So can we finally put to rest the "Duke gets all the calls" bullshit?

[The Madcap]

That call on Andre Dawkins was the most absurd call I've ever seen in the history of sports. Worse than the Henri no-call handball against Ireland. Worse than the Brady fumble. Worse than Jeffery Meier.

What in the hell were the refs possibly thinking?

They were thinking, "oh god, this is Duke, if we don't call this lunatic bullshit everybody is going to think we're favoring them." What a load of bullshit. If Duke doesn't cover because of this I'm going to shitkick anybody who ever claims Duke gets all the calls from here to eternity.

[rm18]

they get all the calls at home

[str]

They also get the rose garden walk thru the brackets each year.

[doublej95]

Dawkins owed a elbow to the face to anyone on Va Tech. That was bullshit when he got drilled in the face with the ball.

[nyed1010]

duke STILL gets all the calls, but ya that was a BS call on Dawkins. They justified the call by saying it was "above the head", whatever the f*uck that means. Besides the fact that it was 100% unintentional, the elbow hit the VT player in the chin, so not sure how that was "above the head".

[The Madcap]

they get all the calls at home

All top ten teams get the calls at home. It's a statistical fact.

They also get the rose garden walk thru the brackets each year.

Last year I'll grant you, should of had WVU as their #2 and not NOVA. But every year? I can't remember even one other season when such a thing happened. And it's not like last year's bracket ended up being all that easy. Granted hind sight allows for such things, but look at the other seeds.

Outside of the 2 seed (which should have been WVU as noted) the rest of their bracket turned out to be legitimately tough. Say they had UNLV/N. Iowa as their 8/9 seeds and not Louisville and Cal. People like you would have bitched even more. But N. Iowa goes on to beat Kansas. If Duke crushed N.Iowa and KU eeks out a win against Cal it's a choir of "Duke got an easy bracket." And it's bullshit.

Duke's 3 seed was Baylor. People bitched. Thought maybe they should have gotten Georgetown, the #3 seed in KU's bracket. But then the Hoyas lost in the first round to the #14 seed Ohio Bobcats, while Baylor gives Duke everything they can handle in the elite eight. It's not like they were given New Mexico as a three seed. (The Lobos were the #3 in 'Cuses' bracket and lost in the second round to #11 seed Washington)

Purdue was Duke's #4 seed. And people bitched. Well Purdue turned out to be a top ten team this year. And gave Duke just about all they could handle in the tournament last year. The other #4 seeds were Wisconsin (who barely beat 13 seed Wofford in the first round before losing to 12th seeded Cornell), Vanderbilt (who lost to 13th seed Murray State in the first round) and Maryland, (who lost in the second round to 5 seed Michigan State.)

After it was all said and done, Duke ended up being the only #1 seed to play the highest seeded opponent possible all the way to the regional finals, where instead of playing their #2, they played their #3. Gosh darn. So really, why still all the bitching?

I don't get it.

[nobs]

agree that all the top teams get calls at home, not just Duke.

But duke has earned some breaks. Coach K has had good teams for 25 straight years now. Dont ever remember him having a bad team