You're Not Our Rival

The most painful thing any Dookie could say during the 1995-2001 acsencion of Maryland as a legitimate national contender was "you're not OUR rival." The implication was that Duke was on top, and had been for 20 years, and we were just another upstart. Perhaps another Wake Forest with Tim Duncan or Georgia Tech with Harpring, or at worst a decade-long blip like N.C. State. It hurt because it was true. To Maryland fans, beating Duke was the highest possible achievement, short of winning the NCAAs. To many of us, beating Duke at least once in the season was a prerequisite to doing anything significant in the NCAAs. But, we were not their rival. UNC was and still is.

It's still true. We're still not Duke's rival. We're not really anyone's rival. We have a mutual dislike of Virginia, but only because Virginia is Maryland's Mexico. And it was proven again last night. Duke, for at least the 4th time in the past 6 years, has failed to protect its own home court when we come into town. We brought a freshman, with a goofy name, from Venezuela, to Cameron, and he was so intimidated he came one board short of the triple-double. He probably would have gotten it if we hadn't had so many un- or under-contested layups.

The Dook mystique is gone, or at least it has been exposed for what it is. Florida State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, and especially Maryland don't get scared by the royal blue uniforms and the synchronized nerd jumping. Face paint no longer causes the ball to get thrown out of bounds or a player to dribble off their knees. The whole circus swallowed the actual playing of basketball at Cameron, and the rest of the ACC is the richer for it. I look forward to more instances of DukeSweep in coming years.

And for the record, some Dookies now proclaim irrational hatred of Maryland, but still refuse to accept a rivalry.