I was at the games on Saturday and Sunday. Some quick thoughts:
- Maryland took advantage of every opportunity we gave them to get back into the game. But we gave them those opportunities. I felt like Daniel was forcing it inside rather than playing team ball in the last 3 minutes of regulation. He drove the lane early, rather than running clock and letting Chris take it in and dish or get fouled. It's been a long, long time since I can remember us blowing tbig a lead that late in the game. We played like individuals during that time, and it cost us the game. Not a knock on Maryland -- just the truth.
- Maryland fans divided into two groups. The boosters in the lower arena seats were great. I don't know if you saw this on television, but when ESPN tried to a camera into the crowd attending to Duhon when he was injured, the Maryland boosters booed the cameraman lustily (he was injured immediately adjacent to their section). And cheered when Duhon got up. I was impressed. Maryland fans who scalped tickets, however, were just unbelievably boorish and classless. There were plenty around me, and when Duhon got up, they refused to clap, much less cheer. About midway through the second half, an older women in dark blue with a Duke button came over to our section and asked me if there were any empty seats. She said that the Maryland fans in her section were so obnoxious and so abusive that she and her party were moving away from them, even if it meant splitting up. I was sitting next to a State fan, and he pulled for Duke as if he were an alumnus. I think that just about everyone not wearing Maryland red was cheering for Duke, which really surprised me. I expected State and UNC fans to pull against us, but the behavior of many of the Maryland fans outside their section really impacted them.- The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has historically loaded the Duke regional. Perhaps this is to create great matchups (usually Kentucky-Duke, this year Duke-UNC, Duke-Arizona). I would rather be the Number 2 seed in the East (sorry I should call it after the city now, right?) than Number 1 in our regional. I there are always complaints about seeding, but year after year commentators judge our regional as the strongest, and I'm tired of it. If we had hit our free-ws yesterday, I guess we would be in the Eastern Regional as the Number 1 seed overall. Interesting to think about what losing that game yesterday cost us.