Duking It Out With Calipari

Think Duke has gotten into John Calipari’s head a bit?

Check out this article from ESPN because pretty clearly, the answer is yes.

The funny thing is we don’t think that it’s anywhere near a two-way street. Duke is competing with Kentucky but hardly obsessed.

Actually a Kentucky fan named Lincoln Hendricks quoted in this article underscored that idea, saying this: "I hate Duke. I've got the shirt that says, 'I still hate Laettner,' and I do. I bet we hate Duke more than Duke cares about us. I don't think that we're on Duke's radar. I think Duke talks about [North] Carolina quite a bit. But I don't think ... we're not relevant [to them], and I think that pisses us off. They ought to hate us because we certainly hate them."

So has it come to this? Is Kentucky Duke’s new Maryland?

Duke could never gin up the hatred the way Maryland could but still beat the Terps pretty consistently. It was a pretty fun deal - we didn’t just beat them we told them it wasn’t even that important.

There is of course one significant difference: Kentucky measures success now by NBA careers and NCAA titles are secondary. That may help explain why Mike Krzyzewski has 12 Final Four appearances and five national championships to Calipari’s six Final Fours - two since vacated - and one national title.

That’s okay though, the NBA is the main goal, right?

Things fluctuate and guys move in and out of the league but as of now, BasketballRealGM.com has Kentucky with 21 and Duke with 21 - but don’t list Marshall Plumlee.

Also worth mentioning: Coach K lifetime record vs. Kentucky is 7-3.