Coach K, Unknown Miami Fan Star in “The Case of the Kooky Conch Shell”

There are normal ways for college basketball crowds to vainly try to have an impact on skilled basketball players and hardened referees who have spent years plying their trades in front of loud and volatile crowds. Such methods include the time-honored “AIR BALL!” serenade for a poor shooter, chants about bovine excrement directed at the guys in stripes, and the occasional personalized jibe, the level of which is usually dependent on the student section’s collective blood alcohol level at the time.Blowing a conch shell horn while wearing a foam elephant head is not normal. And yet, that happened, during Duke’s 81-74 win at Miami on Wednesday.

As a Floridian who has been to and has friends from Miami, and a son to a woman born there, I feel confident asserting that this is not a typical occurrence. The lack of a mention in Miami’s student paper’s game report also suggests that this fan is not a perennial pest, but a one-time offender with just a blip of brilliance to his name.

(Updates: Commenter jkmiami informed us that the student has brought the horn to games before, but not every game, and That Fan found him -- he’s Miami senior Joey DiFrancesco -- for an interview.)

And so, my hat’s off to some kid who thought that a horn made from a conch shell was going to unnerve Mike Krzyzewski, snuck it into the game (I’m guessing under that elephant head) and got his hypothesis verified by Coach K’s swift move to remove the horn from the stands. You got yourself on SportsCenter, dude, and you did it with way more class than Mississippi State and West Virginia fans have demonstrated of late. Creativity of this kind should be applauded for its cheek and concision. Just don’t do the same trick twice.

(HTs to NESW Sports and The Dagger.)↵