Duke fans, beloved by everyone.

I was thinking just the other day that while this NCAA men’s basketball season had been pretty exciting, what with No. 1 teams dropping like flies each week, what we really need is a good scandal to besmirch one of the most successful teams in college hoops history. If only a certain rabid fan base that is widely viewed as a legion of self-entitled rich kids would step forward and reclaim its crown as the nastiest of the nastiest.

What’s that, Duke’s Cameron Crazies? You say you’re ready to do just that? Well, you’re going to have to convince me of that.

Duke fans reportedly chanted, “How’s your grandma?” at N.C. State’s Tyler Lewis, whose grandmother recently passed away. That’s messed up.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) February 8, 2013

Damn. That’s messed up if it’s true. Fortunately, aside from writing inflammatory titles to posts so people get sucked it by irrational rage, I’m a pretty fair and balanced bro, so I want to take a look at some video first before I lay down my hammer of ultimate galactic justice.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 »