Monday, March 22, 1999
Wise old owl Chaney can accept this loss
The Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The rings under John Chaney's eyes seemed deeper and darker than before, etched there like a basketball purple heart, earned trying to figure out a way to deal with Duke.
This is not the recommended treatment for a 67-year-old man fighting the flu.
The Temple coach looked exhausted Sunday, a black scarf slung around his neck, a futile acknowledgment of the lingering illness he endured during the NCAA tournament's East Regional.
The flu was bad. The 85-64 battering administered by the Blue Devils didn't exactly help.
This was textbook stuff. Chaney chose to shut off the inside early against Elton Brand. So the Dukies did the logical thing. They went outside to Trajan Langdon, whose shots found the basket as if drawn by a magnet.
“They had enough intelligence,” Chaney said, smiling thinly through the sniffles. “Once they found out we were diving, covering back and forth to Brand, they opened it up. They had five guys outside and nobody inside. Then they had four guys outside and one inside.
“They've got wisdom. You don't get wisdom till you get old, like me.”
Chaney came into this game convinced Temple had a chance to derail the Duke locomotive that now has won a school-record 31 consecutive games.
He told his team that he stayed up half the night, thinking of how to win, preparing to win.
“You never prepare a team to lose,” he said. “You can see death a thousand times, but you never prepare for death and you never prepare to lose.
“I thought in our bracket, the only team with a chance to beat Duke was our team. We work from the beginning to de velop will and discipline and a feeling for each other. We work on character building.”
All those good things took Temple only so far.
Chaney did as much as he could on the sidelines. The tie came loose early, unknotted this time to show the urgency of the situation. The jacket was shed as Duke methodically wore down the matchup zone that had befuddled so many other teams.
Time after time, the Blue Devils found Langdon open for three-pointers. It's not like Chaney didn't know about the fifth-year senior's long-range shooting ability.
“He only needs to look through a hole in a needle to see the basket,” he said. “He's as pure a shooter as I've seen in basketball. He's just that good.”
As Duke lengthened its lead, Chaney became more exasperated. One of Langdon's threes sent him to his knees, pleading for help from some place, any place.
Temple knew what was coming. The Owls just couldn't do much about it.
“Our teams are similar but his has better athletes,” Chaney said, referring to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I just hope whoever plans to beat them believes in the Lord.”
As the clock wound down, it was clear there wasn't much Temple could do about a Duke team that seems just too good. Chaney saw the inevitable coming and accepted it.
Losing is never painless. Yet the pain wasn't quite as fierce on Sunday for Chaney.
“There's a class about that team that I expect from my team,” he said of Duke.” It's not "Shazamm,' and it happens. Sometimes you can make winners out of people.”
MARCH MADNESS PAGE
