Besides March Madness, the best time of the year is early November, when college basketball teams are still ripe with optimism and Dick Vitale pontificates outrageous opinions. One prediction that proves true every year is that Duke will flop. Somewhere Jim Boeheim is tearing off his sports jacket and getting ejected before he even finishes reading this article. Somewhere else, C.J. Fair is nodding approvingly.

Mike Krzyzewski deserves some respect, if not for the number of wins, at least for the way he turned around a sinking USA Basketball program. Coach K also deserves criticism with the way he encourages his Duke players to take charges, even if it means flopping to draw a whistle. Coach K even employs an assistant coach to keep a running tally of charges taken.

The problem with flopping is that it is a cowardly style less talented players employ to their advantage. Christian Laettner, Cherokee Parks, Shane Battier and Greg Paulus all lacked athleticism, so they settled for compromising the safety of their more athletic opponents by undercutting airborne sky-walkers and whining when the referees rejected their Hollywood auditions.

The other problem with flopping is that it takes post-players out of position, giving real men free, unencumbered layups. Every drop-step is not a violent shoulder to the chest, Miles Plumlee. Flopping also puts Duke at a distinct disadvantage on the glass. It is noticeably more difficult to grab a rebound from a seated position. Duke was resoundingly beaten on the boards in seven out of the nine losses that it suffered in the 2013-2014 season.

The worst problem about Duke flopping is that it only contributes to Duke’s reputation as a floor-slapping, referee-kissing, pretentious program better suited for the LSATs than the NBA. Before Duke fans become indignant and start mocking North Carolina‘s academic scandal, ask Paulus how Danny Green’s shorts taste.

To the NCAA’s credit, there have been attempts to curtail this unseemly behavior. Last season, the NCAA implemented a rule that precluded a defender from moving into the path of an offensive player once the offensive player started an upward motion with the ball, regardless of whether that motion was to shoot or pass. In theory, an offensive player not yet airborne, but in the process of making an upward motion, would be entitled to a block call. In reality, the rule change had little impact on the now-institutionalized philosophy of flopping (see Marcus Smart).

With the benefit of having another year to implement the new rule, expect officials to crack down on flopping, unless, of course, the flopping is committed by Duke.

Zachary Fowler, Esquire is an ACC Basketball Blogger for www.RantSports.com.