Real Sports - Athletes and Teams that we follow and admire.

[mikeyank]

#4 Duke just upset #1 Miami 85-78 in the semi of the ACC tournament! Duke has made it into the ACC tourney finals tomorrow! I hope that Mikeyank was watching the game live and not recording it as once again ESPN scheduled it to be played on ESPN and at the last minute moved it to ESPN2!

I watched live and what a thrilling game. Dukes five Freshmen have all grown up big time as the season moved on. All excellent players, Mitchell, FilopowskI, Proctor, Lively and Whitehead. And our Junior captain Jeremy Roach too. This team has developed and grown and I’m thrilled about how good they can be over the next three weeks. Go Duke!

 

[mikeyank]

The game ended nine hours ago but I am still on a Duke high. People who are not rabid fans will never understand how we live and breathe our teams during the post season. I can’t stop thinking about tonight’s comference championship game and then Selection Sunday tommorow and then the tournament next week.

GO DUKE!!!

 

[kgmets2]

The game ended nine hours ago but I am still on a Duke high. People who are not rabid fans will never understand how we live and breathe our teams during the post season. I can’t stop thinking about tonight’s comference championship game and then Selection Sunday tommorow and then the tournament next week.

GO DUKE!!!

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Duke will really be tested tonight in its ACC tournament final versus Virginia, which crushed Clemson last night in what was supposed to be a close semifinal. But Duke is smoking hot and peaking at the right time. Should be a great final tonight!

 

[mikeyank]

Duke will really be tested tonight in its ACC tournament final versus Virginia, which crushed Clemson last night in what was supposed to be a close semifinal. But Duke is smoking hot and peaking at the right time. Should be a great final tonight!

I‘ll be watching. And I’m optimistic but we will see in about four hours. GO DUKE!!!

 

[kgmets2]

I‘ll be watching. And I’m optimistic but we will see in about four hours. GO DUKE!!!

Duke pulled another upset of Virginia, 59-49, to become ACC Tournament Champions! Now on to the NCAA tournament! Tomorrow the big question is how high will Duke be seeded? There are two dueling seeding philosophies out there: Should seeding be done on a team's overall body of work over the entire season (which would disfavor a team like Duke which was young and growing) or should seeding be done on the best hottest teams going into the NCAA tournament (which would favor the smoking hot Duke Blue Devils a lot). We shall see the seeding tomorrow as Duke takes a nine game winning streak into the NCAA tournament as ACC Tournament Champions!

 

[mikeyank]

And here is the late Freddy Mercury to sing to show my jubilation at winning The ACC Championship. One step done and now onto NCAA Tournament.
GO DUKE!

 

[mikeyank]

 

[mikeyank]

Duke is currently on a nine game winning streak which has lead to the ACC Championship last night. Next weekend begins March Madness where a team has to win six straight to become NCAA Champs. Can Duke extend their streak to 15? The fun begins next weekend. Whatever the outcome I am proud of how this team has battled back from being unranked in mid season to being a contender again. GO DUKE!!!

 

[kgmets2]

Besides already being the ACC Freshmen/Rookie of the Year, Filipowski also became the ACC Tournament MVP Award Winner last night!

 

[mikeyank]

Very sad news yesterday for Yankees fans of a certain age.

Joe Pepitone died at age 82.

 

[mikeyank]

Joe Pepitone, popular New York Yankees player and three-time All-Star, dies at age 82 | CNN

Joe Pepitone, a three-time All-Star playing for the New York Yankees between 1962 and 1969 who was also known for his off-field lifestyle, has died at age 82, according to an announcement from the team.

www.cnn.com

 

[mikeyank]

Today begins one of the most exciting days in sports all year, 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament, 16 games today and 16 tomorrow, begins the three week tournament leading to the National Championship game on Monday April 3. Good luck to fans of teams around the country. And especially good luck to my team, Duke!!!

 

[mikeyank]

Duke took care of business against Oral Roberts with a dominating 74-51 victory. Saturday they play winner of Tennesse—Louisiana game taking place shortly. Good start for Duke.

 

[kgmets2]

Big win for Duke over Oral Roberts earlier this evening! After Furmen upset Virginia this afternoon, I was worried that Duke would be vulnerable as well!

 

[mikeyank]

Yesterday was a rough day for me as my Duke Blue Devils were literally roughed up by an older, bigger and stronger Tennessee team and so the way the NCAA Tournament works, you “survive and advance”, which is what Tennessee did and Duke did not do. But for me the season, in this case from mid November to mid March is the important thing and how basically twice a week for the last four months I got to watch a young, exciting team coached by a rookie coach and they won the ACC Tournament and their first round NCAA game but got stopped yesterday. Thanks for a great fun season for me Duke.

But being a three team guy, as Duke becomes part of the past, The New York Yankees will be ready to roll a week from Thursday as a packed Yankee Stadium will welcome the 2023 Bronx Bombers home. And to quote The Who, “The Kids are Alright”, as the Yankees have some really good young prospects including 20 year old Jasson Dominguez who was sent back to double A for more seasoning, but they have two young shortstops/infielders who can make the team, and I am hoping that Anthony Volpe makes the team to open the season at shortstop. And we also have Oswald Peraza who was on the roster in August and September and started a couple of games against Houston in the American League Championship Series.

Goodbye for this year to Duke, but Hello to the 2023 New York Yankees and “the kids”, Anthony Volpe & Oswald Peraza. As the seasons, they go round and round!

 

[kgmets2]

The Duke run came to an end yesterday in a double digit loss to Tennessee. Still a great season though as the young team matured at the end of the season and became ACC Tournament Champions!

 

[br6205]

Aztecs won second round but next play Number 1 Alabama Thursday in third round

 

[br6205]

Sorry to hear about the Duke loss but next year they should do better, being a young team.

 

[kgmets2]

Sorry to hear about the Duke loss but next year they should do better, being a young team.

The challenge for Duke will be to keep all those star young players as there is NBA interest in them. This is where Name, Image and Likeness contracts can help a college retain its players.

 

[mikeyank]

The challenge for Duke will be to keep all those star young players as there is NBA interest in them. This is where Name, Image and Likeness contracts can help a college retain its players.

Sorry to hear about the Duke loss but next year they should do better, being a young team.

For the last decade or so, Coach K made the decision to “go for it” with the top high school players each year, which in turn leads to the “one and done athletes”. I would be shocked, but very pleasantly so if any of our stars of 22-23 return next year. Lively & Whitehead are almost assured to leave as is Filipowski and probably Proctor. Perhaps Mark Mitchell will be back and Jeremy Roach has one more year of eligibility. And graduate transfer Ryan Young has committed to one more year.

But the bulk of this year’s team will be replaced by another top rated class…..and so it goes………