Okay, so I didn’t actually spend the weekend at Dukies like Pete W, Cigar Boy, or Matt Schwade, or Dave Palmere, but I sure invested a lot of time thinking about our boys playing there. Like the days leading up to a vacation, the anticipation before a big game such as this is almost as much fun as the game itself.

Saturday was an interesting day in college basketball. Temple beat a ranked IU team – good for the A-10 and for Farmer John Chaney…Michigan won for cryin’ out loud, beating a UCLA squad loaded (like Duke) with Mickey D All Americans…Memphis (without Alex Carmona) upset #7 Illinois…Mississippi State upset #5 Oklahoma…Louisville beat a ranked UK squad. Hmmmm, I’m beginning to spot a trend here that I really like!

I spent Saturday night watching my new Star Wars Episode II DVD (thanks, Santa!) with all of the behind-the-scenes, how’d-they-do-that stuff. Didn’t watch the actual movie yet – I’ll save that for the 2 hours before the game. Man, talk about really cool technology…the wizardry that George Lucas and his crew are able to pull off is unbelievable. I remember thinking to myself when Episode I came out — what if something happens to Natalie Portman between now and the filming of the last two installments? What does Lucas do for a replacement? No problem – he can just digitally paste her face on a stand-in and no one will ever know the difference!

Sunday at 8:00, I turned on Fox Sports Net and they were showing some fishing show. Where the hell is the game? Ohhh, it’s at 8:00PM, not AM…I guess that means I have to wait 12 more hours. One of the papers has Duke as a 16-point favorite and another shows UD as a 17-point underdog. Make up your minds — which is it, 16 or 17? I went to church, but I’m not a big believer in praying for any team to win. Instead, I asked that the Flyers play well – if they win, all the better. Facing Duke is kinda like the lottery – you can’t win if you don’t play. Victory or defeat, it’s a good thing for the program. Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Swampy, the elder Swampette, and I went to see the new Jack Nicholson flick “About Schmidt” which is really terrific and a nice diversionary tactic. I can remember seeing Jack doing ‘B’ horror movies with Boris Karloff back in the early sixties, before he hit it big with Easy Rider. I’ve always liked him and he gives a really fine performance – three thumbs up from the Meadows family.

One of the beautiful things about this game being on FSN as opposed to ESPN is that we won’t have to put up with Dukie V rhapsodizing about Coach K and the Blue Devils. I had to hit the mute button repeatedly on Saturday, as Vitale would go off on one of his butt-kissing, manic monologues. I don’t know who these FSN guys were, but they were a joy to listen to compared to Pukie V.

The pre-game started with Coach K reiterating what had been reported earlier – that he scheduled UD to get Duke ready for the type of team they would see in the NCAAs – in his words, “not in the 1st or 2nd round, but the 3rd round.” They also showed film of Brooks’ game winner vs. Villanova. Nice touches, both.

The beauty of writing about this game is that we all got to watch it together. I’m not going to report on the details, I’ll leave that in the capable hands of Bucky Albers.

Here’s what I saw:

— Early on, UD had five turnovers and yet it was only 4-0 Duke.

— We repeatedly heard how UD should be prepared to have the calls go against them in Cameron, but I don’t think they did. If anything, the Flyers got the benefit of the doubt on a few of ’em. The one moving screen call on Duke was textbook and the ref had the guts to call it. Same with the charges that KW and Nate took.

— KW was a man, what else can you say. He scored nine in a row at one point in the second half. The announcers still called him Adam a few times, as we knew they would.

— JJ Redick is better than I expected. He is an excellent catch-and-shoot three point bomber, but he can dish the rock, too. His ability to do both equally well is what makes him dangerous.

— Pete Waleskowski got some nice face time on FSN. Of course, when you’re sitting right behind OP it’s hard not to, although I think Pete might have stood the whole game like the Crazies do.

— Way to go Flyer Fans…we saw and heard lots of red in the crowd.

— 11 turnovers in the first half; 15 ½ minutes in the second half with only one turnover – that’s what fed the comeback.

— Let’s face it: we sucked in the first half and we beat them in the 2nd half…not bad.

— Down six with 3:45 to go in the second half – would we have settled for that a few days ago…damn right we would.

— KW scores on a backdoor cut with Redick unable to handle him – shades of Jimmy Paxson!

— When the announcers said you can use the term “automatic” when Redick was shooting the second of two FTs, didn’t you just know he was gonna miss? I did.

— The announcers never mentioned the abundance of left-handers on the UD squad and it didn’t appear that Duke knew about it, either.

— For all of those who complained in the past, it was nice to see Marques Bennett get to play the last minute of the game.

— Thanks, Sean for giving it your best with a broken hand. Get a videotape of that dunk and make your kids, grandkids, and great grandkids watch it so much they can tell you about it.

— In the middle of the comeback, the announcers referred to UD as the Dayton “class” program. Thank you.

— The Flyers may have lost by 11, but this fan’s prayers were answered.

Beat Marquette!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”