2008 Woodie Awards
Zach Braff and the death of Duke basketball
no scrubs
By: Monday, Monday
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: Columns
Last update: 10/15/07 at 8:01 AM EST
Last update: 10/15/07 at 8:01 AM EST
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He was 102 years old.
The immediate cause of his death was from a condition known as SLBJ (Sudden Loss of Basketball Jesus). Duke's would-be program savior, Greg Monroe, verbally committed to Georgetown Saturday night.
For those unaware of Duke's not-so-secret love affair with the 6-foot-10, 226-pound Basketball Adonis out of Harvey, La., Monroe was widely regarded as the nation's top high school senior. The loss of Monroe at this juncture has quite possibly been the most devastating disaster out of Louisiana since the New Orleans Saints' disappointing 0-4 start to this season. (What? I couldn't think of any other recent Louisiana disasters.)
The powerfully built forward was athletic, an excellent passer and left-handed. Greg Monroe was basically the second-coming of Josh McRoberts. So let's face it, Greg Monroe was the first-coming of Josh McRoberts.
SLBJ, while debilitating, is not always fatal. Duke's long-time rival and neighbor Carolina suffered from SLBJ last year with the loss of big-time recruit Kevin Love to UCLA. But by treating Monroe as his primary and pretty much only big man recruit for next year's freshman class, Duke endangered his already troublesome frontcourt. Before his death, friends commented that Duke looked increasingly less like himself and more like the team from "Hoosiers."
But we shouldn't blame the death of our friend on Greg Monroe. Duke Basketball was already engaging in a series of reckless behaviors that led to his untimely death Saturday. The first was the move away from quality big men. Duke has and probably would have always been a guard-oriented team. And that's fine. It's more up-tempo, high-scoring and fun to watch despite the fact that last season's guard-dominant team set offensive basketball back to the pre-shot clock days.
But championship caliber teams need at least one big guy to match up on defense and keep opposing teams from overplaying the guards. In recent years, Duke's apparent vision problem has led to his mistaking large, athletic centers for small, shrimpy white dudes. That makes about as much sense as anointing a former point guard as the big man coach. (At least Lance is extremely skilled at slapping the floor.)
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 7
anon
posted 10/15/07 @ 8:54 AM EST
WOW, you must be taking one of the 88'ers course called ....All things negative about Duke 101. pre-requisite... I expect the worse from everything.
patrick
posted 10/16/07 @ 1:16 PM EST
It is sad that this is the veiwpoint many people will see outside the Durham area. I've seen many Duke fans on various websites who, while disappointed showed a little more common sense when it came to ovetures that the basketball program was "dead" at Duke. (Continued…)
jonny mack
posted 10/16/07 @ 1:41 PM EST
classic. I love it. its nice to see that the dookies have finally accepted their fate and stature as "also rans" in the ACC now that Coach Williams has arrived at Carolina. (Continued…)
The Gro
posted 10/16/07 @ 2:55 PM EST
Yup, Georgetown is back. Georgetown has a similar profile to Duke, but now we are on the rise as Duke is on the decline. Greg Monroe would rather play with a bunch of kids and coach who look like they are having fun, then with the uptight Duke program. (Continued…)
TMJ
posted 10/16/07 @ 5:42 PM EST
Typical Schadenfreude, this time over a basketball recruit. I wonder if LSU, Texas and UConn are wallowing in such lamentations and declaring their basketball programs dead. (Continued…)
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