Curious

Crazy Lady to the SF Chronicle (via Fark): "Curious George" reveals "the sinister side of a corrupt wildlife trade with perilous roots in Western imperialism." When the mischievous George is sent to jail, "the picture of the forlorn little primate alone in his cell conjures haunting images of countless monkeys lingering in laboratories, suffering silently and alone."

Really?

BC Gets All the Calls!

Inspired by DBR, I looked at the boxscore and urge you to do the same. You'll notice the devil in the details: BC shot 50 free throws while Wake shot 14.

Of course, I'm sure you've all heard about it because of the media frenzy over BC's penchant for getting fouls called. Give me a break.

Did Al Skinner have an opinion on the disparity? I'd like to hear it.

Microsoft Is Getting Bigger!

Hey, maybe 12,000 additional employees will create some extra demand for real estate up here. Wouldn't mind some more capital gains on the ol' house.

Question of the Day

Obviously, JJ's jersey is a lock in the Cameron rafters. However, will Duke retire Shelden Williams' #23?

Coach K always says that the litmus test is this: stay all four years, win national awards, and exemplify Duke excellence. Then you qualify for consideration.

My legion of 4 readers, check out Shelden's bio (linked in the title) and come out with your thoughts!

Go to Hell, Carolina! Go to Hell!

What a game. The young Tar Heels deserve as much credit as you can give them. It wasn't the cleanest game played, but honestly, in a game where every shot and every loose ball is madly contested, turnovers and floor scrums will abound. Freshmen showed their jitters and seniors showed their mettle. Another Triangle classic. This one never disappoints.

Credit the Heels for patching together a ridiculous comeback. For any team to outscore Duke 34-12 in 10 minutes is insane. However, it looks like Duke coasted a bit too. At 52-35, I'm not sure who didn't think the game was iced. Just like at BC, the Devils let up, got careless with the ball, took bad shots, and committed some stupid fouls. UNC jumped right back in it.

Alas, it looks like experience (or is it JJ?) trumps youth, and Redick was the man on the mission in the last three minutes. I don't think we've seen as many clutch plays from one person since the JWill/Battier days. Down five and staring at a roaring sea of Carolina blue, JJ saw red and mounted his charge. 11 points and a Duke victory later, all I could think is "Thank God he's on OUR side."

Some notes:

1) JJ is 100 points away from hitting Johnny Dawkins' Duke scoring record, and 131 away from Dickie Hemric's ACC record. He is also 5 threes away from Curtis Staples' NCAA all-time record. In 4-6 games, JJ will most likely own each of those records.

2) Did you notice today in the Daily Quickie, Duke-hater Dan Shanoff predictably named JJ as his "First in the Q" but then lambasted JJ for an "obscene gesture to the crowd. With both hands!!" Ahem, Dan, are you talking about the above picture? That is extremely obscene. Ghastly, really.

3) Last night marks the third consecutive game that Duke has turned the ball over in a one-possession situation with less than a minute to play. Is this scaring anyone else? Use JJ as a decoy, get the ball to Paulus in these situations and let him get fouled. He is, after all, shooting just about 90% from the line this year. As he grows up, he will make more clutch free throws like he did last night.

4) Shelden had a decent night, quietly logging 13 points, 9 boards, and 4 blocks. However, if Duke wants to be a legitimate title contender in late March, Shelden must score more and get rid of his quiet nights. Simply getting the ball to him, if nothing else, opens up the perimeter for our lethal shooters.

5) It was good to see the Devils get four guys in double figures last night. We're usually used to JJ dropping 30, Shelden getting his 15-20, and then two or three others tacking on 6-8 points apiece. Last night, we had JJ, 35; McRoberts, 17; Dock, 14; Shelden, 13. If Duke can continue to get balance like that and play defense like it did against Texas and Maryland, cutting the nets on April 3 looks very attainable.

6) Saturday at Maryland caps off what I like to think of as The Gauntlet of the Duke season and has already told us a lot about this team's heart and conditioning. In 15 days, Duke will have played Virginia-at BC-FSU-at UNC-at Maryland. 4-0 so far. I bet the Devils are relishing their third day of rest at this point. Spear the turtle, boys.

Duke-VaTech

While I'd like to talk about how Duke played last night (very well--much less JJ-watching; Shelden--solid), I can't help but concentrate on all the issues facing the Hokies: one player has cancer, another just suffered the loss of his grandmother, another's father is basically on his deathbed with lung cancer, and to cap it off, the team is on a 5-game skid and winless in the ACC. Now it's not so hard to see how they got slapped with two frustrated and emotional T's last night. Being winless sucks and invokes unusual measures of desperation...I was on a soccer team that went winless for the better part of four years, and we easily led the state of Louisiana in red and yellow cards.

The Washington-Melchionni bit had me up in arms when it happened, but a very classy move by him and Greenberg after the game made it very easy to let it be a bygone. Greenberg really is a solid coach.

How can you not empathize with this team right now? Here's hoping they can turn the season around and grab a few W's once Collins and Harris return to the team.

Big Game Tonight

Definitely one of our biggest games of the season tonight in Cameron. While the rivalry has slipped in the last couple of years with the losses of Steve Blake, Juan Dixon and co., there's reason for some added tension tonight. They've beaten us three times in a row, and some could make the argument that Gary Williams (like Jim Calhoun) simply has K's number. Make no mistake, Gary Williams is one smart coach, and he is familiar with Duke ball. Maryland is leading the ACC in scoring at about 84 per game, and they always bring their A-game to Cameron (those bastards!). To boot, Maryland is coming off one of those RPI-killing losses to Miami, where they let the Canes drain 12 from three. Look for them to have adjusted accordingly tonight as they'll be all over JJ. If Shelden Williams and Josh McRoberts find themselves in foul trouble early (as they did against Wake), the Terps will surely expose the consequent weakness, something they've been able to do to us for years. Duke-Maryland never disappoints, and tonight should be a tough one. Go Devils.

In other news, the wheels could officially fall off the Spartan train tonight. MSU, a popular final four pick, will have to play a helluva game against Indiana to stave off their third loss in a row.