To me, if you're the best team, your expectations should be to take the whole thing down. UNC was the favorite at the start, they were probably the favorite (or at worst, 2nd to Kansas) at the start of the tournament and they were the prohibitive favorite going into the final 4. The entire population of IC was already clearing a spot in the trophy case.
Not saying fans should be mad about things went (1 game scenario, anything can happen) but statements like "UNC did better this year than I expected" (not to pick on Construx) seem like post-game hedging.
I'll say it right now....even if Allen doesn't come back, anything less than a title will be a disappointment for Duke next year.(barring something unforeseen like Harry Giles' knee not bouncing back) Now, if they get to the finals and lose to Kentucky on a buzzer beater, it wouldn't be fair to disappointed in the team, but the result itself will be a MAJOR letdown.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Seriously, everybody's got their own way of approaching sports and their teams, and that's their right. But to me anyone who assumes that their team should win something simply because they are the favorites over any other single team in a large field: (1) has no understanding of probabilities and (2) is setting themselves up for a miserable existence as a sports fan.
All favorites are not created equal. Warriors fans at this point would reasonably be disappointed if they don't win the title this year, with odds around -200, a trophy from last year already on the shelf, and presumably other opportunities to come in the near future. Cubs fans, who back a team that's around +800 to win it all, hasn't been to the World Series since 1945, and hasn't even won a division title since 2008, would have to be sadistic to take the same approach.
UNC obviously isn't the Cubs, but given the unpredictable nature of college basketball's single elimination tournaments and the Heels' recent drought of Final Fours and ACC tournament titles (2009 and 2008 respectively before this year) they obviously aren't the Warriors either. To my knowledge UNC was never better than +700 win the title before the tournament started. If you can't be happy unless your team beats 7-1 odds, even if they beat underdog odds twice to win the conference tournament and reach the Final Four before that, you're essentially deciding that you want to be unhappy. I don't understand why anyone would ever do that.
Duke is a little different, of course. Duke and Kentucky are going to be perennial contenders as long as the one and done nonsense continues. Having maybe 4-1 odds in your good years and maybe 15-1 in your "down" years would change anyone's perspective.