I’m going to get some hate mail for this, like that ever stops me, but here goes: I’ve been to several Duke games in Cameron, and, just sayin’, it’s overrated, in terms of the experience.
The section across from the hard cam is, largely, what TV makes it look like – a decent-sized group of kids chanting and yelling assorted homilies and borderline slurs and generally making merry horses’ asses of themselves, as college kids are wont to do.
They don’t show you the other side of the court for a reason: because the older folks who pay good money to sit courtside in that bandbox spend the game with their keisters on their hands, because they’re older folks who paid good money to be there, not necessarily to be extras in a made-for-TV spectacle.
The place got its reputation because the TV folks are good at doing their job, of making things seem more than what they are.
Of note here: the KenPom algorithm has a metric measuring home-court advantage.
KP rates Duke’s home-court advantage at 73rd nationally.
JPJ, incidentally, ranks 51st nationally in the KenPom rendering.
Reputational advantage
That said, reporter types are focused, whenever the team they cover is scheduled to play at Duke, on getting quotes about the upcoming expected unbelievable experience.
This was the case after Virginia pasted NC State, 90-61, on Tuesday night, to post its ninth win in a row.
First, let’s hear from Dallin Hall, senior point guard, transfer from BYU, who recounted for the media assemblage his first experience at Cameron, in an AAU tournament in junior high.
“Always had a dream of wanting to play there, so it’s exciting, and I know a lot of the guys feel the same way,” Hall told reporters.
I’ll cop to having the same level of thinking the first time I went to a game at Cameron, more than a decade ago now.
Ditto for when I made the trek up to Boston when UVA Baseball played a game at Fenway Park against Boston College in 2024.
You know the history, you want to see it – and feel it – for yourself.
The players, at least, don’t have to eat popcorn that’s been sitting around since 1983 out of a bucket left over from a promotional night for “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Ryan Odom was asked about what he planned to do to make sure his guys were ready for the game, without overhyping what they were about to get into.
“I think you talk about it, but you don’t make a big deal about it,” Odom said, because, that’s the truth. “It’s, like, you have to go in there and play the game, once the game starts, in between the lines, you know. One team is going to set the tone, and the jabs are going to be thrown back and forth, and you have to play the game as it comes. And if you get caught up in what’s going on in your surroundings, then you won’t be able to focus on what’s really important, and that’s, you know, competing to win.”
What he didn’t say, but I will: it’s noise from dorky kids from New Jersey and Connecticut reading off scripts.
Ain’t exactly a lion’s den, is what I’m saying.
“Every time, you know, you lace it up, you have to be ready to play in this conference,” Odom said. “We were able to hold serve at home, you know, which certainly was our goal, to win these two games, one at a time. And we’re just going to do what we always do, and that’s, get ready for the next one. And we know the challenge that lies ahead there. The number one team in the country, you know, extremely well-coached, extremely talented and together and tough, and so, we’re going to have to play our best to have a chance to win.”
Bad news: The arena is overrated, the team is not
Odom hinted to the bigger issue here. This Duke team is good.
What I like about the job that Jon Scheyer has done with this group is, he’s been able to get them to buy in to playing defense at an elite level.
This year’s Dookies are currently ranked #1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.
It can be hard to convince a roster with four guys expecting to hear their names called in the first round of the NBA Draft in a few months that they need to play team defense.
That #7 national ranking in adjusted offense, you’ve come to expect that, with all the talent Duke puts on the court year after year.
ICYMI
The Virginia side is mostly older guys who aren’t expected to play at the next level.
That’s the reason Vegas has Duke as a double-digit favorite for this one.
No offense intended; Duke just has better players.
“I think the mentality for these kinds of games is like, you really got to stick together,” said Hall, one of the Virginia versions of a one-and-done – Duke gets 17- and 18-year-olds for a year; Odom, at least this year, built his roster mainly around 22- and 23-year-old one-year wonders.
“We know we’re going into a hostile environment, but ultimately, like, regardless of who we play, we feel like when we really hone in on what makes our team special, and we really put our focus and energy into that, that gives us the best chance to win,” Hall said.
“So obviously, Duke, very good team, incredible venue, we don’t want to get lost in all that. We just want to give them our respect and then show up and stay together and put our best foot forward,” Hall said.
Respect due
“Give them our respect.”
I like that.
You have to respect the Duke Basketball program.
You don’t have to like it – I am often heard to say, matchup between Vladimir Putin and Duke Basketball, I’m on the Go Vlad! side of that equation.
Respect doesn’t mean playing jobber.
And respect doesn’t mean, either, pretending that Cameron is Madison Square Garden.
That’s the mecca of college basketball.
Cameron is a barely oversized high school gym in need of a thorough cleanse.
Any amount of time spent prepping your team to cope with the insults of nerds who spent their high school years stuffed in various lockers is time not spent getting ready for Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans.
Duke wins a lot of basketball games there in spite of the place, entirely because Coach K and his top lieutenant have recruited their asses off.
“It’s a tough place to play, certainly, because of the environment and their care for the place, but it’s also it’s the players and the coaches, you know, that have done such a great job over the years,” Odom said.
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Chris Graham
