As much as America seems to hate Bob Huggins, we seem to hate Duke more. And with the overachieving Michigan State and Butler in the other national semifinal, it seems reasonable to assume that Bob Huggins’ West Virginia squad is America’s best hope from keeping Mike Krzyzewski from his fourth NCAA Tournament championship.

To back up for a second, it seems impossible to talk about Duke’s win over Baylor last night without bringing up The Charge. The call came late in the second half against Baylor’s Quincy Acy after driving to the hoop and colliding with Duke’s Brian Zoubek as Acy’s shot rolled in. Many saw that as a blocking foul on Zoubek, who would have been disqualified with five fouls at that point. Instead, Duke immediately managed an 8-0 run and essentially put the game away.

What’s amazing is that after a tournament with The Charge, Saint Mary’s collapse in the regional semis and Calipari’s Band Of Traveling Freshmen, Bob Huggins heads into Nashville smelling like a rose. You know, if a rose could wear a jumpsuit. Duke, for the record, will have the longest trip to Lucas Oil Stadium. It would only make sense to send them home first.

Fun story coming out of Durham: arguably the star player of Duke, John Scheyer (aka Greg Paulus 2.0) had a conversation with SI.com’s Dan Patrick, where he admitted that before he enrolled in Duke, he thought that, yeah, Duke sucked.

Dan asked if Scheyer ever hated Duke. “At times I did, ya,” Scheyer said. ” Around junior high, I really disliked Duke.”

Scheyer said that it wasn’t the players. “All my friends like Duke, and I wanted to be different,” Scheyer said. –Dan Patrick/SI.com.

There is a sort of contrarianism that permeates through new media now: each gospel seems to be some sort of permuation of Duke sucking, Chris Berman being a fat, sweaty idiot and college football needing a playoff. Be that as it may. It’s fascinating to think of a guy that plays for Duke that used to hate Duke just because everyone else he knew hated Duke. That’s a lot to chew on, isn’t it?

So what happens when Scheyer leaves? Will he hate Duke again? Will he play quarterback at Syracuse and be sort of apathetic to Duke? Will he score the game-winning basket for Purdue and then rip off his jersey to reveal a Boilermakers T-shirt, a la WWE? Too many questions? Probably. Img via Daddy Sugar Balls.

So maybe we’ll get everyone on the UPROXX network to join a single pool, maybe we won’t, but here’s efforting. We’ve started the UPROXX Pool of Awesome. You know the drill; You can join here and we’ll have prizes for the top three. Password is “dukesucks44″; IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE IT’S TRUE! If you need more direction than that…I can’t really help you.

To the men’s game for a moment, Maryland’s basketball program always seems to win two games a year that they don’t really deserve. That’s hardly the case here, as Maryland’s consistent conference play has put them in a tie in the ACC standings with Duke, whom the Terrapins defeated last night, 79-72.

“Playing a big-time game like this was good for both teams,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our guys were in a position to win the game. I’m proud of that.

“It was tough because it was a game where we played well. It wasn’t a game when we played bad or played stupid. It wasn’t like that. This wasn’t a game where bad stuff happened.” –Y! News.

Uh, Coach K? YOU LOST. Your lead in the ACC, where North Carolina has been absolutely terrible this year, is gone. Of course, none of that really matters once Duke gets into the NCAA tournament. But really, all UNC has to do is wait three years to get into the NCAAs. By then, they’ll be letting everyone in.

Oh, and I guess there was kind of a riot afterward. Some images via DC Sports Bog after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not sure which day will haunt me more: the day I first learned that there was no Santa Claus…or the day that I learned that Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick was releasing a rap album.

He said as much in a video interview originally posted on the NBA’s main website (which says it was “added” yesterday). His currently-unnamed “rap supergroup” already has a name for their first album, “Waste Management,” which should drop before the…alright, honestly, this is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.

This is like Kevin Garnett trying out for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I mean, a rap album? This is a joke, yes? I’d have a better chance of believing Allan Iverson getting into Augusta National. I refuse to believe this is happening. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make a quick run to Walmart for canned food and shotguns. –NBA Offseason, via Unsilent.

Video of JJ’s interview is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I said four months ago that Greg Paulus wouldn’t play football anywhere in Division I. I was wrong.

First-year head coach Doug Marrone made the announcement Monday night with a statement through the sports information office.

Because he graduated from Duke in four years and did not redshirt, he received a waiver from the NCAA, allowing him to play football at Syracuse for one season without having to sit out a year. via, via.

Paulus, who was a four-time all-state quarterback in New York, certainly has the natural ability to play the position; I’m just curious how the Syracuse program benefits as a whole. Can he be that much better than the three or four guys on the roster that have been playing football all along? Maybe. Maybe it comes down to star power, as Doug Marrone will take any marquee player he can get to help lay the foundation for his program, not only on the field, but also at the box office and on the highlight shows. And that’s fine. But it utimately will be Paulus’ arm that keeps Marrone’s ass employed. But at least now he’ll have a few more interested spectators watching.