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Blue Devils
golden standard
for NCAA

-Y .' ._ 0Thursday, February 15, 2007 -11A
Change name o the game

Ihate Duke.
I hate that the national
media loves Duke and con-
stantly praises its players for
their intel-
ligence and
class. But
according to
a study done
by the San
Jose Mercury
News in the
mid-'90s,
Duke's fresh- DANIEL
man basket- BROMWICH
ball players
had an aver- Broms Away
age SAT score
of 968.
I hate that Duke is on national
television every week and is con-
stantly trumpeted by one of my
favorite announcers as a shining
beacon of all that is right with
college basketball (thanks Dukie
V.).
I hate Coach Krzyzewski's
combover. And that his last name
sounds nothing like it's spelled.
But even I have to give the
Blue Devils their props.
This week, Duke fell out of the
AP Top 25 for the first time since
the end of the 1995-96 season. It
had been ranked in every single
ESPN/USA Today poll in its nine-
year history.
That's stunning. Having a
basketball team rated as one of
the top 25 teams in the nation for
200 straight weeks is unheard of,
especially in an era with players
leaving early for the NBA, and
with recruits like Kobe Bryant
and Shaun Livingston spurning
the Blue Devils entirely.
Teams fall in and out of the
rankings all the time. Just this
season, esteemed programs like
Georgetown, Texas, Michigan
State, Indiana and Kentucky
have failed to make the top 25
in a given week. But when Duke
dropped from the polls, it was
national news.
Knocking the Blue Devils out
of the rankings wasn't easy. They
had to drop four consecutive
games, and notch six conference
losses for the AP to do it. Just
three teams in the current top 25
have five conference losses.
But Duke isn't even bad now.
Its record is 18-7 (better than
Michigan's), and it has beaten
three ranked opponents (George-
town, Gonzaga and Clemson).
Michigan, on the other hand, has
beaten none.
Barring a complete collapse,
which, given its coach and the
talent on the team, is virtu-
ally impossible, Duke will easily
make the NCAA Tournament.
Nobody would even be surprised
if the Blue Devils won the ACC
Tournament, or righted the ship
in time to garner at top-five seed
in the Dance.
Just look at exactly how domi-
nant the Blue Devils have been in

the past decade.
Since the end of 1997-98 sea-
son, they've got one national
championship, one finals appear-
ance, one additional Final Four
Appearance, one Elite Eight
appearance, five Sweet 16 appear-
ances and nine NCAA Tourna-
ment appearances. They've won
the ACC regular season title and
the ACC Tournament seven times
each. And that's in a pretty elite
conference.
They were ranked No. 1in
the final AP poll five times and
averaged more than 31 victories
per season in the past decade.
They've had five national players
of the year, eight consensus first-
team All-Americans and nine
NBA Lottery picks.
For comparison's sake, let's
look at another elite program
over the same time span: Ari-
zona.
The Wildcats have 51 fewer
victories, two fewer conference
titles, no NCAA championships,
one Final Four and no national
players of the year.
Let's not even mention Michi-
gan.
The Wolverines have barely
half as many victories, no Big
Ten regular-season titles, no
Final Fours and no first-team All
Americans. Oh yeah, they've got
an NIT title.
Michigan tried to grab some
of the Blue Devil magic when it
hired Tommy Amaker, who used
to play for Duke and coached
under Krzyzewski.
Sadly, it appears as if few of
the Duke assistants learned the
magic formula from Coach K.
Amaker, former Missouri coach
Quinn Snyder, former Delaware
coach David Henderson and cur-
rent TCU coach Neil Dougherty
have all fallen short of attaining
even consistent success after
leaving Durham, N.C.
I'll still always hate Duke.
I'll always hate Cameron
Indoor, I'll always hate the
"Duke mystique," I'll always
hate when the Duke point guard
pounds the floor on defense and
I'll always hate the national spot-
light that eternally shines on the
Blue Devils.
And now I've written a column
full of statistics and accomplish-
ments that any and every Duke
fan can fall back on if someone
(me) tries to denigrate the Devils
during what we can only hope
represents their demise.
Kill me now.
- Bromwich doesn't want a
single Duke fan e-mailing him or
finding him and telling him how
much this column was appreciated.
He doesn't care and would love
for someone to remind him
how much Duke sucks. That, or
proof that Coach K's hair is fake.
To do this, he can be reached
at dabromwi )umich.edu.

By CHRIS HERRING
DailySports Writer
When you've lost to a team by
44 points, it should go without say-
ing that much
needs to be -
revamped to Purdue at
stand a chance Michigan
in the rematch. Matchup:
After losing Purdue 21-5;
in nearly every Michigan 10-15
facet the first When: Tonight,
time, the Mich- W r is
igan women's Where:Crisler
basketball team TV/Radio:
is almost guar- Comcast Local
anteed to have
a better show-
ing tonight when it hosts No. 16 Pur-
due at Crisler Arena.
The change of venue alone could
make a world of difference for the
Wolverines. More than 8,000 Boil-
ermaker fans packed Mackey Arena
during the first meeting between
the teams - the biggest crowd
Michigan has played in front of all

season.
But aside from the home court,
figuring out exactly where to start
regrouping was a task in itself,
according to Michigan coach Cheryl
Burnett.
"Analyzing our (previous) game
against them, there were obviously
a lot of things to work on," Burnett
said. "But the one thing that both-
ered me is that we gave them a lot of
lay-ups and free throws."
Michigan's foul issues not only
sent Purdue (10-2 Big Ten, 21-5 over-
all) to the line 31 times, but also indi-
rectly caused the Wolverines (3-9,
10-15) problems on the offensive end,
too.
Starting point guard Jessica
Minnfield played just 12 minutes
because of fouls, and Michigan suf-
fered because of it. The team never
recovered from Minnfield's absence,
and the 22 turnovers that resulted
marked a season high.
When the Wolverines were able
to hold the ball, they shotjust 24 per-
cent - a season low at the time.

Purdue forward Lindsay Wisdom-
Hylton factored into Michigan's
shooting woes. She blocked six shots
and forced Michigan to try its luck
from the perimeter. Shooting from
outside worked no better, as the Wol-
verines hit just 2-of-18 from beyond
the arc.
Michigan will try to stay more
aware of Wisdom-Hylton's where-
abouts this time, accordingto sopho-
more Stephany Skrba.
"We just have to use a lot more
pump fakes and watch out for her
before we go up with (the shot),"
Skrba said.
Burnett has shuffled her team's
lineup numerous times since its Big
Ten opener at Purdue, and the Wol-
verines have seen more success as a
result.
Since becoming regulars in the
Wolverine rotation, Skrba, along
with forwards Carly Benson and
LeQuisha Whitfield, have made sig-
nificant impacts.
Michigan has split its last four
games, and the versatile trio has

accounted for almost 42 percent (91-
of-219 points) of the team's scoringin
those games.
But rewind back to the last match-
up between the teams, and Benson,
Whitfield and Skrba were all held
scoreless (0-for-11).
This time, the trio must use its
athleticism against Purdue's stocky
frontcourt to have any chance in
tonight's game.
"I think we'll be able to match up
a lot better this time," Skrba said.
"That's what's great about our team;
we have very quick forwards, and we
can run with anybody."
But even if the forwards do play
well tonight, would it realistically
be enough to put Michigan over the
top?
Wolverine players shied away
from answering the question direct-
ly, instead vowing to play hard
regardless of the game's score.
"We just have to play together,"
Benson said. "We have ,to play the
whole thing out no matter what hap-
pens ... even if we're down."

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