Recently, Duke athletic teams have had plenty of opportunities to get first-hand glimpses of dominant sports programs.
The women's soccer team is quite familiar with eight-time defending national champion North Carolina. The men's soccer program team knows well four-time defending NCAA champion Virginia. The football team has been able to get close to Atlantic Coast Conference king Florida State.
But the rest of the ACC has also had to deal with a pair of Duke dynasties--the Blue Devil men's and women's tennis teams.
As has been well-documented, the Duke women have won seven straight ACC tournaments and haven't lost a conference match since 1989. The men have also won two straight ACC tourney titles and three of the last four--although the Blue Devils did lose their first ACC match in three years when North Carolina beat them last week.
But when this year's ACC tournament gets under way Thursday in Greenwood, S.C., the Duke teams will be the clear favorites. That's something teams around the conference readily concede.
"I think it's obvious that Duke is still the overwhelming favorite to win the [men's] tournament," UNC men's head coach Sam Paul said. "If you look at their regular season and their record, Duke is by far heads-and-tails above everybody else."
"We were the last ACC team to beat [the Duke women], and that was six or seven years ago in the regular season," said Wake Forest women's head coach Lew Gerrard, now in his eighth year at that position. "We've definitely been playing to see who's second."
But on both sides, ACC coaches feel that this year's tournament may be more wide-open than in recent years. On the men's side, Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina are all expected to challenge the ninth-ranked Blue Devils.
And the eighth-ranked Duke women, despite an unblemished conference mark, only edged No. 10 Wake Forest by a slim 5-4 margin earlier this season.
"This year, I think our players think they can win [against Duke]," Gerrard said. "During the season, we had a close match. I think we're encouraged. We have another shot, and we think we have a very good chance to win."
"I think people are pushing [Duke] more," said Florida State head women's coach Alice Reen. "Teams are catching up. The time is coming where teams are going to beat each other."
Year-in and year-out, the Duke teams are predictably the most successful in the NCAA tournament. In 1992, the UNC men reached the NCAA quarterfinals, but Duke has done the same the past two years. And the Duke women have reached at least the NCAA quarterfinals for four straight seasons.
The success may be starting to spread. Last year, the ACC had five teams in the 20-team NCAA women's tournament. And this year, 16th-ranked Florida State has taken its place among the top men's programs in the country.
Because of this, the coaches don't see Duke's domination as such a bad thing.
"I think it sets a standard, and the rest of us have got to improve our standard and catch up," Gerrard said. "I think it's always good. It's up to the rest of us to make our programs stronger so we can make it shift around."
"One of our goals is always to win the conference," Paul said. "And Duke just happens to have the best tennis program in the conference. That sort of helps everybody get up."
Has it taken a toll on Duke's teams to always be the targets? The records would never show it--upsets have been incredibly rare.
Still, being on top is not always easy.
"It's tough when we're always favored to win," Duke men's head coach Jay Lapidus said after last week's loss to UNC. "It's just a great win for them if they beat us. If we win, it's routine."
Other coaches have sensed that as well, and they hope to use it to their advantage this weekend.
"I think what's happened is when you're the top dog like Duke has been, everyone is gunning for you," FSU men's head coach Dave Barron said. "They can't go any further up in the conference. They just can't do any better than what they've done.
"If there is a time to come down, it might happen this year. Who knows?"
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.