TWO DUKIES PICK THE ACC

Volume VII, no. XLIV - March 17-18, 2004

Welcome to this edition of the seventh (it *is* sort of getting ludicrous now) season of Two Dukies Pick the ACC. Rob and Matt invite you to sit back, get taken for a ride with the Polish president, show your guests that macabre piece of wreckage you're sickeningly keeping in your office, wonder what the hell Nick Lachey was doing on ESPN's "Bracketology" show, and see if we have any interesting information below. We couldn't find any.

The TWO DUKIES name and material are, for some outrageous reason, affiliated with http://www.dukies.com, and for even more abstruse motivations, copyright 2004 Rigel Enterprises, Ltd. All rights reserved, and even though you had reservations yourself, we're glad you showed up anyway.

Matt's comments in blue.
Rob Mac K's picks in green.

ALABAMA STATE (16-14, 14-7 SWAC) (16) v. #6 DUKE (27-5, 13-3) (1)

Everyone over the Maryland game? Good. Yeah, we got jobbed, but the team didn't hit its free throws, and Maryland broke their pattern and did, so there you go. Hey, the ACC is not exactly eating up the competition so far, is it? Hmmmmmmm. Well, I hope everyone is okay with the fact that I'm writing this material with the game already underway - - I don't think too many "bracketologists," even the great Andy Katz, who projects North Carolina-Chapel Hill to win 25 games in this tournament, have Alabama State winning this one.

So, do you want analysis of this game? The Hornets hail from Montgomery, Alabama (bet you'd guessed the latter), are part of the SWAC, a conference made of mostly all-black schools that really love their basketball and have great traditional rivalries. Alabama State and Rob Spivery, now in his eighth season at the school, made the 2001 NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated by Michigan State. 5-10 senior Malcolm Campbell is a bona fide shooter and a very good player, but the Hornets don't have the horses to hang with Duke in the rebounding, shooting, or ball-shepherding departments. They've done very well to get here after a slow start, but this should be the end of their season. Look for Duhon to sit if Duke runs out to a big lead while Ewing and Dockery share point responsibilities, so Chris can rest up for the rest of the tournament, which will hopefully last longer for Duke than it has in recent seasons.

You know, there was a lot of carping about how tough the South Region (sorry, not buying this crap with naming the regions after the cities -- that will disappear after this one-year experiment) is, but honestly, I thought Duke drew the weakest four and five seeds in the entire tournament. And if you're scared about Arizona, see if they get past Seton Hall first - - and if they do, check out their scoring defense statistic, and where they rank nationally in that department. Also, set aside two of your fingers to count how many NCAA Tournament teams they beat this year, for the same number of wins. We'll see how that goes.

I think J.J. Redick might be ready to find his shot. Let's see how the ESA crowd treats the Blue Devils.

Duke 92, Alabama State 59.

Duke 88, Alabama State 53.

AIR FORCE (22-6, 12-2 Mountain West) (11) @ NORTH CAROLINA-CHAPEL HILL (18-10, 8-8) (6)

So is anyone whining about UNC-CH's draw? I mean, they get a road game at altitude at McNichols Two in Denver against a segment of the nation's military which happens to run the Princeton offense, which isn't what the Tools want to see.

Incidentally, what's this horsepuckey about N.C. State running the Princeton offense? I must have heard that 500 times since the pairings were announced. Does Coach Hodge know that's the offense he runs? Someone should ask him, because, well, it really isn't. But hey, repeat something often enough and the media kinda picks it up - - right, Gen. Colin and Dr. Condie?

I digress. So you think Roy is pleased about this matchup? I sort of doubt it. Of course, Air Force, which was the comeback program of the year, as far as I'm concerned, has had a great season under Joe Scott, a Bill Carmody protege. Sure, their inclusion in the Tournament deserves some scrutiny, because (as Bilas pointed out, in his fifth insightful observation this season) the Mountain West isn't a great league, and they're probably not among the top 34 at-large teams. Still, even with the height restrictions imposed by the AFA, as well as the natural difficulties of the service academies competing in athletics, the Falcons should not be underestimated, little Tools!

You know, I love the love - - yes, I meant to type that, judgment aside - - that UNC-CH gets from the media. These clowns lost their last two games, farted their way around the Greensboro Coliseum before being excused early by the BugThugs, got a six, and now Katz and other chuckleheads have them going to the Final Four. Huh? Sure, these guys have talent, but look - - they were 18-10 and 8-8 for a reason. Think that depth might be a problem in the Tournament? Subpar defense? Unreliable shooting? Apparently not - - Steve Lavin, angling for some coaching job somewhere (Purdue?), argued fervently that the longer TV timeouts would help the Twinks. Come on, Steve!

Anyway, Air Force is not the kind of team that is going to wear down the Soiled Pedestrians, but the Falcons do have some size, and it's entirely possible that Sean May might discover that too many slices of DiGiorno (by the way, couldn't they have gotten a play-by-play guy for the ad with Vitale instead of Raftery, so that it at least looked realistic?) doesn't mix with a city a mile high. 50.4 ppg, the nation's leading scoring defense - - can intellectuals like Rockin' Ray, the Wad, Manuel Transmission, and Rashclod handle that kind of look? I don't know, but I don't think this is going to be any blowout.

Oh, and the Miller Lite takeoff on the ridiculous Viagra ad is so funny that everyone in the country should record and save it. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought Boner Bob and Baffled, Bespectacled Japanese Guy were ripe for parody. Enjoy! Go Air Force!

North Carolina-Chapel Hill 61, Air Force 57.

North Carolina-Chapel Hill 65, Air Force 58.

 Last Edition: Rob 3-1 (0.750) Matt 4-0 (1.000) Guests 0-0 (0.000) This Season: Rob 63-29 (0.685) Matt 63-29 (0.685) Guests 3-0 (1.000) TD in Guest Editions: 6-0 (1.000)