Here’s to the best pro team in college lacrosse

The Blue Devils have no excuses, should the NCAA Division I Tournament end on any other note. After all, when you are equipped with the best professional team in collegiate lacrosse, winning it all is the only option, right?

Which is precisely why I’m pulling for anyone else but Duke to be the last team standing at Gillette Stadium.

Look, I’ve got nothing against the Blue Devils per se.

In a sport full of good guys, they don’t come any classier than Coach John Danowski. I could watch his son, attacker Matt Danowski, dodge, pass and shoot all day. Same goes for long-stick midfielder Nick O’Hara, a ground ball eating machine and one-man fast break. Or goalie Dan Loftus, the sport’s best stopper over the past three seasons.

Duke plays the game hard, fast and clean, with artistic flair. No team possibly since the late 1980s edition of Syracuse — led by the Gait brothers, Gary and Paul — has been able to put together explosive scoring runs with such consistency.

But the problem I have with top-seeded Duke (16-1) cuts to a fundamental fairness issue created by the geniuses at the NCAA.

Danowski, O’Hara and Loftus, along with two more fifth-year seniors, close defenseman Tony McDevitt and defensive midfielder Michael Adams, should be watching the tournament, not playing in it.

They should be collecting hefty salaries on Wall Street and earning scratch while playing in the Major Lacrosse League. Instead, they are showing what happens when men play against boys.

Nearly a year ago, the NCAA did Duke a huge favor. In an effort to cut the Blue Devils a break — not to mention prevent an avalanche of lawsuits — the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to any player on the 2006 team. That squad lost Coach Mike Pressler in early April and had its season cancelled, in the wake of the infamous rape scandal that proved to be a hoax.

There is no question the players were wronged by former district attorney Mike Nifong, who played fast and loose with the facts while pressing forward with a case he had no business prosecuting.

Nifong, disgraced and disbarred, has paid dearly for his ethical games.

The Duke administration, however, has never been made officially accountable for the shoddy way it hung the lacrosse program out to dry by feeding a media-generated, rush to judgment. Duke never has even apologized publicly for bowing to the forces of political correctness.

And what about the Duke players who put themselves in such a bad position with such irresponsible behavior? No one forced any players to booze it up at an off-campus team party, complete with two exotic dancers paid to provide some, ahem, entertainment.

It seems to me a real teaching moment was missed here. It’s the chapter called, “Life Ain’t Fair, So Deal With It By Making Smarter Decisions Next Time.”

Was it fair that so many innocent people were kicked to the curb, due to a big lie? Of course not. But how is it fair that the Division I lacrosse world gets to watch the Blue Devils play for several years with a different set of rules, because a gutless administration is afraid of more lawsuits in addition to the ones already settled out of court?

It’s a shame Duke has played so brilliantly in 2008, with an asterisk next to its accomplishments. The Blue Devils have outscored their opponents by an amazing 8.5 goals per game. Danowski leads the NCAA in assists per game (3.07) and points per game (5.33). Loftus ranks fifth in save percentage (.627). O’Hara, McDevitt and Adams are key cogs in a defense that ranks fifth in scoring (6.88 per game).

Whether it’s Syracuse, Virginia or Johns Hopkins, I hope someone produces a perfect game and denies Duke the big prize. I hope some college team finds a way to take down the only professional team in the tournament.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com.