at least they did better than the football team

79-54 is only a 25-point beating. That's a field goal better than the football team did on their trip to Durham. How wonderful.

The Good Ol' Blog's Mahini had this to say before the game:

Let’s see … I’m going to predict that today in Durham, the Hoos get off to a very slow start. D*ke will take advantage of turnovers to lay their way up to a double digit lead, perhaps even 20+ points. Our guys will generally look lost and like their feet are stuck to the ground. Then, they’ll finally get things going a little, and keep the score within 10 to 20 points the rest of the game, giving diehard optimist a reason to keep watching.

How prescient. Let's run down the checklist....

- "Very slow start." 10 minutes into the game, it was 30-11. Check.

- "Duke will take advantage of turnovers etc. etc." Here's a line from the play-by-play:

9:12 Jeff Jones Defensive Rebound. 12-30
9:10 Gerald Henderson made Two Point Dunk Shot. 12-32

Check.

- "Our guys will generally look lost." The game was not on here in RI, but I can only hope this one came true. I'd hate for them to be striding purposefully toward a 20-point halftime deficit with every intention of getting there. Lost seems a safe assumption. Calling this one a check.

- "Then they'll finally get things going a little." We were only outscored by three in the second half. Check.

This is kind of scary. It's as if the opponent doesn't matter. Duke, FSU, or your local church team. Predicting these games with stunning accuracy is no longer that difficult. The first half, we'll play like we've never seen a hoop before. Dave will get on his horse in the locker room at halftime and chew some ass. The team will come out and play respectable in the second half, and still lose by 25. Maybe Dave's worst coaching move isn't the wackity rotations. Maybe it's not bawling out the team before the game.

Football-wise, today marks the penultimate update of the '09 recruiting board. (You don't know how long I've been wanting to have a chance to use the word "penultimate" in this blog. It's a great word that doesn't get used enough.) All that's there is that Bobby Smith is now committed.

Morgan Moses will announce on Wednesday. He will choose between UVA, UNC, and Tennessee. I hope - nay, expect - that his choice will be Virginia. All signs point this way. I do believe we will get good news on this front come 1:00 Wednesday afternoon.

One name that is not on the board is PK Drew Jarrett. The coaches have been going after him as a preferred walk-on. He's not on the board because he's not going to get a scholarship (yet) but if he's not verbally committed now, he will be soon. Walk-ons don't sign LOI's, of course, so nothing would be official on that front until he enrolled in the fall, but as of now there would appear to be a four-way battle shaping up in fall camp for the kicking job.

The next time I write anything about recruiting will be Wednesday unless something wicked crazy happens tomorrow. Wednesday's post will be a Signing Day EXTRAVAGANZA(!) in whatever way words on a computer screen can work toward that effect. There's also a basketball game on Wednesday, so Tuesday is probably going to be Emo Day again.