Nothing reminds me evil still exists in the world quite like the Duke game. This year’s lineup, in particular, embodies everything despicable about Duke. Tyus Jones established himself as the worst flopper in the ACC in a matter of months, Justise Winslow clearly attended the Christian Laettner school of awful sportsmanship, and Jahil Okafor, while the least offensive player, has a perpetual frown that screams: “Why am I wasting a year of my life in college when I should be making millions in the NBA?” The only consolation is they will all be gone next year.
In many ways, Coach K’s squad is the anti-Virginia. While Duke was once known for its core of experienced players, with the occasional one-year superstar pulling them together, Mike Krzyzewski has become infatuated with the Kentucky revolving-door style of coaching over the past few years.
In contrast, the current Virginia team is a renewal of the antiquated notion of the student-athlete. Even if Justin Anderson takes his talents to the NBA next season, the Hoos will have four seniors, including two fifth-years in Gill and Brogdon. Following some early waves of attrition, the team has been groomed into an experienced group of players who try their hardest to win — regardless of personal statistic lines. Over the last two years, “leading scorer” has become a completely arbitrary title for Virginia.
The biggest difference lies in the coaching — Bennett and Coach K are polar opposites. There’s no denying Krzyzewski’s abilities as a coach, but his on-court demeanor is one of the worst in the game. Coach K has been long known for his constant stream of profanity towards referees and tendency to stomp his feet and throw things whenever a call goes against Duke. Always gracious in victory, Coach K does not do well in defeat — he often blames the officiators or complains about the crowd politely letting him pass before storming the court.
Having watched every game since Jan. 2012, the angriest I’ve ever seen Bennett is during the most recent game against North Carolina. After Jamie Luckie made one of the worst charge calls of all time, Bennett calmly huddled the team while Luckie stared him down, trying to provoke a technical foul. At the half, Bennett started to walk towards Luckie — presumably to hand him a harshly worded letter — before being led away by the rest of the coaching staff. In his halftime interview, he was particularly harsh, saying, “I’m not sure about that call at the end” before quickly moving on to defense.
With all the buildup to the Duke game, it hurt to see Duke catch fire at the end and steal a win. In part, this is because our worst stretch of transition defense in several years came back to bite us. Fundamentally, though, in a primordial clash of good and evil, the bad guys won.
On Monday, after seeing North Carolina’s relatively inoffensive group of players, I realized I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. But Duke’s obnoxious culture, dirty play and undeniable talent make them hard to bear. On the bright side, watching an otherwise dominant Virginia team pick up one January loss in a close game against Duke gives me a distinct feeling of déjà vu. In the grand scheme of things, a loss to a Duke team that has nearly played itself out of regular season contention is one of the most innocuous ways to pick up a first loss. A win over Louisville should put us comfortably back in the number two spot, and the team that rebounded against North Carolina looks stronger than ever.
Christian’s column runs biweekly Fridays. He can be reached at c.hecht@cavalierdaily.com.
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