Excuses are like Assholes, They all Stink!
schadenfreude \SHOD-n-froy-duh\, noun: A satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others.
The ESPN/USA Today college basketball coaches’ poll was released yesterday, and as you probably know by now it was distinct from every other ESPN/USA Today college basketball coaches’ poll because of one simple fact: it did not contain Duke.
Make no mistake, the Dukies are smack-dab in the middle of a dreaded “down year.” Duke has lost four consecutive games, including losses at unranked Virginia, and at home to unranked Florida State. And if not for some questionable clock operation on January 25th, Duke could have easily lost at home to Clemson, and would be staring at five losses in six games.
In light of these events, the Duke apologists have emerged out of the woodwork with excuse after excuse as to why they are struggling:
They don't have a scorer
This to me is the most puzzling of all excuses. Why don’t they have a so-called “scorer?” Coach K is a pretty accomplished guy, don’t you think he should have had the foresight to say, “Hmm, we are going to need to score to win games. I think we should recruit a scorer!” Its not as simple as “they don’t have a scorer” it’s the fact that they haven’t done well in recruiting, especially compared to teams like North Carolina.
They are too young.
Bullshit. Ohio State usually starts two freshmen, and a third freshman (Dequan Cook) is third on the team in minutes per game. They are #2 in the nation.
North Carolina’s top four players in terms of minutes per game are Tyler Handsbrough (sophomore), Brandon Wright (freshman), Wayne Ellington (freshman), and Ty Lawson (freshman). Sophomore Danny Green and freshman Deon Thompson also play significant minutes. They are #4 in the country.
Again it comes down to recruiting. Kevin Durant is a freshman and is probably going to win player of the year. He could have gone to Duke, but he didn’t. Greg Oden could have gone to Duke, but he didn’t. Wright, Ellington, and Lawson could have gone to Duke, but they didn’t. As a result of the new NBA age limit, every good team is “young” this year, but only Duke is using this as an excuse. Duke used to have a clear recruiting edge over everyone else in the country and it appears as if this edge is disappearing.
Greg Paulus is killing them.
Well, you have a point there.
Bullshit. Ohio State usually starts two freshmen, and a third freshman (Dequan Cook) is third on the team in minutes per game. They are #2 in the nation.
North Carolina’s top four players in terms of minutes per game are Tyler Handsbrough (sophomore), Brandon Wright (freshman), Wayne Ellington (freshman), and Ty Lawson (freshman). Sophomore Danny Green and freshman Deon Thompson also play significant minutes. They are #4 in the country.
Again it comes down to recruiting. Kevin Durant is a freshman and is probably going to win player of the year. He could have gone to Duke, but he didn’t. Greg Oden could have gone to Duke, but he didn’t. Wright, Ellington, and Lawson could have gone to Duke, but they didn’t. As a result of the new NBA age limit, every good team is “young” this year, but only Duke is using this as an excuse. Duke used to have a clear recruiting edge over everyone else in the country and it appears as if this edge is disappearing.
Greg Paulus is killing them.
Well, you have a point there.
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