Just over a week ago, Austin Rivers dribbled around North Carolina’s pale blue Outer Banks (or the logo facsimile of it, at least), around a powerful screen administered by Mason Plumlee, around the court to the right-side of the arc, where he was greeted by his defender, the 7-foot-tall Tyler Zeller.
The freshman squared up with 3.2 seconds left. He dribbled once, twice, three, four times, then stepped back with a fadeaway three while teammate Seth Curry screamed, “Shoot it!” (or something along those lines).
Money.
It was a shot so ballsy and improbable that I’m still processing it a week later. Yes, I am still am, even though I’m responsible for about 78 of its 1,483,806 views on YouTube.
The shot was a bit more, though, than one of the rivalry’s greatest moments, Rivers’ coming-out party and an excuse for an especially bleary night at the esteemed Shooters II saloon. It was the spark Duke needed in what has been a lackluster year.
I don’t mean Duke, the team. The Blue Devils did not really need a spark. They have proven scorers, rebounders, and, as evidenced by solid play throughout the North Carolina game, did not win by sheer luck last Wednesday. To say the shot itself will propel Duke to glory is silly. As ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told me in a phone interview yesterday, “It certainly had to help their psyche after beating a team on their home floor. But I think it’s tough to suggest that one shot going in is the hallmark of great consistency throughout the whole season.”
When I say the spark Duke needed, I’m referring to a student fanbase that had been lackluster so far this season.
Attendance was low at the start of the season, an open secret on campus first semester and an open fact after The Chronicle’s article. The Wake Forest game on Jan. 19 saw a wine-and-cheese-level of noise. Additionally, a quick count of the K-Ville tents prior to the Duke-North Carolina game revealed a number far below the Blue Tent capacity of 60.
Now, just to be clear here: I think the reaction to attendance dropping was about as overblown as a Tea Partier talking about the 2012 Obama budget. “Pathetic beyond words,” said a typical post on the Devil’s Den message board. “There is no sports experience on the planet like Cameron and any student who fails to appreciate that does not deserve to go to Duke,” wrote “genius5432,” a user commenting on The Chronicle’s website. The sentiment that anyone who didn’t go to games was unworthy of being a “real Dukie” pervaded many aspects of the discussion.
This was ridiculous. Going to a game is a voluntary decision and choosing not to go does not make a person any less of a “real Dukie.”
“I’ve never understood why people think it’s a mandatory thing. You’d never look down on people who didn’t go to the school play or the football games,” Bilas said. “Everything is also available at home and on HD. You can watch it any way you want. And when we make a big deal of the big games, sometimes people won’t go to the smaller games.”
But I did suspect that there were fans who were feeling some bit of ennui, and when your friends aren’t going to the game, it’s difficult to muster the enthusiasm to wrangle up a crew. This was a shame, because if you want to go to a game, you shouldn’t have anything holding you back.
The shot has changed that. The basketball team is again dominating conversations around the school. Blue tenting filled up after the game, and there are now six tents on the waiting list, according to co-Head Line Monitor Ellie Garrett.
“People are excited about Duke basketball,” she said. “The Carolina win was huge. There has been a buzz around campus all week.”
Students camped out the night before the Maryland game Saturday, despite the fact that the Terrapins were 14-9 and haven’t beaten anyone of merit this year. According to Garrett, over 1,000 students were lined up by midday. By game time, Section 17 was over capacity by 250 students.
Saturday wasn’t an anomaly, either. Garrett expects a large crowd at the game tonight, and she said a large number of groups have already signed up.
The shot heard ‘round the campus, indeed.
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