The Ultimate Truth; HOW do you say that name?

Hello all!

Well, that most holy of Holidays, the provider of Turkey and Stuffing and Mashed Potato sandwiches has come, and with it has come... well, two things; an annoying cold, and BASKETBALL! Let's go to the video Truth!

* Grrr... The Ultimate Lord hates missing the opening tip and fanfare of a game; He feels like it is harder to get into the game halfway through.

* From The Ultimate Sideline Reporter; Scheyer with a nice three to start... Zoubek with a nice move inside as well... Duke man-to-man looking a bit weak.

* HOW do you say that name? Du-kain? Seriously? And how on earth does "Duquesne" translate into THAT?

* Tennessee looks llllloooonnnnggg and athletic.

* The Ultimate Lord was really praying for Tennessee to pour it on, so as to avoid that stupid time-out foul stuff. Come on ESPN, just cut away... it is a ten point game with 9 seconds left, and there is no Jason Williams in sight.

* Jimmy Dykes. Hee hee hee.

* That Jackson kid from Dukain... 17 pts, 7 assists, 7.5 rebounds?! That is SOME line!

* Duke is WHAT from February on?! Did he REALLY say 14 and 13? That cannot be. Unfortunately... it feels right

* While he is very much improved, Lance should get pump-fake tips from Dave McClure; he is really heady with them.

* "Duke will run it up your back side?" Seriously now?

* So the nice thing about cold mashed potatos and cold stuffing is that you can actually slice it carefully with a sharp knife to exactly the size of the bread you are making a sandwich out of. The Ultimate Lord is on sandwich eight. This is the only pork-free-and-feeling-no-guilt weekend of The Ultimate Lord's year.

* If Robert Downey Jr. doesn't do the Avengers movie, The Ultimate Lord will be PISSED.

* At least four future pros for Duke on this team; Hendo, Singler, Nolan, and, if they are smart, Jon. And it is too early to tell on one or two.

* Hm, for a guy with bum knees, McClure can get UP.

* Paulus is not a bad defender at ALL. Still isn't shooting much tho.

* Point guard at Duke is like quarterback at Not... at SOUTHERN CAL?! Oh man how the mighty have fallen.

* Hendo uses the bounce pass very, very well.

* Speaking of leftover sandwiches... has anyone ever tried that trick they talked about on "Friends," with putting a third piece of bread between the layers that has been soaked in gravy? A half pound of bacon sent express to anyone who can recall the name of that trick!

* 3 point shooting looks improved, but a lot of them have been wide open looks. However, we don't seem as live/die by the 3 so far...

* Kyle has a GREAT great handle! He will be a real good 3 in the League.

* Doocain is playing very physical down low; anyone else notice that nasty shove on Henderson that went uncalled?

* The Crazies don't sound bad for all being away on Thanksgiving break.

* Nice to see Singler using that in-between game; sure it is only worth 2, but getting close like that also puts the shooter in good position for a rebound.

* Gone the whole Bush administration without a loss at home? Jimmy my friend... hate to break it to you, but basketball notwithstanding, we've ALL lost at home during the Bush administration. Zing!

* Ha! Santa and the elf are still at Cameron! They've been there a few years now... The Ultimate Lord hopes that is a grandpa/grandson thing, and not something... awkward.

* We are using Kyle a lot as a screen when there is full-court pressure.

* Great recovery by Lance on that between-the-leg-bobble (heh... run it up their backside!) Last year he would have promptly lost that one out of bounds.

* Crap assist-to-turnover ratio by Nolan. Would love to see his steals though... does he have more than Greg so far this year? He really is more a scoring, Will Avery type.

* Vasquez looks to have put on a little healthy weight; he has less of the "drowned rat" look to him this year.

* Good ending to the half... some of our secondary guys have REALLY stepped up this year. We need Hendo and Greg now to do the same, and we are in GOOD shape!

* The announcers are talking about it a lot, but we are having troubles with the o-rebounding. We just look a bit out of place and awkward at times still.

* 42% vs 55% of points off turnovers? Hm, what do we make of this? Are we scoring more one-on-one this year, or are we not moving the ball well? Seems to The Ultimate Lord more the latter than the former.

* Duke shoots pretty well, it seems, from the corner for 3. Not sure why people tend to trash that shot as one we don't shoot well. Sure the rebounds are difficult, but...

* "I don't like the shoes Carrie Underwood is wearing." Hah! Good line.

* Speaking of Mrs. Ultimate Lord...

*The new scoreboard looks pretty nice from what The Ultimate Lord can tell. Big, but doesn't stand out.

* Wow that Singler offensive board a little ways into the second was awesome... he jumped up, and came down on top of ONLY players; he never hit the floor!

* Wow, Greg really TOOK that steal, and Zoubek really FINISHED! Nice!

* Heh... Duke the only team which wears sleeves for injury. The Ultimate Lord has had that same thought before.

* Nice to see GP hit a few 3s!

* Everhart looks vaguely like an ugly Mr. Big.

"DAMMIT CARRIE, I AM TOO OLD LOOKING TO BE A BELIEVABLE HOT ROMANTIC LEAD IN A MOVIE!! JUST LET ME GO COACH AT DU... DOOQ... wait, how do you say the name again? Really? Du-cain? But... why does it have an 's' in it? It is silent? Man, this is stupid."

* Greg is the best shooting PG that K has ever had? Huh? Do stats in any way, shape, or form back that up?

* Heh, elite programs don't have to promise minutes. What if they promise minutes AND shots, eh? Heh, it is almost too easy to mock Kentucky nowadays. Go eat a bloody booger, Patrick.

* Lance's hands have just improved SO very much... wonder if he did hand drills or something like that over the summer. The Ultimate Lord assumes there is such a thing?

* And cue Leftover Sandwich Number Nine.

* And speaking of sandwiches... the best part of Thanksigiving leftovers is stuffing. Annnnd... discuss.

* The nice thing about a televised ***-whupping; seeing a lot of Marty P.

* Speaking of the importance of the bench; it better stay important this year. You hear The Ultimate Lord, Coach K?

* GREAT steal and dribble/score by Zoubek! Where did that come from? Note the bench in hysterics.

* Did Zoubek try to dunk a few plays later when he got stuffed? It almost looked it!

* The guy in the commercial who plays his PSP EVERYWHERE, including in a club, is almost as annoying as the guy who uses his cell phone to play fantasy football on his honeymoon. Note; ALMOST.

* Hearing Kobe and Chris Paul and all the rest of them gush over Coach K never gets old. Neither does hearing Chris Paul call him simply "Coach."

* Nice Pocius-to-Plumlee look. However, Miles does look a bit lost out there right now at the end.

* Ahhh... glad to hear that Tyler still plays harder than anyone else.

* Speaking of Tyler... could he *gasp* NOT win NPOY this year? GOOOOO OKLAHOMA!!!!!! BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!

* WTF is with this extended, crappy play-by-play check-in with the Purdue-OK game? If they don't go back...

* Heh, anyone else notice that Doocain player throw the pass right off his buddy's face? Hah!

* Cue Leftover Sandwich Number 10... and The Ultimate Lord is having troubles getting up out of His Chair.

* Man, the announcers were really riding Plumlee. What dicks.

* Zone?! Ahhh, The Ultimate Lord loves blowouts!

* Ahhh... and apparently, General Grievous still looks like a drowned rat. Apparently that graphic was misleading.

All in all, a real blowout (not counting the last few minutes...) but still very interesting to see a lot of different players getting minutes. As long as K doesn't go shortening the bench too early, and as long as Greg and Gerald step it up a bit, we are going to be AWFUL good this year. Bring on Purdue!!

The Ultimate Truths - WOLVERINES!!!

Whelp, welcome back Duke fans, to a SECOND night of The Truth! After UCLA failed to live up to its end of the bargin, would Duke roll over a game Michigan team? Or would the Wolverines live in the hills, striking from the hills and launching devasting ambushes, all after watching that science teacher get blasted the F AWAY? Only time will tell!!

And now... The Ultimate Truths for the Championship Game of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic!

*Jamie Luckie? Awesome name for a ref. Almost as good as that announcer whose name was Baller.

* Hmm... Nolan starts again? When Greg is 100 percent, will he take back the starting spot? Or will Duke get out to a good start tonight... finally?

* Good to see Gerald go RIGHT at it, first play of the game. Wonder if K set that up?

* Speaking of Gerald... he is really starting to look a bit G.Hill to The Ultimate Lord. When he isn't looking Kobe, that is.

* The "toss in the air" save, while it worked yesterday, makes The Ultimate Lord nervous. Do coaches approve of it?

* Why is Kyle guarding their guy who is bringing the ball up? Bad switch? Or using length to bother them?

* WOOF Gerald with an AGGRESSIVE block!

* Oh no... a missed goaltend? Let's watch the replay five different times! And cue the whiney ARGH they bought off the refs Duke cheats I hate them they only win because The Rat rides the refs!!!!" Carolina fans in 3, 2, 1...

* "Using your quickness" against Zoubek ain't saying that much. It's like using your wits against Sloth.



* So this might be taboo to say... but does losing Johnny hurt Duke recruiting African-American players? There are a lot of white coaches on that bench. Is Nate on the recruiting trail now? Or are going to see more Ryan Kelly/Mason Plumlee classes on the way?

* Alfred Aboya... great name. However, he better be careful... if his wrist doesn't heal quick, he might get adopted by Brad and Angelina.

* Nice to see GP hit the 3. He is always better A) when fading sideways and B) after getting wacked in the head.

* Singler ALWAYS looks exhausted to The Ultimate Lord!

* You know, it feels like we haven't drawn a lot of charges this year.

* Ohhh Dick... "Get me the ball, gimme the rock, OOOOHHHH Wolverines!!!!!" After hearing Bob Knight last night, Dick Vitale is a hundred times more annoying. And everyone knows that infinity times a hundred is... well, a LOT of annoying.

* Ugh. Lowes Feast Week. Stupid everything-is-sponsored world.

* BTW, this weeks Ultimate Truths are brought to you by Pfizer. Pfizer; when it's time for old folks to get it on!

* Great match-ups... like Kentucky/UNC? Jesus, who wrote THAT, a UNC fan who is convinced they play a DEVASTATING schedule? Yeah... not so much. But check out how much they ***** when we play Davidson and Air Force and...

* You know... for a white boy, Pocius is fairly jacked. And don't even start on his calves...

* Actually Dick; cutting down the nets ISN'T all that matters at Duke. Seriously.

* Jesus Mickie K... that jacket is straight up PIMPING. Is that blue pleather? With SPIKES?

* Zoublock!

* Heh, every time someone mentions Aminu, The Ultimate Lord can only think of that quote when Aminu said something about putting Wake on the map... and then The Ultimate Lord laughs, thinking about that scrub from the Virgin Islands who played there. What was that guy's name again?

* BTW... Randolph "Come and get me WHOOPS 3 eat it Jeff!" will always be The Man.

* Heh, that never gets old.

* Ugh. That Diaper Dandies graphic has GOT to go. What channel do they think this is, Lifetime? Show The Ultimate Lord Marissa Miller in a diaper and you've got a viewer for life!

* Remember St. Johns at the Garden a while back? Man, they were PSYCHED to play Duke... there were BEAT DUKE t-shirts on EVERY chair. Too bad they lost, like almost everyone else.

* Whenever anyone mentions Art Garfinkel, The Ultimate Lord always imagines him looking like this... just replace the fan brush and the burnt sienna with a basketball.




* Random thought of the night; naked and from behind, Digger Phelps and Winston Churchill would look like brothers.

* Commecials just suck nowadays. Hulu girls selling Subway? In what marketing universe does that make a BIT of sense? God... and people get PAID to make this crap.

* Blech. We check in on the NBA, and we see Jamison? *sigh* BTW... he was awesome. Him and Juan Dixon = favorite non-Dukies ever.

* Why the black unis? Why not the blues?

* So... which set of tens is the most succesful at Duke? The single digits? They did have J.J. and Los... the twenties had Christian and Trajan and Shel... the thirties had Battier and Hill... anyone wanna take a guess?

* The Ultimate Lord feels a little bad that Nolan lost Coach Dawkins so early in his career. Well, at least he got the support his freshman year.

* Jesus, there are a lot of logos on that floor. At least they don't seem slippery, as logos (especially over ice) tend to get.

* Is Zoubek going up a bit quicker with the ball this year, or is it The Ultimate Lord's imagination?

* Hah, Sir Charles is AWESOME. Great line about Vitale.

* Kansas City has awesome BBQ.

* Jesus... end of the half, and Dick is just RAMBLING and rambling! He is an absolute car-wreck.

* Ahhhh... and there is K, teaching Nolan before they hit the locker room. K = awesome.

* Len Elmore would make an AWESOME post-apocolyptic zombie.

* Hm, super aggressive move by Gerald to start the half again. The Ultimate Lord likes that a lot.

* Beautiful pass by Singler to Nolan under the basket. What CAN'T Kyle do?

* WOW Gerald! What a block! He has SUCH effortless elevation... surely one of the most effortless, if not THE most, in Duke history.

* BTW, speaking of Gerald, whatever happened to that "exercise induced asthma/out of shape" thing. If only The Ultimate Lord were that "out of shape..."

* It is SUCH a relief to see Lance step up this year. The Ultimate Lord thinks most folks expect a guy to step up his junior year if he doesn't his sophomore year, but it was still nice to see.

* Can you imagine if there were trades in the NCAA? What trade would you propose? Maybe a guard-for-big trade with Wake?

* Looked like Lance got fouled on that nifty Jon no-look-save-to-the-post... and then they hit a 3? Goddamnit.

* New York Redbulls? This sponsorship stuff is just out of control.

* BTW, this weeks Ultimate Truths brought to you by Brother Jimmys BBQ; lighting bartenders on fire for 37 years!

* Amazing that there aren't more retired jerseys in the Garden, no?

* A side rant: Do you know who The Ultimate Lord hates? People who love vampires. Yes, with the opening of that teen vampire flick, it seems that there are nerdy, pale vampire lovers *everywhere* They are worse than Trekkies. At least Trekkies see SOME light, albeit computer screen light. Vampire lovers stay nice and pale by spending every day in their parents basement. Blech.

* Man... does Michigan REALLY not realize that the outside line is the NBA line? Because it really seems they are making that mistake. Is that possible?

* Email is LONG. Long long long; he can really defend and get up there for rebounds and passes over the D.

* If K hits #1 in wins, that will be pretty sweet. But honestly, hitting #2 might almost be sweeter.

* "Great spurtability." Uch. That sounds really, really gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

* Man. UNC is going to have a LOT of big guys next year. Is it possible that Zeller might end up playing... the 3?

* Hmmm... liked the rotation to start, but man it started to stagnate a bit into the second...

* Too bad Brockman didn't go to Duke.

* A "blender?" Dick, where is the stupid-*** graphic to go with it?


* Man, Greg's #s have really dropped. To be frank, The Ultimate Lord feels a bit bad about it.

* Manny Harris looks a bit like Benny the Cab Driver from "Total Recall." HEY BENNY... SCREW YOUUUU!!!!

* Whenever anyone mentions Bob Gibbons, The Ultimate Lord always imagines him looking like this... just replace the lychee nuts and flung monkey poo with a basketball.



* The Ultimate Lord has that same Santa hat as that kid.

* Heh... enjoyed Dick's NBA list and subsequent admittal he could never memorize that. However... seriously, are we calling him "(Josh) Roberts" again? Why not go back to Kyle Singular?

* Speaking of Dick... he is REALLY stuck on this "shortened season" thing. The Ultimate Lord loves when he gets on these crusades that go nowhere.

* You know... The Ultimate Lord is not that happy that Plumlee is not playing at all. And why did Brian not see any time in the second half?

* Jeez, did The Ultimate Lord just call for more Zoubek time?

* As good as he is at the 3 and on the drive, Kyle is REALLY money RIGHT under the basket.

* So... everyone already knows that Tom Krean looks just like Tom Arnold, right?

* Anyone else as annoyed by that tool sitting over Dickie V's shoulder?

* OUGHF Gerald with another NASTY block! He gets UP, and he is so damn strong... makes for some impressive stuffs.

* The Ultimate Lord hearts our ability to switch and still be effective; so many Duke defenders can defend 3 and 4 spots.

* Argh... another Dixon?! We should have recruited him.

* Interesting Michigan rant by Dick, and you know what? The Ultimate Lord finds Himself... agreeing.

* McClure missed a three, made up for it with a charge. To be honest, The Ultimate Lord likes seeing Dave trying to get more involved in the offense. While everyone says that having David in is like having only four men on offense, The Ultimate Lord isn't sure this is true, and so far may only be because McClure doesn't TRY to score. As a senior... why not step it up?

* Jon is 2nd in Duke history in free throw percentage? Man, playing so close to J.J. can really leave a guy overlooked!

* Ohhh GP got REALLY turned around on D at about the 2:00 minute mark.

* Disappointed we didn't see Miles until the end.

* Well, overall a real nice game after a good second half last night! Duke seems to be stepping it up quite a bit compared to the first two games. Gerald finally is hitting on all cylinders, Nolan looked much more comfortable, and Zoubek continues to *gasp* impress! Now Greg needs to get healthy and we need to start developing Miles... but so far, so good!

Apparently The Ultimate Lord was wrong to bet on cancer... apparently the safe bet was the Blue Devils!

Next up... Montana!

Go Duke!

The Ultimate Truths - SIU edition!

Hello all, and welcome to the 2008-2009 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball season... and more importantly, the return of...

...The Ultimate Truths!

Well, let The Ultimate Lord begin by saying He has missed you all. Talk of bacon and D'nika Romero aside, basketball season is where it is at. And what little The Ultimate Lord has been able to make out through squinting at a computer screen while DookSucksGoHeels! has been blasting away on the chat about **** buying off the refs led Him to believe it will be a very interesting season! Finally though it is time for ESPN... and let the games begin!

* Ahhh The Ultimate Lord missed the ESPN basketball music! It is like Pavlov's dogs... play the music, and The Ultimate Lord starts screaming obscenties and insisting K recruit a big guy!

* This will be a terrific test of SIU?!?! WTF is that crap?!?! A test of THEM? Seriously?

* Come on Gerald... we need you to really step up this game and get nasty here... otherwise we might start getting nervous.

* BTW, sorry to say it, but The Ultimate Lord's money is on cancer. Sorry, Coaches, but it's got a lot of experience.

* Wow. Bob Knight looks crusty and cranky. In other words, like Bob Knight.

* Kyle w/hair > Kyle w/out. The Ultimate Lord always hated the "concentration camp survivor" look that our skinny white guys seem to adopt sometimes.

* Doris > Erin in every way. Well... almost every way.




* Gerald jumping when we have 7 foot Zoubek in there never gets old. Or any less depressing.

* Speaking of Zoubek... goddamn it.

* Wow... MSG looks BEAUTIFULLY empty on HDTV to start! Where are all the Dukies?! Or did they all move back to New Jersey after losing their jobs on Wall Street?

* WTF is a Saluki, anyway?

* Thank god for Kyle this year.

* Love that clip of the '93 team. Seeing the 33 and the 11 out there is ALWAYS a treat.

* Wojo is going to have some SERIOUS "crazy old man" eyebrows someday. Think "Andy Rooney" eyebrows.



* Hmmm... so this is three Duke games, three Nolan starts, and three slow, disjointed starts by Duke. It is time to put Greg back in as the starting PG.

* BTW; a Saluki is maybe the oldest domesticated dog breed in the world, first being kept as a pet as long as 7000 years ago, and bred in Iraq. Not only does The Ultimate Lord socialize (and get frustrated with Brian Zoubrick) but The Ultimate Lord informs! (Thank you Dwight.)

* When Zoubek did the first right thing of the game (that reach in to cause a TO... which, in retrospect, may have actually been a WRONG thing with a lucky result) did you see the bench go nuts?

* The Ultimate Lord hearts Jon Scheyer.

* Man, Nate Dogg looks SHARP in a suit! Only thing he looks sharper in? A Duke uniform.

* BTW, speaking of Jon... don't let The Ultimate Lord hear another moron say Jon isn't athletic. He really, really is. Just because a brother is skinny and white and makes funny O-faces when exerting himself does NOT mean he isn't athletic.

* When Plumlee first came in the other guys really missed him a few times when he was open.

* BTW; The Ultimate Lord LOVES Bob Knight as an analyst. Just listening to him you can HEAR the years of experience... the philosophies, the play theory, how used he is to tracking numbers and trends... awesome.

* Heh, when Plumlee fouls they say Zoubek. Paging Dr. Freud!

* Speaking of Miles, they say he cleared 6'9 as a high jumper in high school. That is like Miles Plumlee jumping... well, over Miles Plumlee. That is very zen.

* Anyone else think Nick Evans looks a bit like a dopey Michael Rappaport?



* No Time Outs in the air anymore? Aw... man, that sucks. Those were always fun and exciting.

* The Frosh are showing up earlier this game. Apparently the 360 Doghouse only lasts a game.

* OHHHH!!! Fay HURDLED that family!! You notice how appreciative that Dad was? Man, that would have been UGLY... right into the boys in the front row. Awesome move by Fay.

* Oh baseball. Where else would a "20 win season" be a HUGE deal for a player (a pitcher in this case) when the team plays something like 3,000 games in a season? What a bunch of wussies.

* Ahhh nice block and recovery by Plumlee! Memo to Coach K: Please, sit Zoubek forever.

* Speaking of Plumlee, there were a few occassions where SIU players clearly passed out/backed off, respecting Plumlee's blocking ability.

* God these turnovers are BRUTAL. Some of our drives, it is like the Duke player is just putting their head down and GOING, and the resulting TO or charge is just SO predictable.

* The Ultimate Lord hearts the Jump-hook.

* Jon has got SUCH a nose for the ball.

* BTW, the "Talk about how good a free throw shooter a guy is and watch him miss the next one" Curse is TOTALLY real.

* Comment from Hal Steinbrenner; "My Dad, needless to say, is a hard act to follow." Not reported; the follow-up "So I fired his grandpa *** and had him dragged out by security." Ahhh those Steinbrenner genes! Second only to the McMahon genes in inhereted assholeishness.

* Beautiful fake 3/pass to Thomas by Greg. The Ultimate Lord hearts the faked 3.

* Email doesn't seem to have a lot of fear at going right at the D... sometimes a good thing, sometimes not so much.

* "None of them." God, The Ultimate Lord loves Bob Knight.

* Good things happen when Zoubek gets the ball? Seriously? "This is good, this is very good?" "Get Zoubek the ball?" Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....



* Wow... Singler, Hendo, and Paulus with no points? Is that a GOOD sign, like "Oh look, even with our best guys struggling we respond and take the lead?" Or is it a crap sign, like "Oh look, our best guys are struggling?" The Ultimate Lord will let you know in March.

* Damn... turn down the music during the K & K talk!

* Len Elmore has the biggest mouth The Ultimate Lord has ever seen.

* And Steve Lavin has the biggest HEAD The Ultimate Lord has ever seen. Seriously, its like an old-school cash register.

* BTW... would you?



* BTW; The Ultimate Lord has always agreed with Knight that Zoubek DOES have a nice looking free throw stroke, especially for a big guy.

* "Not even Zoubek would have caught that one?" Seriously... that would make ANY Duke fan giggle like a schoolgirl.

* WOW Nolan! JEEZ. Angry, ANGRY! Expected the Gerald alley-oop, but GOD that was nasty nasty NASTY!

* The key is around the 10 minute mark in the second. If a team sticks with Duke until then, it will be a game. But often, that is where it all starts to slip away.

* Apparently the inverse of the "He never misses a free throw" Rule is true as well, as evidenced by the "Gerald hasn't scored tonight" 3 pointer.

* God, speaking of Gerald, look at those arms. Hard core NBA body. Hard core NBA game? We'll see.

* "A guy who is very effective, like Zoubek." Jesus H. Ultimate Lord, this NEVER gets old!!!

* Fay looks like he should star in High School Musical 4, after Efron leaves. Mannnnnnn-crush!

* Foul #3 on Fay was a pure frustration foul, through and through... nothing like that "I just screwed up, I'm going to grab a hold of an opposing player in a desperate attempt to make up for it now" foul.

* Oh man... look at the foul disparity. Cue the whiney ***** Cryolina fans in 3, 2, 1...

* Anyone catch that graphic for Mullins "-3rd in School History for Assists?" Negative 3rd? Seriously? Do you really need the dash in an isolated graphic like that?

* The Ultimate Lord doesn't adore Nolan's dribble when under pressure; he sometimes has this awkward skip-step that feels like a turnover waiting to happen.

* Wow, K got EXCITED over that multiple save, multiple jump play. Love that!

* Since the wrist injury, it seems like Gerald has lost that midrange pull-up shot and depended more on the 3 and the drive... it is a shame, because the midrange pull-up is a good weapon for Gerald, and leads to more "Troy" jokes for The Ultimate Lord.

* Amazing there aren't more strained backs in basketball when you see a guy go up for a layup and get hammered/held/pushed down by a foul.

* Oh JESUS Singler went down HARD. Arrrgghh! Right into the pylon! God that looked HORRIBLE. Just terrible. So glad he bounced back up. And cue the Tyler Zeller comparisons in 3, 2, 1...

* VMI 133, Stevenson 72?! JEEZ VMI scores a LOT.

* The Ultimate Lord loves the ref/coach relationship. We always just think it is yelling and fighting, but there is SO much more there. The Ultimate Lord would love to have them both miked during a game so we could hear them.

* Chris Paul... 12 assists a GAME?! Jeez. Wonder what his Punch-in-the-nuts per game average is?

* Great to see the free throws really improve.

* Wait; there are 3 ingredients to drawing fouls, and the third is being in a position to draw a foul? Uh... why bother with the other two? Isn't that third one enough?

* Carlton Fay totally speaks with a Scottish accent.

* OHHHH GERALD!! JEEZ!!! Seriously, two NASTY nasty dunks in a single HALF!! And both times, the Duke player gave a little stare-down... can't remember the last time we've had two such intense dunks in a single half. Anyone?

* Heh... love hearing Bobby K praise Coach K.

* Playing even with Duke for 25 minutes actually doesn't mean that much. Many teams do that. It is the playing-even-for-40 minutes that matter.

* BTW; just to reintroduce... Cameron W! Ahhh so lovely!

* Anyone else think that Kevin Dillard actually looked a bit like maybe Demarcus? Same angelic look. Not the same bowling-balls-for-shoulders.

* Jeez... NO ONE in Puerto Rico for that St. John's game. Never seen an arena so empty. What, was there a blizzard and no one could make it?

* Thank god Gerald really stepped up... The Ultimate Lord was getting very, very nervous.

* All in all, a good game. The first was bowling-shoe ugly, but the second was vastly improved, and it was nice to see Gerald really step it up... we will need him to be an All-Star if we want to make it deep into March. Kyle did well, Jon with his traditional nose for the ball... Nolan was a bit unsure at times, but he'll be fine. And the surprise of the game?

Brian Zoubek, who was praised the entire game by Bob Knight, who actually said that a player wasn't effective like Zoubek, that not even Zoubek would have caught an errant pass, and that it was good, very good, that Duke passed it to Zoubek.



Who woulda thunkit?


It is great to be back, and it is GREAT to have basketball start again!

Go Duke! And bring on the Bruins!