Was Duke winning better for NU as a program?

[EvanstonCat]

I know if Wisconsin won, we'd get to say we were in the conference of the national champion (and beat them last year).

However, Collins's main pitch is that he was 17 years at Duke under Coach K. Duke must be considered the preeminent basketball program of our time. Does Duke winning lend any additional mojo for Collins? He knows how Duke did it, and he's going to do it here too?

 

[NJCat83588]

No.

Even an idiot like me knows how Duke wins: they get great players, and the players compete like their hair is on fire. Those kids looked like they had about 5 Red Bulls before the start of each half. And I detest Duke.

When Collins gets great players, he too will win. It is all about the talent.

 

[Deeringfish]

Yes, the kids don't hate Duke like NJ cat does. Getting two B1G teams to the final 4 and having a connection to Duke will get us some better players. Collins will have to coach them up too, of course.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

This should probably be a poll question. Quite frankly I had the same thoughts and think it can be argued either way. What I was really curious about though is which team Coach Collins was rooting for himself.

 

[lunker35]

From what I'm told he was rooting for Duke and it wasn't even a question for him. It makes sense as that is where he spent two decades.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[PURPLECAT88]

Originally posted by Alaskawildkat:
This should probably be a poll question. Quite frankly I had the same thoughts and think it can be argued either way. What I was really curious about though is which team Coach Collins was rooting for himself.

Collins didn't have a choice. The rule is that you root for your undergraduate alma mater unless you are drawing a paycheck from the other school or have a family member playing or coaching for them.