Reasons We Dislike Duke, Part Three: Cupcake NCAA Tournament Brackets

Storyline: Millions of fans across the country hate the Duke Blue Devils. Preferential seeding in The Big Dance is a big reason.

The regular season has ended and the major conference tournaments are set to begin. The Big Kahuna of college basketball is upon us:  The Big Dance, the Men’s Division 1 NCAA Tournament.

Courtesy: high-definition-wallpaper.com

In order to win this championship a team must win, at minimum, a staggering six games. The field starts out with a faceless mass of 68 teams. By the time it’s all said and done, only one team has the thrill of raising the trophy and cutting down the nets. The journey to the top is certainly not easy.

Well, unless you’re Duke, that is.

The cold, hard truth is that Duke has been known to 1) receive higher bids than deserved; and 2) be placed in the easiest bracket. It seems like it doesn’t matter how good or bad the Blue Devils do during the regular season, the Selection Committee will still give them a cupcake bracket.

Let’s look at four years in particular.

2007 NCAA Tournament

Courtesy: wralsportsfan.com

This Duke team finished the regular season with a 22-9 record, treading water in ACC play, finishing with an 8-8 record. The Blue Devils were shown the door in the very first round of the ACC tournament by an NC State squad that went an abysmal 5-11 in ACC play that year.

But the Selection Committee “rewarded” the Blue Devils with a–get this–a #6 seed. That’s absurd!

But you know the saying: ¨Ball doesn’t lie.¨ 11-seed VCU eliminated the Blue Devils in the very first round, 77-75. Justice!

2010 NCAA Tournament

The Blue Devils won the 2010 NCAA Tournament, giving Coach K the fourth national title of his career. But the Selection Committee helped pave the way to that championship.

It’s not as though the Blue Devils didn’t deserve a #1-seed that year. With a 29-5 record and ACC championship, the Blue Devils definitely deserved that top bid. But the bracket they were put in…that’s a different story.

Duke was put in a bracket where Villanova and Baylor were the #2- and #3-seed, respectively. No offense to the Wildcats or Bears, but that year neither was a national powerhouses. Compare that bracketing to what #1-seed Kansas faced that year. The Jayhawks’ bracket included Ohio State, Georgetown, Maryland, and Michigan State. THAT is a tough bracket!

To get to the Final Four, the Blue Devils defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California, Purdue (without star player, Robbie Hummel), and overrated Baylor. Duke defeated West Virginia and then Butler to win the crown.

See what I mean?

2015 NCAA Tournament

2015 may be the grandaddy of all cupcake brackets.

Courtesy: shopdukestores.duke.edu

While the Blue Devils had an impressive year, going 29-4 and again winning the ACC, Duke’s NCAA bracket was easier than Kentucky’s, which entered the NCAA tournament with a perfect 34-0 record.

The Blue Devils’ path to the Indy Final Four included Robert Morris, San Diego State, Utah, and Gonzaga. Are you kidding me? San Diego State was 26-8 with four losses in Mountain West play and weren’t conference champions. Utah went 13-5 in the generally weak PAC-12. Gonzaga had an impressive 32-2 record, but that record included only one win against a Top 25 team–versus #22 SMU at home.

The Blue Devils steamrolled #7-seed Michigan State in the semifinals before defeating Wisconsin in the championship. The Blue Devils did have ONE quality win–against the Badgers–but, other than that, ’15 was a cakewalk to the crown.

2016 NCAA Tournament

Last year’s Duke team entered NCAA tournament play with a 23-10 overall record, an 11-7 mark in conference play, and an early exit from the ACC tournament (in the quarterfinals). That resume had the makings of an 8- or 9-seed. Right? Wrong! The Selection Committee handed the Blue Devils a 4-seed in a region where the top seed was OREGON.

Who was the #2-seed? Oklahoma. The Sooners were not nearly as good as many thought, evident by its 95-51 thrashing from eventual national champion, Villanova, in the national semifinals.

But, again, the region was an easy path for the Blue Devils to the Final Four. But, by gosh, the Dukies didn’t make it. They were beaten by an overrated Oregon squad, 82-68, in the regional semis.

**********************

Courtesy: Knox animal

In the past three weeks we’ve covered reasons why it’s easy to dislike Duke: “The Laettner Shot,” Despicable Characters and, finally (in this week’s edition), Duke’s cupcake NCAA tournament brackets.

But those aren’t the only reasons to dislike the Blue Devils. There’s the annoying Cameron Crazies and the school’s smug, elitist attitude. For those reasons–and more–Duke will always be at the bottom of college basketball’s favorite teams list.

If you’re a Duke fan it must be hard to be a fan of a school that’s so intensely disliked. Every March, year after year, Duke is the #1 college team to root against.