Tuesday, February 08, 2000
It's new faces but old winning ways at Duke
Freshmen fill void of players now in NBA
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DURHAM, N.C. — The games were over, the bus was rolling and somebody cracked a joke. Jason Williams laughed out loud, which turned out to be a far greater mistake than any of the 12 turnovers he committed in his first two nights as Duke's point guard.
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ABOUT THE SERIES
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For the next five weeks, The Enquirer will profile teams likely to battle the University of Cincinnati Bearcats for the national championship. Today's featured foe: Duke.
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“Shane Battier just went off on us,” Williams said. “He said, "Hey, we just lost two games. That's as many games as we lost last year.' It kind of makes you think.”
Since opening with an 0-2 record, losing to Stanford and Connecticut at the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic, the Blue Devils have won 18 in a row, nine of them in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
For all the basketball knowledge coach Mike Krzyzewski was able to deliver to his freshmen between the start of practice Oct.15 and the first game of the season Nov. 11, they might have learned just as much about Duke basketball in that one Battier harangue.
It does not matter that four of last year's Blue Devils wound up as first-round NBA draft choices. It does not matter that this year's team has two freshmen in the starting lineup and three among the six players in its current rotation. It does not matter that if that rotation is to expand in February, the players who will enhance Duke's depth will likely be rookies. No one here expects to lose.
Battier, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, has played for Duke teams with a composite 87-8 record. Krzyzewski coached the Blue Devils to two national championships, six NCAA title games and eight Final Fours.
“We're learning now,” Williams said. “We're learning that losing sucks, a lot, and is not accepted here. We're starting to grow up.”
TheBlue Devils have put together their winning streak without a true center and with little help from the bench.
Their list of non-conference wins is not overwhelming, which is why the Ratings Percentage Index ranks their schedule 27th, but extending their dominance of the ACC to 31 consecutive victories has made it difficult for anyone to doubt their accomplishments.
The thing about it is, Duke doesn't care. It keeps working to improve even as the victories and recognition accumulate.
Following an overtime win at rival North Carolina late last Thursday, the Blue Devils focused on defeating Virginia at home two days later and scored 65 points in the first half of a 106-86 victory.
“A lot of teams, when they put together a few wins, they stop looking to improve,” Battier said. “We look at ourselves very objectively, very realistically. We know we're playing well right now, but we can be better.”
Duke's weaknesses are obvious. The Blue Devils can't find a consistent contributor from beyond their top six players, which means they could wear down. And they aren't much on the boards, getting only 1.6 more rebounds than their oppo nents and giving up 16.2 offensive rebounds per game.
“We're playing good defense, but it may not look like it because we're giving up a lot of offensive boards,” Battier said. “If we can defensively rebound, close up that exchange, it'll give us the confidence to become a better team.”
With six former McDonald's All-Americans on its roster, Duke has plenty of offensive talent, and just the kind Krzyzewski prefers.
Senior Chris Carrawell and freshman Mike Dunleavy are the sort of attacking wings he's always employed to drive the ball at the goal and break down the defense. Big men Battier and Carlos Boozer, a 6-9, 260-pound freshmen, can shoot from the perimeter as well as do the required work inside.
It's also indispensible that Duke's offense be directed by a quality point guard. That was missing when the Blue Devils struggled in the mid-1990s, but Williams gives them a shooter and creator at the position.
“I don't see any weaknesses,” said North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge. “It's just unbelievable the job Mike has done, and also you need to give credit to Battier, Carrawell and James. They've helped bring these freshmen along.”
Williams, adjusting to playing point guard, is still learning and turns over the ball more than is ideal — his assist/turnover ratio is 1.2-to-1 — but is shooting .515 the past six games and has averaged 6.2 assists in ACC games.
At the start of his Duke career, playing those two games so close to home in Madison Square Garden, Williams admits he was “scared” to play.
After those two losses, the freshmen met and talked about emphathizing with the upperclassmen, who had grown accustomed to success and were committed to continuing.
“I was more worried about performing bad and having our team look bad. I didn't have the kind of eagerness, the sense of urgency that our upperclassmen had,” Williams said. “One thing that our team does have now that we didn't have at the beginning — we have such a desire to win.”
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