ESPN.com has 4 ACC teams ranked in their preseason top 10 and Duke in the next group at #14. Think the ACC doesn’t dominate college basketball? Think again.

I was disappointed when Luol Deng went pro and one of the top high school players in the country decided to pass up Duke for the NBA, but they still have a good nucleus of talent. J.J. Redick is one of the top shooters in the nation, if not the best. “The landlord” Shelden Williams matured into one of the premier big men in the country last year. Daniel Ewing is a great scorer and good shooter when he finds the touch. Sean Dockery and Shavlik Randolph are the two question marks on their starting five. They have the potential to be great players, but time will tell. Randolph made some great improvements last year so I think he’ll be fine. Dockery is a force on defense as a great on the ball defender.

I’ll bet that Duke sneaks into the top 5 at least once during the season. Dick Vitale even has the Blue Devils ranked #9 in his preseason top 30. It’ll be tough in the ACC for any team to remain at the top though. North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech all have some great talent, with Georgia Tech really showing it during March Madness last year. Maryland returns a team that won the ACC tournament last year and with Gary Williams at the helm they can’t be forgotten in this mix.

I’m getting chills just thinking about the season! Is it really a month away?

March Madness came to an end last night with the University of Connecticut winning the championship over Georgia Tech. It wasn’t much of a game as UConn led the whole way and the 82-73 final score only looks somewhat close because GT hit about a million three pointers in the final minute. Not to discredit the UConn win, but GT didn’t play very well in the game.

In the semifinals on Saturday there were two excellent games, with GT pulling out a squeker over Oklahoma State with a layup and only 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock. The Duke-UConn game was a different story and I’m not too sure I’ve recovered from the loss yet. UConn was up by double digits on Duke in the first 3 minutes and was up at the end of the of game when it counted, but Duke won the rest of the game. UConn actually went on a 12-0 run at the end of the game to take the lead when it appeared that Duke was going to walk away with the win. The Blue Devils just didn’t execute their offense and continue to drive to the basket, which had been working wonderfully.

I fully admit that Duke lost that game on thier own and could have easily won the title had they made a single basket in the final minutes of the game, but they didn’t. But there is always next year for Duke and they’ll only be losing one starter, so it should be another great year for the team everyone seems to hate.

Ok…now I do have to mention the fact that the reffing in the Duke-UConn game was horrible! I can’t stand it when the refs think they are bigger than the game. Let the players play and determine the outcome. Some of the fouls that they called on Williams and Randolph (both ended up fouling out of the game) were so chincy that my grandma wouldn’t even call them if someone was guarding her. Even the announcers and media people have been buzzing about it. These refs are hand picked at this time of year and the Final Four shouldn’t have a story like this tarnishing the great sports spectacle that it is.

I’m done venting now…Congrats to UConn!

It has been one hell of an NCAA Tournament so far, and it’s only the first weekend! We’ve seen two number 1 seeds fall, Stanford (ESPN’s pick to win it all) and Kentucky (Dick Vitale’s pick to win it all). Duke (my pick) is one of the few teams to dominate both of their games.

I don’t remember ever seeing so many close games in the first two rounds. Every other game is down to the last few seconds with either team having a chance to come out on top. It’s great to watch, but I need the next few days to recover from all of the emotions!

My bracket is all fucked up. I’ve lost 3 of my Elite 8 teams already and I had Kentucky playing in the final game. I don’t think I’ll be winning any money this year. All that matters right now is that Duke is still playing and playing the best out of any team that I’ve watched. I also realize that they could easily fall like other teams have done. I’m looking forward to the next round of action to begin on Thursday.

Wow…WOW…what a great game! It was back and forth the whole game. I think the biggest lead either team had was 6 points. Duke came out on top 70-65 in one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

Luol Deng, coming off the worst game of his freshmen year, played phenomenal. He had a career high of 25 points on 12-16 shooting and took over at one point during the second half. Chris Duhon once again was the floor leader for the Blue Devils.

If you like college basketball and missed this game…you really missed something special!

Duke vs. North Carolina.

The greatest rivalry in college basketball. Tonight’s game was at North Carolina and it was an awesome game. The Duke Blue Devils will be driving back home to Durham, North Carolina as a team that has won 16 straight games and holds onto the #1 ranking in the country. It was a great game to watch and will be an ESPN Instant Classic. The final score ended up 83-81, but you had to see the game to know how great it really was.

GO DUKE!