Poop On Duke

I originally was planning on starting this post by pointing out that me talking about how much I hate Duke and how Maryland gets no respect would be completely cliche, but something happened and I changed my mind.

I was getting ready to watch The Office on dvr, but gave my roommate a chance to go upstairs since he isn't watching it tonite. While I waited, I had on the St. Mary's v. San Diego game. As they hyped up the ESPN Saturday Lineup, the following conversation occured.

Some Dude: So at Noon we've got Maryland @ Duke. What do you think?
Some Douchebag: (muffled laughter) Maryland has no chance. That Duke defense is stifling!

Oh I'm sorry. They have a stifling defense, some quality shooters and just all around flawless play? Obviously you're inferring that Maryland has a less than stellar team this year?

When since we won the National Title has this not been the storyline?

Curious. In the last 7 years that ESPN.com has available, who do you think has more wins against Duke in the regular season or ACC Tournament Play, Maryland or Duke's obvious rival, UNC?



Obviously, since I'm an enormous Maryland fan, the answer is Maryland. Maryland is 8-7 in the last 7 years against Duke (UNC has 6-9). Pretty good winning percentage considering we have been just awful since 2001-2002.

Ha. Interestingly enough, I've just found out that the "some douchebag" is former Maryland player, Adrian Branch. Clearly, he was reverse jinxing Duke... and I am an asshole.

This reminds me of a fun game my college friends used to play. It was called "let's pretend we have a strong respect for coach K, or we saw J.J. Redick at the WaWa and everybody was trying to buy him a sub... just so we can see how pissed off John is going to get." Got me everytime.

Anyways. Do I think Maryland is going to win? Absolutely not. I don't see us matching up very well with them anywhere. We aren't shooting well, and Dave Neal is our primary 3-point shooting threat.

The only upside I can see is that Bowie and Milbourne are gamers right now. Vasquez may or may not show up, but you've gotta feel like he's gonna make noise somehow. So who knows. Come 4 PM I'm either going to be on top of the world, or completely miserable. I will be at my Nephew's 1st Bday however, so I won't be able to fully express my emotions until the ride home.

*SPOILER ALERT!!!*

My honest guess is something like Duke 89 - Maryland 60; Neal and Vasquez combine for 1-15 from 3-pt range; Bowie still manages 15-8-5; Gary has an anuerysm and starts bleeding from his left nostril like Charlotte in this weeks episode of Lost.

Go Terps!