times in 19 seasons.

Though it was an imperative win, that is not to say they’ll win a national title.

I’ll guarantee that maybe Florida State wins the prize really soon.

So, watch in another year.

Whether You Like It or Not, Duke Lives with Hate

There’s a way to describe the Duke Blue Devils. It’s a prestigious institution wrapped in much mystique, and proclaimed as the school of all villains. Why?

For years, we’ve disdained a campus in an environment arrogance makes a strong impression, scrutinized either for its collective win total or overbearing personality that a majority of the nation cannot stand one bit.

But here in America, it’s not surprising that people either envy or hate a school for all the attention and worshipping it collects. This nation loves to hate Duke, glaring senselessly at the program as if they are harming college hoops. This writing isn’t to personally attack Duke, but it’s to notify students and alumni that it’s the most hated team in the nation.

Exactly why are we forced to glance at the evildoers of college hoops Monday night, the archenemies the country wanted to fall in the early stages of the NCAA tournament? It’s not exactly what everyone anticipated, unless you are that someone with their eyes glued to the television, rooting on the Blue Devils from Durham, North Carolina.

Here we have a cute fairy tale, as a villain tries to spoil a feel-good story. No disrespect to Butler, the cutest storyline in the NCAA tournament after winning its first ever Final Four in school history, which seems in jeopardy. So there’s a scheduled meeting with Butler and Duke, an unfriendly and hostile date with lingering bitterness, which has provoked a controversy.

To some extent, mostly everyone hates the Blue Devils for its tremendous credibility and prominence. If there are some things to dislike about Duke, maybe it’s Dickie V, the passionate ESPN analyst and sports announcer bracing and divulging his deepest love to the Blue Devils. Every time you listen to him communicate, he’s normally genuine and emphatic, but most disgruntled sporting devotees deny Duke’s physical and mental toughness, blatant and malicious to its sudden rebirth. It’s apparent that its brand name turns populace off drawing much antipathy as well.

Simply, no one cares about the Blue Devils, in hopes that they’ll lose to an elite program from a small school located in northern Indianapolis. For years, Duke has been targeted and singled out. For years, Duke has been teased and mocked. Why must the average fan give them such a hard time? The program itself has been getting lambasted for decades, because of its pompous attributes and unlikable standards. Such is its craftiness, its athletes, its demands, and its rituals.

These days, when Duke advances to the Final Four or the national championship game, bitter fans are disappointed and tired of the Blue Devils absorbing the spotlight. Come now, the cultural standpoints of hating a very talented and educated program still remains. At a school that takes in much pride, animosity is inevitable, but cannot affect their splendid game plan of late.

You can argue that Duke is the best team, when the Bulldogs are the biggest feel-good story in the tournament. All the drama humiliating the Blue Devils will either make them or break them down. But come to think of it, Duke normally functions whenever haters and disbelievers expect ill-results from a resilient and relentless team, craving another national title.


At this point, Mike Krzyzewski, who has had led Duke to a total of 11 Final Fours, including seven in the last nine seasons, is the root of all evil. He was berated in The Indianapolis Star on Friday, where an image of himself with devil horns was seen on the front page.

“It’s very juvenile,” said Krzyzewski, the man with a hardwood floor named after him. “We have great kids who go to school. They graduate. If we’re going to be despised or hated by anybody because we go to school and want to win, you know what? That’s a problem.”

With all due respect, Coach K has molded and mentored his student-athletes. Notice most of his kids decide to remain in school without forgoing their junior or senior year, not in a hurry to chase the cash at the next level. He encourages his players to weigh their options before making a transition to the NBA. And rarely do his student athletes leave as one-and-done players.

For instance, Lance Thomas, a smart and gifted 6’8” senior opted to return and has benefited, now competing to win a national title and depart on top. Same goes for Jon Scheyer, the senior guard with the ability to bury three-pointers and take command in the scoring column. He’s a primary reason the Blue Devils have driven this far, making critical plays in the games, which uplifts morale and prevalence.

Is that another reason Duke is hated so?

If so, it’s pure ignorance and jealousy.

Maybe it’s an overbearing program, with brainwashed athletes. Maybe they honestly believe no team in the nation is capable of beating them, overtaking them, or even embarrassing them. Like it or not, Duke has revisited the national landscape matching familiarity with Coach K implementing a teachable perception and defensive standards. His potent roster over the years has transformed and reestablished, becoming America’s nuisance and winnable program. The local newspapers’ editors apologized to Coach K and his wife for its heartless reactions earlier in the week.

More than anything, hating Duke comes as no surprise. Perhaps you hated them since Laettner fired his electrifying buzzer-beater, you hated them since Grant Hill emerged as a legitimate star, you hated them since J.J Redick become the all-time scoring leader.

Is there anything else? Yes, you hated them since Coach K came along, taught, and mentored by the former coach we all admire greatly, Bobby Knight, even though he scolded his players, threw temper tantrums on the sideline, and crazy tirades at postgame interviews.

I cannot recall such reaction by Coach K.

There’s nothing personal, it’s just the program he coaches and runs.

Sadly, everyone hates Duke.