It is interesting that in the same day my colleague Matt Sullivan berated Duke's fans for being naively, superficially and overly enthusiastic for basketball games, Joe Alleva--in a decision with which Mike Krzyzewski was implicitly cooperative due to comments he made over the past two days--took away 100 seats from undergraduates for tonight's game against Virginia in what seems to be punitive punishment for the weak decibel levels produced for Sunday's game against last-place Clemson. So are the Crazies an irrationally intense group or an underachieving, underappreciative conglomerate of rich, high IQ college kids?
After the game against the Tigers, Krzyzewski was visibly angered at his beloved 6th Man's performance, pointing out that Cameron was comparatively worse than the crowds the Blue Devils faced at Georgia Tech and North Carolina in two extremely difficult wins.
"The atmosphere needs to be better," Krzyzewski said after the game. "We shouldn't have empty seats. How can we have empty seats in Cameron? With the No. 1 team in the country after just winning one of the most unbelievable games. That's disappointing."
While Krzyzewski makes valid points about the performance and importance of the crowd in Cameron, taking away seats from the best group of undergraduate fans in the nation goes a step too far.
It is true that there were empty seats and those that were in attendance were easy on their throats, but it is also true that it was a Sunday night that preceded mid-term week and the game was against the worst team in the ACC. Though Krzyzewski often cites the brilliant advice Vic Bubas once gave him--that you should treat every conference game equally--this guidance is solely relevant for players. The fact is that not all conference games are the same, and those that skipped the contest in favor of studying really didn't miss all that much.
Duke came out flat, but still managed to win by 26 points. The game was poorly officiated--49 fouls were called--as less renowned officials were assigned to the game because of its minor importance.
Maybe the Cameron Crazies needed to be riled up after their poor performance, but punishment is just ridiculous. Krzyzewski commented on the lack of intensity of the crowd many times last season, and the Crazies responded each time, accepting Krzyzewski's criticism and frantically cheering on the team. Why couldn't Krzyzewski just have made his comments this year without taking away seats? It worked well enough last year, why did it need to be done this year?
If Krzyzewski was worried not enough students would see his comments, he is mistaken. His quotes about the crowd were published in The Chronicle's game story of Duke's routing of Clemson and also exhibited in the center-spread of the paper's Sportswrap. Over 90 percent of undergraduates read The Chronicle, so believe me, everybody at least heard about Krzyzewski's dissatisfaction, either through the paper, word of mouth, or internet message boards.
Maybe Krzyzewski felt students would not take his criticism seriously enough? Krzyzewski merely needs to look out a window of his penthouse office to see the hundreds and soon to be thousands of fans camping out for the upcoming games against Maryland and North Carolina. These students take their status as fans seriously--seriously enough to sleep in an outdoors area where heating equipment is illegal during the year's coldest two months in hopes of catching a glimpse of Krzyzewski's often brilliant club battle its two biggest rivals.
And as Sullivan pointed out, if anything, these students take their role as fans too seriously. Any criticism aimed at their dedication will be taken personally. Scathing words by the nearly sanctified Krzyzewski would motivate the Crazies into achieving anything the West Point graduate desired. Punishing the fans makes the Crazies wonder if their past efforts are appreciated. Taking away 100 of the undergraduates' seats does not make the Cameron Crazies feel like they let the leader down, it makes the normally rabid fans angry at their leader.
Instead of volunteering anything for Krzyzewski, they are doubting Krzyzewski's decision. Coach K, if you ever need anything from the Cameron Crazies, just ask and they'll do it. Punishing them is not going to do any good, particularly for the individuals around whom this entire debate revolves--the members of the basketball team.
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