I received my doctorate from North Carolina, so I'm obviously not an objective observer about Duke, who lost to West Virginia Saturday in the NCAA men’s tourney. And let me say up front that there is plenty of unjustified, unchecked snobbery in Tar Heel Land, especially as directed toward those "filthy farmers" at North Carolina State, among others. But for those unfamiliar with Duke Disdain, the roots of which have a lot to do their penchant for fielding teams chock full of court-slapping pretty boys (and mostly white boys) from affluent families in New Jersey or someplace, and who were high school All-Americas and state players-of-the-year (or both) before coming to Duke, you must read the piece in yesterday's New York Times quoting WVU players, after the game, expressing utter amazement that Duke's team boasts eight high school All-Americas on its roster. (The Mountaineers, like the vast majority of Division 1 programs, have none.) In college basketball recruiting there are a few teams, Duke perhaps most especially, who "eat first." So when Duke is starved out of the tourney by a team like WVU and almost one round earlier against Belmont—teams that must pick from the leftovers after the big schools gobble up most of the top talent—well, it's amazing, because it's so rare, to hear players like WVU’s come right out and say what every fan is thinking but the announcers and even most sports columnist will rarely say. But that’s exactly what the Mountaineer players did, and bless their hearts for that. --Tom Schaller
