Coach K Cuts Down the Net

Sports Photo of the Day

As I was filling out my bracket today I was thinking about how little love Duke is getting this season. Usually this time of the year is the time for Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his Duke Blue Devils to shine. This year though some late season losses have diminished what the ‘experts’ think that they will do. I might have to rethink the Blue Devils as this is their time of the year. I guess in a few weeks we will see just what Duke accomplishes.

In 2010 I was not hoping for Duke to go very far. I spent a couple of weekends following Purdue Basketball around the country as they tried to survive and advance. They had lost star player Robbie Hummel right at the end of the season so they were still trying to find themselves. They proved everyone wrong, and won both games in Spokane. Right then I knew that I would end up in Houston to see them play Duke with an Elite Eight appearance on the line. Duke beat my Boilers the first day, but I did stick around to see Duke take on Baylor who of course was the local favorite. Duke won the game, and the team cut down both of the nets. The Blue Devils started on the far side of the court, but by the end they were cutting right in front of me. Coach K was the last to cut, and he graciously held the net up in my direction. I snapped this picture, and was very happy with the result in camera. If you can’t be on the court taking pictures you might as well be about eye level with your subject. I might have a few more NCAA Tournament pictures coming in the next couple of days as the big day draws closer.

Technical Data

For this shot I simply applied Matt Kloskowski’s light sports preset to the jpeg. Without a RAW image I had to be careful how far I tried to push the image. I wanted it to pop though, and Matt’s preset really helps that. From there I adjusted a couple of sliders, but it was pretty much right where I wanted it to be.