If there was an initiation test for a club of lifelong Maryland basketball fans, great antipathy toward Duke would probably be one of the requirements.
And Cliff Tucker — even after professing respect for Mike Krzyzewski and his potent program — passes the exam quite easily.
“I cannot stand Duke,” Tucker said. “I tell people all the time, if they gave me a scholarship and that was my only Division I scholarship, I’d go Division II or something like that. I would never, ever go there. I don’t know what it is. I can’t stand Duke.”
It’s a sentiment that should make the freshman guard even more popular among the partisans at Comcast Center, where the Terrapins (12-7, 2-2 ACC) play host to the No. 4 Blue Devils (16-1, 4-0) tonight.
Duke long ago displaced North Carolina as a Terrapins supporter’s most detested foe. The teams have engaged in countless classic tussles in the last eight years and have met as many as four times in a three-month span (2001). But the genesis of enmity from a younger generation of Maryland fans stemmed from Duke’s dominance for more than a decade.
Every time it seemed Maryland might push for an ACC title, the Blue Devils were there to restore order. The Terps lost 20 of their first 24 meetings with Duke under coach Gary Williams, including the last time Williams was ejected from a game (in 1998) and a pair of 18-point swattings despite the presence of Steve Francis in 1999.
But those were in the halcyon days, when the pyromaniacal proclivities of Maryland students remained latent. It all changed when the Juan Dixon-led Terps ended Duke’s 46-game home winning streak in 2000.
Students uprooted goalposts from Byrd Stadium and hauled them across campus and also torched some unwanted couches. They stormed Route 1 when the Terps won at Cameron Indoor Stadium the next year. And they set fires after Duke toppled Maryland in the 2001 Final Four.
At this point, the games only add to the lore of the blossoming rivalry.
“The fact there’s been some really amazing games has a lot to do with it,” Williams said. “Some of the games have been just probably as good as there have been in college basketball. The players involved, you look at the 2001, 2002 teams on both sides. Look at how good those games were. They were great games when that type of talent collides.”
The Dixons and Jason Williamses, the Steve Blakes and Carlos Boozers have long since departed. But in College Park, the fervor remains the same, especially since Maryland is 9-10 against the Blue Devils since the 2000 upset.
The Terps have swept two seasons series (2005 and 2007), notched two victories over top-ranked Blue Devils teams (2002 and 2003), knocked off Duke in overtime to win the 2004 ACC tournament and dealt Duke four of its 11 home losses in the last decade.
Yet fans still crave more.
“You hear that all year long, even when the season’s not in session,” forward James Gist said. ” ’Are you going to beat Duke next year? Make sure you all beat Duke.’ You see people walking around with T-shirts and all types of shirts saying all types of things. It’s a game when everybody comes together. They’re ready, and we’re ready. It’s just a community thing.”
Junior forward Dave Neal knows that unlike other games, the student section will be completely packed when the Terps stretch 90 minutes before the game.
And that’s just the apogee of a steady rise in excitement capable of surpassing even the glee of beating a No. 1 team, as the Terps did last week at North Carolina.
“Comcast’s definitely at its peak potential,” Gist said. “You’ll hear all types of stuff. I’m expecting it to be a great atmosphere.”
Maryland fans’ dislike for Duke stems not from proximity, like many rivalries. Ultimately, it is rooted in the Blue Devils’ success.
Krzyzewski’s teams own 10 ACC titles, 10 Final Four appearances and three national titles. In the last 25 years, there was never an extended stretch when the Blue Devils (who this week nosed into the top five of the Associated Press poll for the 11th straight season) were not a factor nationally.
“Anybody who’s not a Duke fan, they just either hate or them or really don’t like them,” guard Greivis Vasquez said. “When I got here, all the students go ’You can lose any game, but please beat Duke.’ That should tell you something, that they really don’t like Duke. When you really don’t like somebody because they’ve got something good, you have to give them credit. They’re pretty good.”
That acknowledgment does not temper some Terps supporters, whose Pavlovian response to a visit from Duke is unconcealed seething disdain.
It might not be an entirely healthy reflex. But Tucker, who followed Maryland closely while growing up in El Paso, Texas, knows how it can be channeled effectively.
“It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here, so I can beat Duke,” Tucker said. “I already got North Carolina. Duke is next.”
Today’s game
NO. 4 DUKE AT MARYLAND
When: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Comcast Center
TV/radio: CSN, FM-106.7, AM-1300, FM-105.7
Outlook: Duke leads the series 101-60, though Maryland won both of last year’s meetings. The Terrapins (12-7, 2-2 ACC) had a week off to prepare for the Blue Devils (16-1, 4-0), who are the lone team in the ACC without a conference loss. Sophomore guard Eric Hayes (sprained left ankle) estimated Friday he is at least 90 percent, and he is likely to start. Maryland has never defeated top-five teams in back-to-back games, but a victory could carry significant implications. “It means tournament. It means you’re right there,” sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez said. “If you beat Carolina and you beat Duke, people are going to say ’Oh, they were probably sick when they lost to American U. and Ohio U. They were sick. Everybody was sick. Even coach was sick. Now all the sudden, everybody got healthy.’ ”
— Patrick Stevens
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