Another Blue Devil basketball season has come to an end. While it wasn't the season every Duke fan hoped, we still maintained one of the rowdiest fan bases. Life hasn't been too stressful as a Duke fan until recently, but that's partly due to our high expectations of college freshman battling the same problems every student faces. There's been plenty for us to cheer about though. Just in case you joined late, or are a dreaded bandwagon, here's a little guide on what no one told you that every single loyal Duke fan knows.
Basketball is Duke's prime area of interest.
Every school has its own passion: for the Crimson Tide and Auburn, it's football. In fact, for most schools it's actually football. If you visit the Duke University campus, you won't see a huge, elaborate stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people to watch other sports and honestly, you probably never will. At Duke, basketball reigns. Period.
Duke has the chance to be a decent "football school."
The only thing most Duke fans remember about Duke football was that there were a few good years that people talked about, but can't really be explained in great detail. There might be something about a conference title, Steve Spurrier, and a nickname "Air Duke." If you couldn't look these up, they'd probably be labeled as urban legends or rumors. David Cutcliffe may change that, especially in the last couple years. Can you say bowl game champs? (I'm born and raised in Indiana, this one is especially funny to me). While we may develop a decent football program, we will always be a basketball school.
Some Duke players were even hated by Duke fans.
Be honest. Even as a die-hard fan, you aren't sure you even liked all these players. The Cameron Crazies will rally behind them at every home game, but some were incredibly hard to cheer for. We have to admit, Laettner crossed the line quite often, especially when he curb stomped Timberlake. Sometimes, players leave and it doesn't even feel like they were a part of the team. J.J. Redick has said he didn't even feel like one of the players while he was on the team (it's OK, handsome. You have and always will be #4 in my heart).
Krzyzewskiville is the coolest thing on the planet.
If your child called you from college and said they were spending the next few days camped out in a tent surrounded by complete strangers just to try to get tickets to the next home game, you'd be quite startled. It doesn't sound too safe, does it? Don't worry, this is tailgating with wireless internet and week long assignments. It almost makes you forget a game is about to be played.
With the history it has, fans would have thought there to be more pro legends.
Despite as much as we hound the fact that we have the most players in the NBA, many Duke players don't make the cut at the pro level. And honestly, only a couple of our pro players have actually won championships.
We didn't know what we were watching at the time.
Who would have thought that when they watched the Kentucky Wildcats and Duke square off one night, they would be witnessing what they saw over the next two hours? Hearts sunk as Duke lost the lead with a beautiful drive down the lane and only two seconds left in play. No Duke fan will ever forget watching Grant Hill throw an inbound pass the length of the floor and Laettner sinking a turnaround jumper to retake the lead as time elapsed.
We'll never have a team like we had from 1990 to 1992 again.
Things are not the same nowadays. Players leave year after year after only completing a year of play. Form 1990 to 1992, one of the greatest basketball teams ever existed. They battled their way to the championship game. They lost by thirty, but followed that up with back to back titles. It can also be seen in the greatest team to ever exist in college basketball history: the Indiana Hoosiers 1975-76 team who has the only undefeated season title to date (Yes, Kentucky fans, you heard me. Your season doesn't count. Ask my team's 2015 NCAA title why that is). That type of success won't be seen again.
As a Duke fan, you may never see a home game live.
The high demand of tickets has killed that. The following the team has achieved killed that. Krzyzewskiville definitely contributed, but there's another reason as well. Hence, the following.
Cameron Indoor Stadium is not as big as you might think.
When you see pictures or walk up to Cameron Indoor Stadium, you wonder how they could fit a basketball court inside of it. You see pictures and you think it's massive, but the stadium only holds 9,314 people. While that seems like a lot, compare that number to the Carrier Dome (home of the Syracuse Orange) that holds 35,446 people.
The rivalry between UNC and Duke has become way more important to the Heels than to the Blue Devils.
While the rivalry has recently been dominated by Duke, beating North Carolina is kind of "ehh." Duke doesn't seem interesting in winning the ACC tournament anymore. I guess they figure we had enough of those titles to care. For Duke, it's all about March. Honestly, seeing UNC isn't really thought about until they show up on the schedule. There isn't as much hype in the rivalry as there has been in the past, which is a sad fact to face.
The Tar Heel fan is more irritating than the actual Tar Heel team.
Duke and UNC are companion pieces in history. Both legacies are tied to one another. Being hostile neighbors, a mutual respect has grown. No one doubts that. What's sad is the Tar Heel fan who sits around watching every Duke game and praying they lose. When we aren't playing UNC, I actually cheer for them. Do I like them? Of course not. It just makes the rivalry game that more intense when it comes along.
We didn't even know how great Krzyzewski would become.
Don't get me wrong, Duke knew he was great. They didn't know how great though. When they signed him, they didn't expect over 88 tournament wins and over 1000 wins and Kounting (Coach K pun, sorry). He's been Duke's Coach for as long as many of us have been alive and it looks like he's, hopefully, going to stick around for awhile. He's in the Hall of Fame, already. Many Duke fans knew we had a great coach, they just didn't know we had the greatest.
Last, but not least, the man we owe most of it to. I wouldn't be a loyal Duke fan if I didn't awknowledge the great Bob Knight. Because of him, there's only 1K, and we have him.
