Significance of upcoming games

[MarkD83]

I know that Duke has just finished one of the hardest stretches of the season. Some folks think because of that that some of the upcoming games may be trap games. However, Coach K may remind the team of some significant accomplishments that they can reach with a few more wins.

1. A win at Wake will be number 11 and will guarantee Duke a finish no worse than 5th (possibly even 4th and a first round ACC bye). With 11 wins all teams with 6 loses will finish behind Duke (obviously) and this leaves UNC, Md, Clemson, GT and VT. However, GT and VT play each other later this month so one of them will get another loss. If VT loses to UNC and beats GT Duke can finish no worse than 4th.

2. Two more wins puts Duke in no worse than 2nd place. Clemson and Md can finish with a maximum of 12 wins and Duke has beaten both of them. These teams also play each other in March so one will have another loss.

3. To hang the 2008 ACC Regular Season Banner (which I think is harder to do than the tournament championship) Duke needs 4 wins or some combination of less wins and a UNC loss or two. So for now I'll let this analysis slide.

So will the tam have a letdown. I don't think so. I am sure they can see how close they are to grabbing the brass ring and they will want to do that as soon as possible.

[mgtr]

Interesting analysis, and one I am sure that Coach K will address.

[Bob Green]

3. To hang the 2008 ACC Regular Season Banner (which I think is harder to do than the tournament championship) Duke needs 4 wins or some combination of less wins and a UNC loss or two. So for now I'll let this analysis slide.

I enjoyed your post but as a diehard longtime ACC Basketball fan I must state that to be the ACC Champion you must win the ACC Tournament.

[feldspar]

I enjoyed your post but as a diehard longtime ACC Basketball fan I must state that to be the ACC Champion you must win the ACC Tournament.

I'm pretty sure that's Coach K's philosophy as well. Are there even any "Regular Season Champion" banners in Cameron?

[Duvall]

I'm pretty sure that's Coach K's philosophy as well. Are there even any "Regular Season Champion" banners in Cameron?

Yes.

[Ignatius07]

Quite a few - any year Duke has won either the ACC regular season or tournament, a banner is there.

[CDu]

Originally Posted by MarkD83
"3. To hang the 2008 ACC Regular Season Banner (which I think is harder to do than the tournament championship) Duke needs 4 wins or some combination of less wins and a UNC loss or two. So for now I'll let this analysis slide."

I enjoyed your post but as a diehard longtime ACC Basketball fan I must state that to be the ACC Champion you must win the ACC Tournament.

He specifically said "ACC Regular Season Banner," not "ACC Champion." I think we all know by now that to get the title of ACC Champion, you have to win the tournament. But that doesn't mean that winning the ACC Regular Season Banner is meaningless - it's still quite an honor. We have quite a few ACC Regular Season banners hanging in Cameron, which would suggest that the honor is in fact meaningful.

And I agree with him that winning the regular season is more difficult than winning the tournament. I've always hated the idea that we crown a 3- or 4-game winner as the conference champion and not the best team over a 16-game season. It's a case of the almighty dollar winning out over common sense. It's SLIGHTLY more defendable now that we have an unbalanced schedule (in the days of home and home, the tourney was completely superfluous). But I still think the best team in the conference is the team that wins the regular season title, even if the official honor isn't designated as such.

[MarkD83]

I did not want to get ahead of myself, but there is a tangible benefit to winning the regular season. When they set up the NCAA tournament the committee needs to have 90% of the field set and seeded on the Sunday before the ACC championship is being played. If the ACC regular season champion is in the finals, the committee probably pencils that team in as a top seed. It would take something extraordinary to change the seed of that team. So if Duke wins the ACC regular season it clearly gives them an edge.

But, this analysis violates one of my golden rules. Enjoy the game that is about to be played. So, I am looking forward to the Wake game and then on Monday looking at what happened in the other ACC games this weekend and seeing where Duke is in the standings.

[yancem]

Slightly off subject but I have always been weary of heading into the post season with too long of a winning streak. I know that there are still several games left on the schedule but I am kind of glad that we lost the Pitt game. I think that the pressure of being undefeated at this point in the season would be a huge weight for such a young team. If we were to win out the rest of the regular season games, we would be riding a 19 game winning streak. I don't think that is necessarily too long but it is pushing the limits. At least we won't have to deal with the pressure of trying to complete the perfect season like Memphis is likely to be struggling with.

[robed deity]

I wouldn't be shocked to see Duke go undefeated in these next 6 games, but i'd be a little surprised. As mentioned, every team has something to play for, and beating Duke would be a huge resume builder. Duke takes everyone's best shot anyway, but add to that the fact these "wounded animal" teams are playing for their postseason lives, and I think we have real battles coming up.

Then again, I certainly didn't think 10-0 would be a possibility right now either.