So defending national champion Duke is out of Da Tournament, erased 82-68 by a No. 1 seed (Oregon) that plays way out in America's Invisible Zone, the Northwest, and so was assumed not to be worthy of a No. 1 seed.
Well, the Ducks sure looked like one last night, right up to the end, when Oregon guard Dillon Brooks did something kind of classless, but which No. 1 teams have done before simply because they could. What Brooks did was launch a what-the-hell 3-pointer from near midcourt with the clock under 10 seconds and Duke simply letting it run out.
The what-the-hell three went in. Go figure.
This prompted an exchange between Brooks and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski that Brooks said happened and Coach K says didn't happen. Coach K's version is that he simply told Brooks he was a "terrific player." Brook's version is that Coach K told him he was too good a player to show off like that.
Believe whom you want. I can see it happening either way.
What I also can see is that Brooks' kick-'em-while-they're-down gesture is not something Coach K, of all people, should be protesting too loudly. The Dukies, too, have had their share of because-we-can moments. And have gotten away with it a few very famous times.
Or maybe you've forgotten Christian Laettner's chest stomp of a Kentucky player before he hit that shot we now have to watch ad nauseum. That he should have been ejected, and therefore not been in a position to take that endlessly replayed shot, only makes it harder to watch over and over ... and over ... and over.
Of course, Laettner wasn't ejected. Of course, his spiritual descendant, sophomore guard Grayson Allen, hasn't been ejected (or even punished) for the serial times he's stuck his foot out and tripped an opposing player while lying on the floor.
So call Brooks' shot a bit of well-deserved karma. At least, that's what the Blob will call it.
UPDATE: Coach K gets busted..
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