Kentucky Fans Aren’t Impressed With Duke’s Weekend Trip To Chicago

Duke had an innovative NIL trip planned to Chicago this weekend but for whatever reason, the NCAA said it would consitute a violation and said not to do it.

If this had been Memphis instead of Duke, maybe Penny Hardaway would have said screw it, let’s do it anyway. But Duke apparently complied with that and canceled the event.

However, the team had other activities planned, including visits to the Chicago Board of Exchange, where they rang the bell, and a trip to McDonald’s World Headquarters, where they were welcomed by CEO Chris Kempczinski, who was a Cameron Crazie during his time at Duke.

For some people, it’s not as impressive as going to Drake’s house, as the Kentucky team did earlier this summer.

In 30 years, when Drake is a grandfather or at least old enough to be one, he’s probably going to be forgotten. But in 30 years, the guys on Duke’s team will still have contacts at McDonald’s and other major corporations. No doubt hanging out with a celebrity is a big deal and something the UK kids will never forget. But one approach is a trivial fascination with shiny objects and the other could pay benefits for decades.

It’s just a fundamental difference in what you assign importance to and underscores how very different Duke’s program is from Kentucky’s. And we’re fine with that.