I did kind of predict it. Even though there were no Illinois teams in the Big Dance this year, you just knew there would be Chicago/Illinois influence. You knew when the big stage arrived, we would be front and center.
Let’s start with Duke. Let’s start with their head coach. Coach K is from Chicago. Yes, not the suburbs, but from the city. He went to school in Ukranian Village at St. Helen’s. I attended that parish for a while. My first apartment with my wife was right on Augusta and Western, and when we moved back from LA, our apartment was 2 blocks from there. We would walk right down the street on Sunday mornings. I can’t believe that I didn’t know that until tonight about Coach K. I knew he was from here, but that close. Wow. Why is it that I hate Duke then?
How about their star player? Any guesses where he’s from? Duh. An alum of Whitney Young high school, located about a mile from the United Center in one of the up and coming neighborhoods called the West Loop. One of my life long friends attended that school; good school, magnet school. Okafor hails from these neck of the woods too. It’s not surprising.
How about on the other side of the court? Any idea what state Frank Kaminsky is from? Yes, he’s from Lisle, Illinois, which is about 25 miles from Chicago. I read a quick blurb on him… it said he went to a Bulls practice back in 1998 and saw Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman…. how cool is that? No, Bo Ryan is NOT from Chicago, or Illinois, but 3 of the main figures in Monday’s National Title game are local breeds.
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So why DO I hate Duke so much? I remember now. It stems back from when Duke took out UNLV back in the day. UNLV was my favorite team, and I hated that Duke beat them. I also wasn’t too much of a Laettner fan, although when I hit my basketball league’s game winning shot around that time, kids were calling me him. Geez, that was like 20 plus years ago… and now I found out that Coach K is from Chicago, and went to school blocks from where I lived… Do I really have to keep this hate up from the Dukies?
They’ve won too much, bottom line, AND they get all the calls too; that pisses me off. I guess that makes me a hater. OK, maybe I don’t hate Duke enough to create a Hate File for them, but I don’t like them either. Easy call on Monday for me. By the way, I also picked Wisconsin to win it all in my brackets. Too bad my first couple rounds sucked, so even if they do pull it out, I still finish in about 10th place. 10 out of like 120+ sheets isn’t bad, but it isn’t good enough for the money.
Still, I’ll definitely try to tune in, as it should be a very good game. I like to see Chicago guys do well. I like to see Illinois guys do well. Either way it falls on Monday, one of them will be in the spotlight, and that’s pretty cool. Now if only we could get some of these kids to stay in Illinois…
MK
Not a duke fan either…I have come to respect coach K since he is from Chicago. It seems that quite a few Chicago boys like to go play for him as well, but for some reason, the majority of them are busts in the nba…think okafor heading that route too. I will be rooting for wisconsin monday night…like bo ryan and what he has done for that program. Normally, a tough defensive team that has matched that with a highly efficient offense this year…hope they come out on top on monday. Let’s hope the zebras keep the whistle in their pockets, not duke’s. Prediction, badgers 79-bluedevils72.