Lex’s Notebook

It only now occurs to me that I haven't properly introduced myself (or this blog!) Welcome. I'm happy to have y'all. I'm Lex (they/them) (18+), your local siren, programmer, writer, worldbuilder, conlanger, composer, and gardener. I speak with a bit of a Southern accent.

This is my main (and only, for now) blog, where I mostly post about my writing endeavors and worldbuilding "woes" (I make myself suffer for fun.) In the future, I may make blogs devoted to specific conlangs or concultures, but I will probably make a website for that, first. If that happens, I will post it here. I follow other blogs I like ad nauseam.

It feels wrong to even be having this conversation, but I keep falling for ragebait.

A couple weeks ago, I saw a post on the evil camera app that ranked the coaches in North Carolina college basketball. They had Mike Kryzewski as number 1, and Dean Smith as number 2. Naturally, I took to the comments and said, "K over Dean is insane work."

The dookies did not like that. "K won as many championships as Roy and Dean combined <laughing-emoji>," they said.

That's not really a fair comparison, so let's talk about why.

1. Coach K coached in the at-large era of the NCAAT

Before 1985, the NCAA tournament was 32 teams with essentially no room for top conferences to have multiple teams represented because of the region system at the time. What that meant was you had to win your conference tournament in order to get into the big dance, essentially.

Dean Smith became head coach at UNC in 1961 -- a mere 4 years after Frank McGuire's 31-0 perfect 1957 season. When he started, there were only spaces for 22 teams in the NCAA tournament. His first national championship wouldn't come until 1982 with Michael Jordan (and, frankly, he should've won in 1984, too.)

Coach Kryzewski began coaching in 1980. Five years later, the NCAAT expanded to 64 teams. It took K six more years (1991) to win a national championship.

2. K coached for longer than Dean Smith

Coach K coached from 1980 to 2022. His 42-year coaching is one of the most impressive by any head coach, with 5 national championships and 17 ACC tournament championships, along with 12 ACC Regular Season championships.

Thing is, though, Dean coached from 1961 - 1997. In 36 years, Coach Smith won 13 ACC Regular Season championships and 12 ACC tournament championships. A pretty comparable legacy given that K had six more seasons to win the ACC regular season.

3. The NCAAT wasn't the premier tournament until the early 80s

Before the NCAAT got popular, there was (and still is!) this tournament called the NIT. The National Invitational Tournament was the premier tournament in college basketball until the NCAA implemented a postseason ban for teams who refused to participate in the NCAAT in the 80s.

For most of Coach Smith's time, it just as, if not more, prestigious to win the NIT than the NCAAT. He did just that in 1971, defeating Duke in the semifinal and then Georgia Tech in the final.

Conclusion

I'm not out here arguing that there's a clear choice here, either. Coach K won several gold medals coaching the Olympic basketball team in the 90s and 00s. Dean Smith is the reason we have the shot clock in the NCAA.

Coach K's first matchup against Smith in 1980 was a loss in the North Carolina tournament, and his last matchup against coach Smith was a loss in the Smith Center.

Hello,

I hope to eventually do a series of posts about this, but this is my thesis.

Duke: The Good

The (1) Blue Devils are definitely hot this year, no question about it. I think they're the best team in the country. With only two losses in an otherwise stacked ACC, they're looking to finish the job in Indiannapolis this year.

Their defensive efficiency is second to none in their conference, and maybe even the best in the P5. Their complicated switching schema blocks driving lanes and forces teams to just swing the ball around the horn. Their athletic freshman, Cameron Boozer, just keeps dropping 30 bombs on your favorite team.

Duke: The Bad

The Blue Devils need to shoot better from 3. That's it. That's the whole weakness.

And it's no Achilles' heel, either. It just means they are particularly susceptible to choking. Their two losses came after double-digit leads in the second half.

Vs. Texas Tech, they let guard Christian Anderson shoot 5-9 from the field from 3. Most of those 3's he made down the stretch.

Vs. North Carolina, they allowed 3 consecutive 3's to lose the game: first from Dixon, then from Veesaar, then finally from a wide-open Trimble in the corner.

The Blue Devils, in those moments, struggled to hit their shots. The problem is that even if they hit their 2 point shots, they're still losing on average one point of lead per possession. Duke is shooting just about 35% from 3 on the season - just enough to be useful, but not enough to rely on.

And, let's be clear, the Blue Devils know how to win close games. They beat Florida by a (very controversial) one point and Michigan by 5.

Is that enough to win a natty?

Fuck no. Have you ever even watched March Madness? Jack Golkie and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies would've destroyed this Duke team.

(1) Duke def. (9) Clemson

(2) Louisville def. (7) Syracuse

(3) North Carolina def. (6) Virginia Tech

(1) Duke def. (9) Clemson

(2) Louisville def. (7) Syracuse

(3) North Carolina def. (6) Virginia Tech