All the steam has been taken out of Duke game.

[Cusefan0307]

On the other hand when we win Wednesday the band wagoners will be back on board.

 

[dollarbill44]

Well lets see.

SU - "We'll help you with your school work, so you can play"
L'ville - "Strippers!"

Better infractions.

I'll take strippers for $200, Alex.

 

[UnknownOrange]

1st ever sellout? What?

 

[OrangeDW]

1st ever sellout? What?

Yeah, you’re right. It’s not. They just change how many seats sold is a “sellout” every so often.

 

[UnknownOrange]

Yeah, you’re right. It’s not. They just change how many seats sold is a “sellout” every so often.

It's never a sell out in basketball for the Dome for that exact reason. A "sell out" used to be like 30K, until it wasn't anymore

 

[Marty McFly]

It's never a sell out in basketball for the Dome for that exact reason. A "sell out" used to be like 30K, until it wasn't anymore

Maybe that was before the blue curtain was removed?

 

[bballbeadle]

1st ever sellout? What?

T-shirts, my friend.

 

[orangehomer]

is the steam back now?

 

[DoctorBombay]

is the steam back now?

And the Negatoids say...CRICKETS

 

[STEVEHOLT]

is the steam back now?

Nope .. duke losing Zion means we can’t win for losing

 

[dasher]

Nope .. duke losing Zion means we can’t win for losing

We win Saturday night and I will be very happy. No matter who plays for Duke.

 

[Delmar]

I'll take strippers for $200, Alex.

Her life story became the basis of a Tony winning musical.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

We win Saturday night and I will be very happy. No matter who plays for Duke.

oh, ill be happy too...but Zion not playing will take a huge chunk out of the fun.

 

[dasher]

oh, ill be happy too...but Zion not playing will take a huge chunk out of the fun.

I'm sure Marek won't miss him. He has been hit my car's that haven't done the damage that Zion did on that charge.

 

[EastCoast2]

2 wins over #1 Duke is still 2 wins over #1, regardless of who plays. Every team deals with injuries and other issues, seen or unseen. Beating Duke again on Saturday would be almost unprecedented.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

2 wins over #1 Duke is still 2 wins over #1, regardless of who plays. Every team deals with injuries and other issues, seen or unseen. Beating Duke again on Saturday would be almost unprecedented.

sorry...Zion isn't just some team dealing with an injury like all teams do. the quality of the win is significantly mitigated by his absence and a loss becomes even more problematic.

 

[EastCoast2]

sorry...Zion isn't just some team dealing with an injury like all teams do. the quality of the win is significantly mitigated by his absence and a loss becomes even more problematic.

Losing to the #1 team, which has three top-5 picks, is problematic? Weren't we a 17 point underdog last month?

They still have Barrett, Reddish, and Jones. This isn't Zion and 4 schmucks. Duke is loaded. We already beat them when they had Zion playing, in their own arena.

 

[orangefog]

They should have bought one more. It’s not our fault if someone is hurt.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Losing to the #1 team, which has three top-5 picks, is problematic? Weren't we a 17 point underdog last month?

They still have Barrett, Reddish, and Jones. This isn't Zion and 4 schmucks. Duke is loaded. We already beat them when they had Zion playing, in their own arena.

you're all over the map on this one. if zion doesnt play, they don't have three top five picks in the lineup...and the other two high picks are magnitudes of order less talented.

and we were a 17 point underdog on the road because, once again, the line came out with Zion scheduled to play. and yet none of this really has anything to do with my point that him not playing significantly reduces the value of a potential win.

perhaps im in the minority that actually wants to see the game with Duke at full strength.

 

[HOFCeluck]

It’s a top 25 team at worst without Zion in the lineup.

I mean why do this? There’s plenty of bags out there who would dismiss a Cuse a win on Saturday.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Is ESPN going to dismiss the entire season when Duke loses in the second round because Zion shuts it down to focus on the NBA draft?

 

[Cusefan95]

Listening to sports talk this morning, not a single talking head diminished the UNC win because Zion was out; all the talk was about how Duke needed to respond better.

Beating Duke without Zion would be a (immediately) diminished win, only in the self-loathing segment of the Syracuse fan base. What diminishes it as a win would be if they then lose 2-3 more to end the season and drop to the 2-line, when they looked like the #1 overall.

 

[Chip]

sorry...Zion isn't just some team dealing with an injury like all teams do. the quality of the win is significantly mitigated by his absence and a loss becomes even more problematic.

I don’t think the quality of the win will be mitigated.

Losing is problematic because of what’s upcoming. The team who lost at NC State can’t be the one who shows up at Wake or Clemson.

 

[bballbeadle]

If we win the Duke game, we will be a legit NCAA tourney team, even if Zion isn’t in. We win against a slightly reeling Duke, we can lose to Carolina and VIrginia and be okay. I completely understand what STEVEHOLT is saying. I, too, would prefer to beat Duke with Zion. But it all boils down to this: If we beat Duke twice, our season is made!

 

[UnknownOrange]

It's a top 25 team without Zion? They're a top 10 team all year if Zion went to some other school. They got blown out because there's a huge in game adjustment needed to beat a very good UNC team and they couldn't do it. If Zion never plays again in college Duke is still a top 2 seed.