The silence last night that filled Damon's Restaurant, where members of the men's soccer team had gathered to watch the NCAA selection show, said all that needed to be said.
A team that had won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title and was ranked sixth in the country a week ago had just found out that it wasn't considered one of the top 32 teams in the nation by the NCAA Division I Selection Committee.
Duke, which finished with an overall record of 15-5 and 4-2 in the ACC, was snubbed from the NCAA Tournament yesterday despite its high ranking and conference title.
"I just don't understand the logic of the process," coach John Rennie said. "I think the committee tries to do the best they can. I just think with the process there's got to be something missing. The process is lacking logic and common sense."
Sixteen automatic berths are given to conference winners, with the other 16 selections determined at large. The Blue Devils didn't win the ACC Tournament, thus losing the automatic berth, but an at-large bid seemed almost a guarantee.
"I don't know what to say," goalkeeper Atli Knutsson said. "This is beyond ridiculous. How does a team that is sixth in the country and wins the ACC not get in? It just doesn't make sense."
Indeed, the Blue Devils were forced to comprehend how their accomplishments didn't result in a berth. Unlike a year ago, when Duke suffered such upsets as a loss to Marshall, this season the Blue Devils beat everyone they were supposed to.
But what may have held Duke back was the teams it didn't beat. The Blue Devils were 1-5 against NCAA qualifiers, with their only win coming in a 5-1 rout of Clemson, who finished fifth in the ACC but still made the NCAAs.
Duke suffered a one-goal loss to top-ranked Indiana and earlier this month fell 4-2 to No. 3 UCLA. In addition, the Blue Devils' schedule was scattered with easy wins over lesser teams such as Elon, Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington.
But Duke was also 9-0 in its region and three of the four teams it lost to are among the top eight seeds in the NCAAs.
"I'm sure [the 1-5 mark against qualifiers] is one of the things they'll point to," senior Steve Maynard said. "They said on TV our schedule wasn't all that tough, but how can you say that when we played Indiana and UCLA, who are the top two teams in the country, and we play in the toughest conference in the country?"
Three teams qualified from the ACC, the Tigers, fourth-place Maryland and second-place Virginia. Maryland, ranked 11th nationally, defeated Duke this past weekend in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, 4-2.
Clemson's selection is a little more surprising. The Tigers finished fifth in the ACC, and were blown out 5-1 in their contest against the Blue Devils on Sept. 21. Their only big out-of-conference win was a 2-0 shutout of South Carolina, but apparently that was enough to sway the committee.
"Last year I could understand us not making it because we fell apart," Maynard said. "But this year it just makes no sense. I think I've lost a lot of faith in the NCAA and the selection process. The whole thing is a joke."
"This is a committee whose job is to get the 16 best at-large teams into the tournament," assistant coach David Smyth said. "In my opinion, they didn't do their job. As far as I'm concerned, we beat every team we had to beat."
Knutsson also pointed to the selection committee as a factor, perhaps beyond all of the others, that led to Duke's omission.
"It's really political," he said. "There are forces in the NCAA that are trying to make a statement that they're in control and everyone else is just pawns. I guess [our record against the top teams] hurt us. But the fact we finished on top of the ACC matters so much more. You can't hold losses to Indiana, UCLA and Maryland against us."
And now, the Blue Devils are forced to begin the off-season far sooner than they expected. For the three seniors, Maynard, Andy Kwon and Matt Shattuck, their collegiate careers were brought to an unceremonious end.
"[Being a senior] makes it even worse," Maynard said. "This year I think we earned it. However they rectify the situation isn't going to help myself and the other two seniors because we'll never get to play again."
And the ACC Coach of the Year now must address his players with the same level of puzzlement.
"[Talking to the team] is the most difficult part," Rennie said. "I don't know what to tell them at this point. I don't know what to tell anybody. Maybe we shouldn't schedule games against teams like Indiana and UCLA if that's going to keep us out of the tournament. I just don't see the common sense."
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