"Next"
Posted December 11, 2005, 5:08 PM ET

The scoreboard at the Meadowlands unveiled the bloody mess:

Duke 97
Texas 66

So much for that top-ranked showdown in college basketball. We haven't seen a #1 vs.#2 matchup this early in the season in nearly 30 years, and hopefully it will be another 30 years until we see it again...of course, if you are a Duke basketball fan, you're loving life. This is the tradeoff for having to watch Duke football during the Fall.

Since the start of the 2005-06 season, I've seen Duke play at least five times on the tube, and I've not been impressed....until now.

Last week I discussed on both of my radio shows the status of Duke's program as the #1-ranked team in the land. I wasn't buying the hype or the goods from Durham. Sure, Redick and Williams are terrific, but what's the big deal about Duke? For crying out loud, I was more entertained watching Roy's young guys in Chapel Hill...Oliver Purnell's pressing style in Tigertown...Prosser trying to find an answer at point....well, you get the picture.

Watching Duke blow a double-digit lead at home to Va. Tech last week, only to be saved by a 45-foot miracle shot at the buzzer only solidified my belief that Duke and Coach K had a lot of work ahead of them. There's no way that team is the best in college basketball....if so, then college hoops is in deep trouble. How many close, unimpressive wins can the #1 team have before getting smoked by a big-time opponent?

Even Duke basketball fans were quiet...they weren't sure what to make of this team...until now. I suspect Saturday's destruction of Rick Barnes' Horns will be the "official coming-out party" for Blue Devil Nation.

If you are a Dookie...you've probably had your fill of Roy's freshmen and the collapse of ACC basketball from last season...Duke fans are probably sick of the Tar Heels' proclamation that they (UNC) are still the defending national champions until their crown is passed to someone else in April.

I really thought Duke was in for a long afternoon at their "home-away-from-home" in New Jersey...thank God I don't bet on games. I would have lost my Southern-Fried shirt. The performance of the Blue Devils was tremendous and one that was out of character based on the early results. But what the 31-point massacre of Texas did was reinforce what many Duke-haters don't want to acknowledge...Duke can be nasty.

As Coach K and his team were flying away from their home in the Jersey swamp back to their home in Durham, I wonder if he thought that he had just watched the team he'll see on a consistent basis, or if his team will go back to the tendencies that they exhibited in close wins earlier in the season?

If the Duke team that was unleashed on the Longhorns shows up for the remainder of the year, the championship crown that exists in Chapel Hill will only have to make a short trip for its new home in Durham...about 8 miles away to be exact.

Or, it could make a longer trip...up to New Jersey. But when you're a Duke fan, what's the difference?