Shawn Jansen: Hating Duke can hurt your bracket

Count me in as a Duke hater.

Growing up, I couldn’t stand watching Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley. It seemed like they were always whining for fouls. It only made it worse that they were always winning.

Even now, the cameras always seem to catch Mike Krzyzewski complaining anytime a referee has the nerve to call a foul on a Duke player.

I still struggle picking Duke to make a long run on my bracket, and once again it’s come back to bite me.

“There are Duke fans and people who wish they were Duke fans,” says Golden Valley High School girls coach and unapologetic Duke fan Matt Thissen. “That’s as simple as I can put it.”

Atwater boys coach Jason Boesch falls into the former category and sits atop the 2015 Marci Stenberg Bracket Challenge standings heading into the Final Four thanks to his love affair with Duke.

Boesch was one of five of 26 participants to pick three of the Final Four teams.

“One hundred percent, no doubt, Duke will win the national championship and Krzyzewski gets his fifth title,” said Boesch, who was also the only one to pick Michigan State to reach the Final Four. “There’s no question about it.”

Like Thissen, Boesch doesn’t understand why Duke attracts so many haters.

“I saw (former Atwater coach) John Kane on Facebook post about how Duke gets every call,” Boesch said. “What a whiner. How can you say anything bad about Duke? You just can’t. They have the coach with the most wins, they graduate the most players, they’re a model program. You have issues if you root against them.”

Kentucky was the overwhelming choice to finish undefeated at 40-0, as 16 people picked the Wildcats. Duke (4), Arizona (3), Wisconsin (1), Gonzaga (1) and Villanova (1) were the other teams picked.

Former Merced girls coach Brad Reed will win if Kentucky faces Michigan State in the title game, and Le Grand’s Adrian Sanchez wins if Kentucky beats Duke in the final.

The only other person with a shot is El Capitan’s Chris Tufts, who picked Wisconsin.

“I think they’re a smarter basketball team. They have senior leadership. They have more experience playing together,” said Tufts, who coached a Gauchos team without seniors this season, their first at the varsity level.

On the bottom of the standings sits former Los Banos coach Joe Barcellos – who’s won this pool three times – and Buhach Colony coach John Bliss.

“I’ve won three times. I’m just giving some of the guys a chance to catch up,” Barcellos said.

If only that was my excuse.

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 11:39 PM with the headline "Shawn Jansen: Hating Duke can hurt your bracket."