The Brushback Article....Sweet

Struggling Duke To Start Recruiting More Black Kids

DURHAM, NC--The Duke Blue Devils lost to the B.C. Eagles on Sunday, dropping their record to 20-5 and raising questions about their ability to compete for a national title this year. The loss offered further proof that Duke is no longer the gold standard for Division I college hoops, and have slid towards the middle of the pack in recent years.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, never one to sit on his hands, is mulling ways to revamp the program. Among the strategies he is considering is the recruitment and signing of more black kids.

“I think we need to start signing more black kids,” Krzyzewski admitted in a press conference after the game. “If you look at all the teams that are beating us and all the teams that are in front of us, you’re going to see a lot of black kids. By contrast, we have a lot of white kids. And I mean really white. Some of them even have freckles. My only choice now is to start recruiting more black kids. It feels like kind of a sellout, but you do what you have to do.”

Historically, the Duke men’s basketball program has featured a larger ratio of whites to blacks than most Division I programs, yet still managed to remain one of college basketball’s elite. In recent years, however, the Blue Devils have fallen back to earth.

“We’re just not as dominant as we used to be,” said Krzyzewski. “And when I look at the elite teams today I see a totally different demographic than what we have. I mean at the very least, we should get white kids who are actually tall and don’t look like little children out there. As it stands right now, if we added an Asian player to our roster we would look very much like the cast of Goonies.”

Some say there are other factors involved in Duke’s decline that have nothing to do with the racial makeup of the team. For instance, the Blue Devils have not had a dominant big man since Carlos Boozer. They also have problems at the point guard position.

“This isn’t really a black or white issue,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. “This is an issue of not having a good enough center or point guard. Coach K needs to spend the next offseason recruiting quality talent to man those positions. It doesn’t matter what color they are. Look at Gonzaga: they have a lot of white players and they’re pretty successful. Though to be fair, their whites are a bunch of rough-and-tumble lumberjack types, as opposed to the prep school nancies over there in Durham.”

Following Sunday’s loss, the question now is whether Duke can salvage this season and still compete for a championship. The latter seems like a longshot, though the Blue Devils haven’t given up hope just yet.

“We are still very much alive as far as winning our conference and we still believe we can win it all,” said guard Greg Paulus. “It’s just that we’re still trying to find ourselves. Some games we look like a high energy team with excellent 3-point shooting and some games we look slow and plodding and disorganized. Do we need more black players? Yes. Can we still compete even though we’re loaded with white guys? Sure. As long as there is a three-point line, there will be a place for us in this game.”