Why is it so fun for everybody to beat Duke basketball?
http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/why-it-so-fun-everybody-beat-duke-basketballBy Tom Gieryn
January 14, 2013
The movement started with several minutes left in the game. From my seat in the upper level of Raleigh's PNC Arena, it wasn't hard to notice the tide of N.C. State students making their way into the aisles, pressing down towards the court in anticipation of a Wolfpack victory. Their intention quickly became obvious: If the Wolfpack held on for an increasingly likely win over Duke, they were going to rush the court.
I was stunned. The Wolfpack had been the preseason pick to win the ACC and had been ranked above the Blue Devils through the first two AP polls of the season. Even before the ranking bump they'll receive today for defeating Duke, they were ranked in the top 25. Their roster is one of the more talented groups in the country, and as big of a factor as Ryan Kelly's absence was, N.C. State has the pieces to take down Duke even with Kelly.
The Wolfpack faithful seemed to be selling themselves short. Typically rushing the court is reserved for the once-in-a-lifetime sort of victories. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski insists that the court is only to be rushed when Duke wins a championship, whether conference or national. Exceptions can be justified for truly astounding upsets. But this was a game that N.C. State could have fully been expected to win.
It was on my way out of the stadium that I began to appreciate the fans' motivation for storming the floor. Departing cars laid on their horns in celebration. Attendees crowed about the game's place among all-time great wins, even though it was a mid-January victory for a program that actually has a pretty significant history of playing spoiler to good Duke teams.
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