Ice Bucket Challenge: Coach K Takes It On

((ht: dukebasketball))

We've already told you about the ALS "Ice Bucket" Challenge, which has swept through the "Pop Culture" world as quickly as a viral video.

And we think that's fantastic because it's brought even more attention to and raised a ton of money for ALS Research (Lou Gehrig Disease)...

One of the many athletes/Sports figures taking on the challenge...Duke Basketball Coach Mike Kryzewski. And as is no de riguer, Coach K issued a challenge too.

That call out: The entire roster of Team USA Basketball.

Check out the video (looks like coach was ready to utter a curse word or two, but didn't)

Jabari Parker Is Going To NBA, Will Enter NBA Draft

Is anyone surprised Jabari Parker would enter the 2014 NBA draft?

After the year Parker had for Duke he was ready to go.

Duke University has announced that Parker will forgo his college eligibility and entire the NBA Draft.

Here's Parker explaining his decision.  Thanks SI.com



Parker won the 2014 ACC Freshman of the Year award averaging 19.7 points per game, second in the ACC in scoring.  He averaged 8.7 rebounds per game.

"Jabari could not have been better. He is the epitome of what you would want a basketball player to be – outstanding everyday on the practice court and in the classroom and a very humble young man,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “He had a fantastic freshman year and is so deserving of the opportunity to play in the NBA and follow his dream."

While it was a tough decision for Parker he's ready to make this step.  

NCAA Upset: Mercer Beats Duke, No Really, They Did (Update at bottom)

God bless the NCAA Basketball tournament, in College Football, games and upsets like this would never happen.

The Mercer Bears from Macon, Georgia made tons of casual College Basketball fans happy and sad at the same time after they beat the mighty Duke Blue Devils 78-71 in their NCAA Tournament opener.

The Atlantic Sun champs kept the game close all the way through and actually began to pull away from a very cold shooting Duke team as the game progressed.

We should note that as happy as many fans who hate Duke are, there are now tons of NCAA Tournament Bracket challenges that can be thrown away because quite honestly, how many people picked a #14 seed to beat a #3 seed.

The Bears were led by Jakob Gollon with 20 points and the team shot 56 percent on the game. By contrast, Duke shot 35 percent.

Here's the ending...
((HT: NCAA March Madness/SnappyTV))

Check out Mercer's Kevin Canevari's celebration dance:



CBSSports.com gives us reaction from Mercer coach Bob Hoffman and others:


***UPDATE***---We feel like this should be mentioned: We give Duke grief for being the New York Yankees of College Basketball, but it should be noted that coach Mike Krzyzewski took time after the game to go to the Mercer locker room, congratulate them and say "If we got beaten, at least we got beaten by a hell of a basketball team". Nice...