A year ago, the "D" on the helmets of the Duke men's lacrosse team could have stood for "disrespect."
Last season, the Blue Devils made the Final Four as the No. 1 seed with an 18-1 record, a 10-game winning streak and lofty expectations of capturing the school's first NCAA championship.
They were also the targets of intense hostility from lacrosse fans critical of the NCAA's decision to grant an extra year of eligibility to 33 team members. Those players' 2006 season was cut short by the university after it investigated now-discredited sexual-assault allegations against three players. When Johns Hopkins upset Duke, 10-9, in last year's NCAA Division I tournament semifinals, the critics celebrated.
Times have changed. The No. 3 seed Blue Devils (15-3) will meet second seed and reigning national champion Syracuse (14-2) in the NCAA tournament semifinals at noon Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and this year there seems to be more fan support behind the Blue Devils.
On a laxpower.com message board, a Navy supporter named "Naptown Fan" began a comment with the subject line, "If Duke Keeps Playing Like This ..." and wrote, " ... if they keep getting better, the NCAA tournament could be their's [sic] to lose." On an insidelacrosse.com message board, a post offered by a North Carolina fan named "Easy Now" reads, " ... one thing I do know is cocky Syracuse fans need to wake up and realize that Duke has a really good chance of smoking Cuse. ... I am giving Duke credit where it is due."
ESPN analyst and former Army coach Jack Emmer said the Blue Devils did not deserve last year's vitriol.
"I just think that [fans] now recognize that Duke is a very, very good team and coming into the tournament playing their absolute best lacrosse," he said. "I think there is some sentiment for those kids to be successful because they've never won a national championship."
Despite bidding farewell to a couple of NCAA record holders in Matt Danowski (graduated) and Zack Greer (transferred to Bryant), and several other multiyear starters, this Blue Devils squad has won 13 of its past 14 games and an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament crown, thanks to a diversified offense led by Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Ned Crotty, a stout defense anchored by sophomore Mike Manley and a developing goalie in senior Rob Schroeder.
Duke has done this without the media presence that blanketed its Durham, N.C., campus last season, but no one is complaining.
