In the past few years, there has been only one beacon of light to guide Blue Devil fans through the dark days of their fall sports programs.
While most of the rest of the country has been able to enjoy a winning football season, collegiate athletics' fall staple, the tradition of traditions in Durham has posted 11 total wins dating back to the fall of 1995, and has left standard gab about Duke athletics to, "Wait for basketball season."
Also, as far as non-revenue sports go, neither volleyball nor field hockey can pull winning ACC records, and while cross country is fairly good, the general sport itself is nothing to write home about.
Thus, for the sizable minority that follows non-revenue sports, the soccer program has been the Pied Piper of Hamlet throughout the fall season.
Both the men's and women's teams have been something to talk about, to watch, to cheer for, to follow. Something to write home about.
Something that wins.
All that aside, they get absolutely no respect from the authorities of the college soccer world.
Those authorities who disregard the Blue Devils the most include, but are not limited to, two polls: the NSCAA and Soccer America. Duke has also been slighted by the College Cup selection committees-so much in fact, that Duke players have questioned whether with four losses they will even get invited to the College Cup.
Last season the men's team turned a few heads when it took a flawless record into the postseason; however, with a loss in the second round, any long-standing respect that could have been gained was not. This season, returning nine of 11 starters, and having a stellar recruiting class, the Blue Devils were not even picked as preseason No. 1 in all the polls, and they were as low as sixth in one.
Thus, when Duke came crashing back to earth early this season, it quickly dropped to No. 12 in Soccer America after two losses to two top-10 teams, and then, with a third defeat at the hands of unranked Radford, fell out of most polls.
Yesterday, the Blue Devils finally re-entered the NSCAA poll at No. 24, something they should have done a while ago. Consider: Duke's record is 10-4 (4-1 in the ACC) , very similar to the eighth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers (10-4-1, 4-1), who are 16 places above the Blue Devils.
Granted, records don't necessarily speak for much, especially considering Texas Christian, for example, is undefeated in football, but their hardest opponent may be Girl Scout Troop 444.
So therefore, the Cavaliers could have lost to much tougher teams than the Blue Devils.
Let's check some numbers. Excluding Duke's loss to unranked Radford, the Blue Devils' three other defeats have come against the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 7 teams in the country.
Virginia's losses, on the other hand, have come against No. 3, No. 22, unranked William & Mary and. . . oh yes, Duke, in Charlottesville, no less. The same team that sits 16 places below the Wahoos.
Seriously, does a loss to Radford hurt the Blue Devils' ranking that much? Doubtful. By that logic, defending NCAA basketball champion Michigan State would not have even made the tournament after its loss to Wright State.
It's not even most of the general press that has no respect for the men's soccer team, it's mainly the old guard of college soccer-the ones that watched current national team coach Bruce Arena win five titles with Virginia. The same people who have seen Indiana win the past two College Cups.
The basic point comes down to the fact that the key decisionmakers in college soccer do not have, nor do they want to have, any respect for Duke. The same decisionmakers who turned many media heads when they left the Blue Devils, with a record of 18-4 overall, and 4-2 in ACC play, out of the College Cup two years ago.
In a sport that can produce upsets like Duke's 1986 national title, but historically has been limited to the same few teams like St. Louis, Indiana, Virginia and UCLA winning most of the titles, the authorities are not paying as much attention to how good a team is in a specific year. Instead they only look at how well they have done in the past.
The same teams always rank near the top, and always make it to the College Cup, regardless of their record.
That is ridiculous.
Meanwhile over on the women's side, Duke has been almost equally as shafted by soccer authorities.
It's common sense that when a team wins, it will rise in the rankings, and when it loses it will fall, and so far Soccer America has followed through on that basic end of the bargain.
However, when the No. 19 team in the country topples the No. 2-ranked team in the country, like the Duke women's soccer team did to Clemson a few weeks ago, it usually moves up more than just one spot.
That, my friends, is not only preposterous, but just like the dealing toward then men's team, it is a slight to the Duke soccer program.
Come to think of it though, by the committee's logic, it makes perfect sense. The women's team may be good this season, but forget about that, they haven't been good enough in the past to be really considered a decent team.
It's as if college soccer believes that any success the Duke soccer program has is simply luck, and not skill. It's a disrespect to a program that consistently, at least for the men, finishes near the top of one of the best soccer conferences in the country.
Even though the teams have bad days, the Blue Devils still have shown that they can beat great teams. And they have shown it too many times to simply be ignored or disrespected.
Good luck guys, and plan on winning the ACC tournament, because you deserve to make the College Cup. At this rate; you're not going to make it any other way.
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