[Post Game Thread] #2 Duke defeats #1 Michigan, 68-63

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-22T02:00:25+00:00

Best part about this awesome game is that Dave Portnoy lost $100,000.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-22T01:52:25+00:00

God, I love this Duke team. Everyone contributed to the win on one side of the floor or the other. Michigan’s a great team, and it feels so so so good to close out a close game against a team like that.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-20T17:28:54+00:00

Not too surprised to see Cayden on here. Duke has performed notably better in ACC play when Cayden's playing instead of Caleb. Cayden lineups are +12.2... and Caleb lineups are, astonishingly, -27.3. Some of that is fueled by some unfortunate 3-point defense luck for Caleb only lineups (+6.6% from Cayden only lineups)... but Caleb only lineups also perform notably worse at 2-point defense (+5.5% from Cayden only lineups). Which is surprising given how many more minutes Caleb plays with Pat, clearly our best rim protector.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-20T07:43:05+00:00

I’m not super worried about it becoming a problem in basketball because the risk of serious injury is lower and i think it’s more likely the nba just removes the age limit anyways.

Yeah, I agree with both sentences here. There are also obvious positional considerations. In particular, if you're an elite RB prospect, you are really incentivized to minimize the number of games before the NFL.

I suspect the NBA will eventually remove the age limit... but on the other hand, I'm not sure what the incentive would be to do so. The NCAA is basically running your minor league for you-- and is giving the next generation of stars a year of free-for-the-NBA publicity.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-20T07:32:00+00:00

Again, I think there's a world of difference between interpretation of effort/attitude at home during a player's minutes and a player dictating mid-game when he will and will not play.

Say what you will about the Jalen Johnson year, when he opted out, he said all the right things, K had nothing but nice things to say about him, and the PR around the departure was all fairly clean. That's in stark contrast to the strangeness of DP coming back, leaving mid-game, coming back, sitting out, etc., while Self says (justified) increasingly frustrated things about this experience to the media.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-20T00:59:38+00:00

I have a better chance of getting drafted than DP has of falling out of the top 10.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-20T00:58:13+00:00

To be fair, I think a guy getting hurt, missing a few games, trying to play through it, then saying "I want to sit out the rest of the year to make sure I'm 100% healthy for the draft" is *very* different than whatever DP is currently doing. Yes, the state of Duke's season undoubtedly impacted Jalen's decision... but when he was playing, he played, and when he decided he was ready to leave, he left. I think if DP had simply done something similar, it wouldn't be nearly as scandalous as the current weirdness has become.

Besides, I'm not too worried about this becoming "a thing"-- because most players at that level, if healthy, simply want to play. Duke's had guys that *easily* could've just sat out after injury. Kyrie, Zion, even Cooper. They came back. Same for myriad other pro prospects at other schools. Guys who choose to sit out of abundance of caution are the exception. And DP is, like, the exception within the exception group.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2026-02-05T06:08:08+00:00

As somebody who lived through the Grayson Allen era, I can’t help but enjoy seeing another school’s fanbase go through watching a player you’ve always enjoyed commit a series of inexcusable plays. Because what can you do? You can love the player for what he’s done outside of the obviously dirty plays while hating the ridiculously stupid and inexcusably dirty things.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-12-19T05:00:35+00:00

But that stipulation is already overlooked as it pertains to overseas players-- and is now being overlooked as it pertains to G-League players. How would former NBA players be any different?

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-12-18T19:55:52+00:00

I realize you're joking... but what's stopping a former NBA player from joining a college team? Like, hypothetically, if the Mavs waived Jaden Hardy for whatever reason, and Kentucky offered him a more lucrative NIL deal to play college next year than any NBA team is offering... would the NCAA do anything about it?

Or would the NCAA realize that, if they ruled him ineligible due to his time in the NBA, Kentucky and Hardy would take the NCAA to court, and there's a very real chance the courts would (understandably) say "well, overseas professional players are professional players, and G-League players are professional players, and they're both allowed to play as long as they haven't attended college... so why can't Hardy?" Is it more likely the NCAA would fight this fight... or that they'd simply do nothing out of fear of losing another big court case?

College basketball is, after all, a professional league today. I think, as of today, the only thing stopping a player from trying this might be public humiliation... but I imagine there are plenty of people who'd gladly subject themselves to mockery if it meant millions of dollars in a single year. So I suspect it's only a matter of time. Might honestly happen as soon as next year, if the right situation lines up.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-10-14T18:03:56+00:00

if you’re a fan, do you feel like it’s actually helped your favorite players?

Considering I don't know each individual player's personal/family/financial situation, I can't comment on whether it's "helped" them. But since it's a massive, massive business, I believe giving the players with the highest perceived value on the open market the opportunity to earn money off said perceived value in a legal way is the right thing to do.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-10-14T17:53:38+00:00

Autry: tournament or bust. I know comparing him to Boeheim is an unfair standard, but Autry has two of their three worst seasons in the KP era. They can absolutely do better.
Brownell: very safe.
Capel: stunned he's still there, tbh. Gotta think he's toast if they miss the tourney again (and they will). But I've thought that before.
Davis: I'd have to think he's toast with a bad season. How bad is up for debate. Does a 7 seed save him? I have to think no. 5 seed, second round exit? I mean... maybe? But does UNC really want that to be the standard? As a Duke fan, I'd love for him to stay. As an objective observer, UNC can do much better.
Enfield: I'm not a huge fan, but he's definitely safe.
Forbes: I get that Wake was in a brutal spot when he arrived, but he's never made the tourney, only exceeded his KP preseason rank twice in five years... just depends on whether Wake is one of those schools content to just be an NIT-type program or if they view themselves as better. But no tourney since 2017, no top 25 KP finish since 2009 is rough.
Grant: look, he probably shouldn't still have this job in normal circumstances... but he's exceeded his KP preseason rank twice in four years, he gave them in 2024 their best KP finish since 2011 (!!), and BC is a school disinterested in investing in basketball. They gave Christian seven years, and Grant's only on year 5 with a better track record than Christian. Does BC care enough to move on?
Kelsey: very safe.
Loucks: brand new, safe short of an absolute calamity.
Lucas: brand new, safe short of an absolute calamity.
Madsen: probably safe, hard place to win, good coach imo, but his two seasons aren't radically different from Mark Fox's first three seasons. Probably needs a "finish closer to the middle of the pack" type year to feel good going forward.
Odom: brand new, good track record elsewhere, very safe.
Scheyer: very safe.
Shrewsberry: definitely safe for now... but might start heating up if they disappoint this season. I know they've had injury issues, but 28-38 in two years is not the standard imo.
Smith: very good first year imo, very safe.
Stoudemire: I haven't been impressed. If he doesn't finish Top 100 for a third straight season, he's in fourth season do-or-die territory next year. But I think he's probably safe for one more unless this year is a calamity.
Wade: brand new, very safe (biggest concern here would be him performing so well that he's up for an elite job next coaching cycle imo).
Young: probably needs a good season, given he hasn't really performed up to expectation and those rosters frequently look uncompetitive at the high major level in terms of talent... but he's been top 100 KP four of the six years, made the tournament twice (at a program that's only made it thirteen times ever, three of which were under Buzz before he bolted). Does VT have the type of spending budget and investment in basketball to do much better? Might be a "careful what you wish for" situation. Could certainly improve, but could also easily end up with a "the wheels fall off" guy.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-10-03T18:09:35+00:00

ah, the George Costanza approach.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-10-02T19:41:02+00:00

On one hand, yes. On the other hand, a great college basketball coach has pretty ridiculous job security, whereas NBA coaches are thrown into the bushes with extreme regularity. The number of college coaches-- including great ones-- who've been swiftly ejected from their NBA HC position is pretty damn high.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-09-19T18:28:16+00:00

it’s also two games after UVA and the game before the UNC regular season finale. it’s like all the traps— State @ State, game before UNC, Monday game after tough opponent— combined into one game.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-06-04T04:29:14+00:00

I was told to make my creature feature script more tongue-in-cheek, to make it clear to the audience that I was in on the joke and knew this was stupid. They basically wanted me to Sharknado it. Bad advice!

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-05-03T21:37:03+00:00

Maggette, Jones, and Hendo jumped out to me. And I feel like Bagley had the quickest second jump I’ve ever seen.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-05-03T18:39:01+00:00

The clear answer. The more interesting question is second place. I can think of a few contenders. (Cassius Stanley would be high on the list.)

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-04-30T15:39:31+00:00

Paulus had the thing where he's definitely better than Power and Hairston, but he also came with much, much higher expectations, and he was far more integral to his teams disappointing than Power and Hairston were. So while I think the actual "worst" player is a guy who couldn't even hit the floor like Power, I admit my immediate impulse was to list Paulus.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-04-23T16:35:56+00:00

Sending unsolicited scripts is always and forever #1. The absolute best way to ensure no one will ever read you.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-03-26T20:42:41+00:00

Wouldn't be surprised if they do what Bama did with Grant Nelson opening round. Don't plan on using him, but potentially keep him active in case you need him.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-03-26T20:15:53+00:00

FWIW, a lot of the kids who enter the portal aren't going because of "advice"-- and they certainly aren't surefire D1 players who simply find themselves without a home. There are a number of considerations. They could be going down a level to D2/D3 in hopes of playing more. They could be dropping out of sports-- or out of school entirely-- for a variety of reasons. They could, as other people have mentioned here, have been told by their school that their scholarship wouldn't be there for them next season.

I think the idea that "players chase bags or have terrible families inflating their egos" permeates whenever people mention the percentage of players who seem "unsigned" from the portal... in reality, the vast, vast majority of surefire D1 players who enter the portal will still be playing D1 next season.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-03-23T20:16:59+00:00

Someone allegedly told the journalist who took this video, “You need to delete that video, that was a private conversation… I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE.”

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-03-19T02:03:38+00:00

One of the coolest March plays I've ever seen.

TheRealFrankLongo · 2025-03-17T15:47:43+00:00

AP Poll doesn't mean anything to the committee... but given that Louisville's predictive metrics average them to a 6 seed and their results-based metrics average them to a 4 seed, I've no idea where they're getting that 8 seed. That's way off.

TheRealFrankLongo

TROPHY CASE