College basketball’s Decepticons are back. Duke is in the Final Four for the 11th time during Coach K‘s reign (and the first time since ’04), so if you’d been missing Krzyzewski’s scowl, the army of three-point bombers, the goofy big guys, the smug grins, the confident swagger, and Dick Vitale re-enacting an Extenze commercial with every TV cameo (“I’m bigger!”) you’re glad to see the program the rest of us love to hate back on the biggest stage … The Blue Devils trailed Baylor at halftime, as their turnovers led to transition buckets, and it looked like LaceDarius Dunn outside (22 pts) and Ekpe Udoh inside (18 pts, 10 rebs, 5 blks) might be able to carry the Bears to the win. Read More »

As if this wasn’t good enough, watch the guys from Duke reenact famous scenes from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Godfather (with Steve Wojciechowski), Titanic and Gladiator. Amazing!

While normally the highlights from Midnight Madness are simply dunk contests and cameos from former players, the guys at Duke (with help from the school’s improv department) took it to a whole new level. Check out the video starring Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and the rest of the guys as they find other jobs on campus after the season was canceled because it was “unfair to the other teams.” Hilarious!

Whether you’ve got just one empty Big Dance bracket staring back at you or five, here’s a few pointers before you put that crucial $20 on the line:

1. Be wary of the “hot” teams I know it’s tempting to take teams like Mississippi State and USC after they both just ran through their conference tournaments, but be careful. Look at the teams that have pulled off similar runs in the past few years: ‘Cuse in ’06 and Georgia in ’08. Read More »