The Sports Monitor

Pitt basketball fans had been waiting for Duke for years. And Monday night seemed like the best time to show the Blue Devils the Panthers were for real. Pitt was a team ascending. Duke was having an un-Duke-like season. Plus, the game was at the Pete. Everything was going in the Panthers' favor. Then they played the game. Duke handed Pitt a 15-point loss, 80-65. So much for this being a game Pitt would win. I've been of the opinion for more than a month now that Pitt was a Top 25 team. They slowly made it. They've played some good basketball. Maryland coach Mark Turgeon really added to the hype after Pitt beat them last week. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been an assistant coach and a head coach for about 26 years, and I’m telling you, that’s one of the best teams I’ve ever coached agains. How they’re ranked 20th at 18-2 is an absolute joke. I think they’re a Top 5 team in this country, to come into this building and really control the game.”...

I'll be up front from the start: I'm not a Duke fan. With Duke, it's either you love 'em or you don't. I don't love 'em. Then The Indianapolis Star ran this illustration last week. Pretty funny, I thought. Coach K didn't like it, though. Here's what the Associated Press reported from Coach K: "It was kind of juvenile. Not kind of, it was just juvenile. You know, my seven grandkids didn’t enjoy looking at it: ‘That’s not Papi.’" It reminds me of Krzyzewski complaining to an official after not getting a call. The Blue Devils could be up 25 points with five minutes left in the game and Coach K would complain about not getting a foul call. The Indy Star didn't like the finished product and pulled it after 30,000 copies ran. Noted newspaper designer Charles Apple recently commented on the illustration. Apple, like me, liked it. Apple thought it could have been better. I’d have asked the designer to tone it down just...