ESPN Men's Basketball

It's been four years since the class of 2006 washed ashore on the college hoops coastline. You may remember the biggest names: Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. took Ohio State to the precipice of a national championship. Kevin Durant had one of the most impressive freshman seasons in the history of college basketball. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington brought North Carolina back to the top. The list goes on.

And goes on, and goes on. Draft Express' Jonathan Givony took a retrospective look at the high school class of 2006 based on draft success and college career. The list is -- well, it's kind of insane, honestly. There are a ton of really good players, many of whom have already gone on to the NBA draft, but just as many whose greatest hoops impact was felt in the college ranks.

It would be folly to list each of these players out, but here's a sampling of the players ranked 20-30 in the class of 06: Robin Lopez, Lance Thomas, Mike Conley Jr., Duke Crews, Earl Clark, Brian Zoubek, DaJuan Summers, Quincy Pondexter, Jon Scheyer, Davon Jefferson, D.J. Augustin. That list of 10 is representative of the class in general: There are a few misses here and there, players whose recruiting ranking never really matched their production, but far more frequent is a player that had a big-time impact on the college hoops world.

Scottie Reynolds is listed at No. 38. Hasheem Thabeet is listed at No. 64. Matt Bouldin is No. 65. Greivis Vasquez is No. 93. (No. 93!) Russell Westbrook is No. 114. Ekpe Udoh is No. 153.

Told you it was crazy. Of course, take a look for yourself, and make it a long one; it'll be some time before we see another recruiting class quite this good.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski made the call for Brian Zoubek to purposely miss his second free throw attempt rather than have him try to put the Blue Devils up by three with 3.6 seconds to go.

Butler's Gordon Hayward got the rebound and his halfcourt heave nearly won the national championship for the Bulldogs.

Today in an interview on the Dan Patrick Show, Krzyzewski defended his decision, explaining that given the situation, going into overtime was "not an alternative" for Duke since Zoubek and Lance Thomas were playing with four fouls.

"If it goes into overtime, it’s not a good situation for us with David and Goliath, and we’re playing an away game," Krzyzewski said. "We’re in foul trouble.

"I think we lose. Not the defeatist attitude, but we have a better chance of losing if that extreme happens and a better shot of winning if the extreme that occurred happened."

Krzyzewski said it wasn't an easy decision for him to make and one he had plenty of time to think through. He called playing for overtime "conservative" and instead went for the win.

"It turned out right," he said. "It turned out well. I don’t think you can say one is right and one is wrong. It’s always the thing that turns out well that turns out to be right."

INDIANAPOLIS -- After his players left the podium at Monday night's postgame press conference, Mike Krzyzewski reflected on what he'd just seen.

"The game was so good that anybody could have won," he said of the Duke's 61-59 victory. "I don't think we were lucky to win because we earned it. But there is something ..."

Krzyzewski trailed off, took a second, and began to speak again.

"I think we won because of these guys," he said. "And as good as the Butler story is, was, and will be, our story is pretty good too."

You have to hand it to him. When the man's right, he's right.

Duke's story is good. That goes for the off-the-court stuff Coach K was referring to, of course -- the success of players who aren't likely to make much money playing basketball at the next level, but who represent the Platonic ideal of smart, veteran college hoopsters. That also goes for the special relationship Coach K shared with his players, for Coach K's legacy, for the redemption story of Brian Zoubek, who spent two summers on crutches before making the key plays in the final seconds of a classic national championship game.

But just as interesting as all that is the way this Duke team developed on the floor throughout the season -- most noticeably in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. We shouldn't be surprised the Blue Devils won the title. They were this good. Here's why:

Offensive rebounding. This is the stat that pushed Duke over the top, morphing an already good offense into a brutally efficient one in March and April. Duke was the sixth-most effective team in the country at rebounding its own misses over the course of the season, and at 16.8 second-chance points per game, the Blue Devils were the best team in the NCAA tournament at converting those rebounds into points (stat courtesy of ESPN Stats and Information). In the first half of Monday night's game, Duke didn't get to the offensive boards, grabbing only 20 percent of its misses. But in the second half, the Devils grabbed eight offensive rebounds, good for 47.1 percent, and subsequently scored eight points. It was a fitting end to Duke's tournament run. The Blue Devils won with offensive rebounding yet again.

Offense in general, actually. Duke scored 1.24 points per possession this season, a potency that showed up in the Blue Devils' torrid performance against West Virginia on Saturday night. It wasn't evident on Monday -- Butler's defense held Duke to its third-lowest point total of the year and a mere 1.0 points per possession, an OK tally for an average team but a Saharan drought in comparison to the Blue Devils' usual rainmaking. But there is no discussing this Duke team without reiterating just how good they were on offense all season long. Rebounding and all, offense got the Dukies here. And then ...

Interior defense. Duke was probably a little underrated on the defensive side of the ball for much of the season. Maybe it was hard to see this team's defensive quality in comparison to that offensive juggernaut. Maybe it was because these Blue Devils didn't have a signature defender like the vintage Duke teams of the past. But this group finished the season with the No. 3 most efficient defense in the country, and it was interior defense that won the game for Duke on Monday night. Butler had, count 'em, 11 missed layups in its loss. Duke had seven blocks in its win. Zoubek, Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas and even the Plumlees made everything difficult for Butler when it got into the paint, which helped lead to an eight-minute stretch in the second half when Butler was held without a field goal.

Brian Zoubek. Two questions: Does Duke win this national title without Zoubek? And, four months ago, if I had told you that I'd be writing that question from deep within the bowels of Lucas Oil Stadium on April 5, would you have believed me? No and no. But it's true: Zoubek's sudden transformation from a disappointing, lumbering big man into an interior terror -- especially on the offensive glass -- turned Duke from a good team with a vague chance of postseason success into a thoroughly dominating one. Zoubek did it again Monday night. He grabbed six offensive rebounds in the game, four of which came at key moments in the second half. Zoubek gave the Dukies the kind of size and interior presence most programs only dream of, the kind of ability he promised when he first arrived in Durham. Four years and two foot surgeries later, Zoubek just made me write the first two questions in this paragraph. Here's a third: How crazy is that?

Of course the big three of Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith deserve most of the credit; they provided the backbone for what this team would accomplish. But Zoubek was the X-factor. He made Duke a different team. He rewrote his story -- and his team's -- in the process.

"It means a lot to me," Zoubek said. "It's really hard to imagine being in this position when you spend two summers on crutches. People told me to keep fighting. It's hard to believe sometimes that good things are going to happen."

They did.

OK, so Duke's story doesn't have the appeal of Butler's. But whose does? Coach K's right. This team -- and its story -- were pretty darn good, too.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Quick thoughts from the first half of Duke-Butler.

• Butler held a 20-18 lead with 7:54 left in the first half.

• The crowd is pro-Butler, much more so than Saturday night. So far I’d give this an A for atmosphere. It has lived up to the hype of having a homecourt advantage.

• Both teams are playing defense at a high level. You can’t fault the defense when Kyle Singler and Zach Hahn make deep 3-pointers.

• Love how aggressive Matt Howard was in trying to score, draw fouls and get rebounds. But he really struggled to finish at the hoop and at the free-throw line.

• Shelvin Mack is one of the elite guards in the country. We should have all seen that when he played for a gold medal last summer for the Under-19 USA team. Mack took over the game for a few possessions to rescue Butler from getting too far behind.

• Gordon Hayward has struggled to find his shot early, but that’s OK considering the surprise points from Hahn and Shawn Vanzant.

• Lance Thomas got into early foul trouble with two. That’s OK since Duke’s depth inside is its best.

• We can only hope it stays close for the final 32 minutes.

INDIANAPOLIS -- We're less than a day away from Butler-Duke, the mother of all David-Goliath matchups, which means it's time to get ready. What should you watch for? What are the keys to the game? Here are 10 things -- stats, people, and even a member of the K-9 kingdom -- sure to make an appearance at Lucas Oil stadium as we crown the 2010 champions Monday night.

1. One storyline to rule them all. In 2010, it's easy for a sports fan to be jaded. In our modern world, where seemingly inconsequential sports contests are drowned by layer upon layer of analysis, fun storylines are uncovered, chewed up, spit out, and discarded atop so many others the minute we grow tired of them. It's just how it works.

But Butler's miracle run to the precipice of sporting history is one that will stand the test of time. You don't need me to reiterate how large the gulf is between Duke and Butler when it comes to resources, tradition, and profile. What's interesting about Butler's run, though, is that it would be just as awe-inspiring if the Bulldogs were playing West Virginia or Baylor. A mid-major team from Indiana with a bunch of under-recruited, disrespected players -- which just so happens to play its home games in a historic arena that provided the backdrop for the most famous basketball upset of all-time and the film ("Hoosiers") that lionized it -- playing for its first NCAA title in its basketball-obsessed hometown? Come on. Be cynical if you want, but you'll be the only one. The whole thing is just too cool.

2. Size matters. Once the ball is tipped, the pregame storylines will fade away, and what you see on the court will matter most. What, exactly, will you see? You'll see the tallest Duke team of coach Mike Krzyzewski's career take on a team with three players in its rotation -- one of which, Matt Howard, has been in foul trouble for much of this tournament and might not play in the first place; more on that below -- that stand 6-foot-8 or taller. The other two are Gordon Hayward and Avery Jukes, both are capable rebounders, but neither have the size to match up with Brian Zoubek, Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas, and the brothers Plumlee on the interior. Hayward will likely spend much of his time harassing Singler. Butler has given up size before in this tournament, but never this sort of size, and never to a team that banged the offensive rebounds quite so hard. Can the Bulldogs stand up to that test?

3. Matt Howard has to play. Howard's presence could be a major difference for Duke. The former Horizon League player of the year has had a rough postseason, playing a combined eight minutes in the last two first halves because he got into foul trouble. Saturday, Howard suffered what may or may not be a minor concussion. (Butler coach Brad Stevens wouldn't confirm either way on Sunday.) Howard was woozy and couldn't return Saturday night and he has been classified as a game-time decision by Butler's staff. If Howard can play, and Butler needs him to, he will have to stay out of foul trouble. Or that whole size problem gets much, much more drastic.

4. Jon Scheyer is playing just fine, thanks. During the regular season, Duke's big three never really seemed to put it together. Scheyer stormed to the best start, earning a few early player of the year plaudits while Singler struggled to find his stroke. Then, when Singler began to take over games down the stretch, Scheyer was noticeably slumping, even in the first few rounds of the NCAA tournament. Scheyer's broken the mold in his last two games, scoring 23 and 20 points against West Virginia and Baylor, respectively, and looking as calm and in rhythm as at any point during the season.

5. Which is where Butler's guards come in. The trio of Shelvin Mack, Ronald Nored, and Shawn Vanzant have brutalized opposing guards on the defensive end in this tournament. UTEP's Randy Culpepper. Syracuse's Andy Rautins. Kansas State's Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. Michigan State's Korie Lucious. In each of their five NCAA tournament wins, Butler's guards made life extremely difficult for a pair of players absolutely crucial to their opponents' success. Can they do the same to Scheyer and Nolan Smith?

6. Will Duke push the pace? Butler's strategy is clear. It wants to play ugly. Actually, ugly isn't strong enough. It wants to play a game that can barely be called basketball, a game so slow and defensive that it doesn't matter if they shoot 15-of-49 and ignore the offensive boards, as they did against Michigan State. Duke isn't a particularly fast team, either. They prefer to grind out wins, grabbing rebounds, getting putbacks, and using their size and silky half-court offense to demoralize the opposition. Butler has been able to make some very good, very talented teams play its style, and none of those teams managed 60 points against the Bulldogs in this tournament. Duke may not want to fast-break, but they will want to push the ball up the floor and try to get open looks in the secondary break before Nored and company have a chance to get into that smothering half-court man-to-man defense.

7. Jimmy Chitwood is in the building. If Butler is Hickory High, then Hayward is Jimmy Chitwood -- the team's one true star. (If you prefer Milan High to Hickory, then Hayward is Bobby Plump, the real-life Chitwood. Semantics.) One funny thing about Butler's underdog status is that Hayward isn't just Butler's star, a very good player on a team of average ones. Hayward was the highest-ranked NBA prospect of any player in the Final Four. You'd expect Duke to have the pro talent, but with the exception of Singler, none of Coach K's players are likely to get a whiff of the NBA. Hayward will. Before that, though, he has a chance to become every bit as famous as Plump/Chitwood, writing the perfect final chapter to an already brilliant story. The 6-foot-8 forward came through on Saturday night. Will Hayward grab the pen again?

8. Blue II, too. Even with Hayward doing his Chitwood-esque thing, let's not forget who the real star of the Final Four has been: Blue II, Butler's bulldog mascot. He rocks a clean Nike sweater, garners an introduction along with the team, and specializes in sitting in one place and looking really, really cute for extended periods of time. Other strengths include: drinking water enthusiastically, destroying boxes with opponents' logos on them. Needs to work on: lateral quickness, not running onto the court during open practice. Projected draft position (in the arbitrary Eamonn Brennan awesomeness draft): lottery.

9. Butler's defensive end will determine this game. It can't be much simpler than that. What happens when Duke has the ball in the half court offense will be the final difference. The Bulldogs have proven over and over that they don't need to score points to win games. They don't even have to shoot 30 percent. What they do have to do is slow down that Duke offense, keep them from getting open looks, find a way to block out Zoubek and keep the Blue Devils off the offensive glass -- and, as above, harass Duke's guards -- the Bulldogs have a chance. But if Duke comes out and plays like they did against West Virginia -- efficient, in control, smooth, smart -- what happens on the other end of the floor isn't going to make a bit of difference.

10. Stevens vs. Krzyzewski. How must it feel to be Stevens right now? At his news conference Sunday, Stevens said the difference between he and the coaches he's faced in this tournament -- Jim Boeheim, Tom Izzo, and now Mike Krzyzewski -- is that "they write books and I get to read them." That sums it up pretty well. Stevens, the second-youngest coach ever to make the final game, will be facing a man 30 years his elder, one who has already won three NCAA titles, been to eight national championship games, participated in 11 Final Fours and is a near-guarantee to overtake his mentor Bob Knight's all-time Division I wins record before his career ends. Ironically, Coach K, the old, experienced hand, will be the more lively of the two on the sideline; Stevens' sideline demeanor is as calm as any coach's in the country. It's yet another difference between the two, whose resumes, ages, and styles are every bit as different as their programs.

It's a classic matchup. If we're lucky, it will be a classic game.

INDIANAPOLIS – Walk-on Casey Peters left Duke’s practice down a tooth the other day, the latest casualty in the skirmishes that have become commonplace for the Blue Devils this season.

“It seems like every practice, someone leaves bleeding,’’ Brian Zoubek said.

Once labeled soft, Duke has changed its tenor this season, allowing its size to redefine the image of the program. The Blue Devils don’t always shoot the ball, but they always rebound it.

This season Duke is beating its opponents on the boards by an average of seven rebounds per game, but it’s on the offensive glass that has really been the difference. The Devils average 14 offensive rebounds per game.

In a 78-57 win against West Virginia, the Blue Devils shot 53 percent and still pulled down 11 offensive rebounds.

Think about that.

Duke barely missed yet still managed a 19 to 7 edge on second-chance points, including scoring the first 17 second-chance points of the game.

“We rebound the heck out of the ball,’’ Lance Thomas said. “If they miss, we’re going to rebound it and kick it back out to them. They aren’t going to miss twice too often.’’

Rebounding isn’t something that just comes upon a team like some sort of midnight inspiration. It’s an attitude and it has to be honed.

For Duke, that’s happened at practice.

“We go at it,’’ Thomas said. “It’s ugly. We really suffer and push it to the brink. Sometimes there’s some scuffles’’

Zoubek, who now gets a ‘Zoooo’ chant from the Duke faithful just for snagging a board, dresses more like a lineman than a center – thigh pads, knee pads, arm bands – and has become the angrier face of the once placid Duke team.

His 10 rebounds against WVU were every bit as critical as the points scored by the big three of Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer.

“It’s hard. You have to learn to love it,’’ Zoubek said. “I think for a while we didn’t understand that you had to work that hard. Now we recognize it’s all for a reason. We’re here and it’s well worth it.’’

INDIANAPOLIS –- It was two years ago, but the memories are pretty fresh.

And so are the postgame quotes.

West Virginia didn’t just beat Duke in the 2008 NCAA tournament.

It beat Duke up, beat Duke down, beat Duke sideways. And then the Mountaineers mocked the Blue Devils on the way to the Sweet 16.

At one point in the game, Joe Mazzulla got down and slapped the floor, Dukie style. (“A spur-of-the-moment thing,” Mazzulla said.) And several WVU players remarked after the 73-67 victory how unimpressed they were with the blue-blood Blue Devils.

Mountaineers forward Wellington Smith: “It's just a name on the front of a jersey,” he said. “It's not like they have Jason Williams or Carlos Boozer anymore.”

Mountaineers star Joe Alexander, after crushing Duke 45-19 on the glass: “We knew that coming in that they were just going to stand around and not rebound, so we were ready to exploit that.”

Mountaineers reserve Cam Thoroughman, when told that point guard Greg Paulus was one of eight McDonald’s All-Americans on the Duke roster: “Oh my God. Are you kidding?”

West Virginia did everything but graffiti Cameron Indoor Stadium and draw a mustache on Mike Krzyzewski (the latter disrespect was performed Friday by the Indianapolis Star). And there was nothing the Devils could do about it.

It’s safe to say that Duke has not forgotten.

“I definitely remember the game,” senior guard Jon Scheyer said. “You do remember parts of what people say.”

Anyone think those quotes might have found their way onto the Duke locker room bulletin boards? Maybe?

“Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I am,” Thoroughman said Friday. “But that doesn't bother me too much. That's OK with me.”

Thoroughman said his ’08 comments weren’t “supposed to be for the media. I didn't mean to disrespect anybody.” But he did. And you can be sure that Duke is making a big deal about it, as every team would in that situation.

“Of course we want to beat a team that knocked us out two years ago,” Scheyer said. “Who wouldn’t? That’s our approach.”

Duke certainly will be eager to show how much it has grown up since that whipping in Washington, D.C. Especially inside. The finesse Blue Devils team that was mauled on the backboard then looks much more rugged now.

Duke has pulled down a whopping 63 offensive rebounds on 125 missed shots this NCAA tournament and is a plus-45 on the glass through four games. The Devils’ two senior big men, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas, have gotten bigger and better, and they are buttressed by brothers Miles and Mason Plumlee off the bench.

“They’re a lot more aggressive on the boards this year, especially offensively,” said West Virginia’s Da'Sean Butler. “Zoubek and Lance Thomas and (Kyle) Singler do a great job of just attacking offensive boards. For us to be successful this year, I believe we need to neutralize that, make sure we don’t let them get to the offensive glass as much as they usually do. Coach said they’re the best on the offensive glass that we’ve played all year.”

The Mountaineers, of course, aren’t too bad in that department either. Ken Pomeroy’s stats rate them the No. 2 offensive rebounding team in the country. So this figures to be quite the Toughman Contest in the paint.

The question is this: If it tilts West Virginia’s way again, will Mazzulla slap the floor once more?

“Depends on how the game goes,” he said.

HOUSTON -- A quick look to the Elite Eight matchup in the South Region, where the last Final Four ticket will be awarded:

Key to the game: The battle on the boards just might decide who goes to the Final Four. Between Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas, the Plumlee brothers, Ekpe Udoh and Josh Lomers, there’s more than enough heft in the post to make things interesting.

In its first three games of this NCAA tournament, Duke is outrebounding its opponents by an average of 14.3 boards per game. That not only leads to easy putbacks, but it extends Duke’s possessions. Never was that more important than against slow-down Purdue, when the Blue Devils topped the Boilers by 21 on the backboards.

Baylor, meanwhile, is up eight boards per game on opponents and really took it to Omar Samhan and Saint Mary’s in the Sweet 16. The Bears topped the Gaels by 12 on the boards, but it was their 14 offensive rebounds that really made the difference.

“We can’t jump with them,’’ Thomas said. “We’re going to have to put bodies on them and let them know it’s going to be a game for 40 minutes.’’

Player to watch: Kyle Singler. He has been the difference maker for the Blue Devils, especially as Jon Scheyer has struggled in this NCAA tournament (just 6-for-26 from the arc). Singler is 13-for-22 outside of the paint, while his teammates are only 19-of-58. He’s also drained eight 3-pointers, and against Baylor’s zone, his ability or inability to get off a good shot will drastically affect Duke’s chances.

“I don’t know if he’s an X factor, but he’s probably an A, B, C, D, E, F, G factor,’’ Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Singler is one of the best players in the nation for a reason. He’s tremendous. He’s been playing great basketball and he’s a great player.’

Who has the edge: It’s open season on No. 1 seeds (perhaps West Virginia feels less unhappy about the perceived slight now?), and I think Duke might just fall into the heap as well. I expect a close game and a well-played matchup, but I’m not sure that the Blue Devils have what it takes to counter the athleticism of the Bears’ guards. If LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter can shoot it, I think Baylor makes its first Final Four since 1950.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nolan Smith never slapped the floor.

But had the Duke guard chosen to go that route on Sunday, well even the most hardened Blue Devils haters might have cut him some slack. Smith's defensive effort against California star Jerome Randle set the tone for his team's incident-free, 68-53 second-round NCAA Tournament victory.

Randle was the Pac-10 player of the year, an explosive scorer because of his speed and nearly unlimited shooting range. Against Duke and Smith, though, he finished with just 12 points, including only one field goal after halftime.

Smith also had his way on the other end, scoring a game-high 20 points.

"Nolan, he just dominated that matchup," Blue Devils forward Lance Thomas said. "Randle had nothing for him. He took the initiative and picked him up from three-quarters of the court and let him know it was going to be a fight all game. And Nolan knocked him out."

Duke has been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by the round of 16 in seven of the past eight years and in each of the past five seasons. Its hopes of going longer seem stronger this time, largely because of defense.

The Blue Devils allowed just 61.7 points per game in the regular season, its lowest total since 1950. First-round opponent Arkansas-Pine Bluff mustered just 44 points, while Cal -- which came in averaging 78 points per game -- was held to its lowest score since Feb. 28, 2008.

Defense is why Duke could get nothing from Jon Scheyer, miss 14 of its 17 3-point shots -- a harbinger of tournament death in the recent past -- and still win.

"I don't know if we'll go any further, but this is a better team because it can play total defense," Krzyzewski said. "I mean, someone will say in the past, they relied on the 3-point shot. Well, what else were we going to rely on?

"This team is better. It's not a great team, but it's an excellent defensive team."

That defense starts with Smith, who takes on the challenge of guarding the other team's main ball handler every night. His assignment on Sunday loomed as one of his more daunting tasks, and Randle scored seven points in the first 10 minutes, including a pair of layups.

"I got really upset with myself," Smith said.

From then on, though, Randle was the one feeling bad about things. Smith smacked the ball away as Randle tried to attempt a last-second shot before the half. Randle went just 1-for-5 in the second half while Smith wore him down on offense in what Krzyzewski called "a marvelous performance."

"I wanted to pick him up as early as I could," Smith said. "I've seen films where he'd come up and shoot from 30 feet while guys are backpedaling. Today I was just up in him. He had to look at me before he looked at the rim tonight."

Duke has always prided itself at guarding the perimeter, even if some of its guards were limited athletically. Now Krzyzewski has a ferocious on-ball defender in Smith and length with guys like Kyle Singler, Thomas and 7-foot-1 center Brian Zoubek, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday. Even if they get beat off the dribble, the Blue Devils now have confidence that someone on the back line will swat away the shot or take a charge.

And that has the team thinking bigger things than the Sweet 16 this year.

"If we defend and rebound, I think we can beat anyone," Thomas said. "I don't care who we play. If we stick to our defensive game plan, we can take anyone out."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nolan Smith acknowledged it's hard to walk around Duke's campus or anywhere in Durham without somebody asking when the Blue Devils will make another deep NCAA tournament run.

"People definitely try and put a lot of pressure on us," Smith said. "You just look at them and say, 'OK, we'll try.'"

Duke fans are understandably anxious to see their team get back to its traditional March success. They used to be able to count on Final Four runs arriving more frequently than congressional elections, as the Blue Devils reached the tournament's final weekend 10 times between 1986 and 2004.

But the program that used to own this month has fallen on hard times, relatively speaking. Only once since the 2001 title has it gotten past the Sweet 16, and the Blue Devils have not beaten a team seeded higher than fifth since that championship run. No one on the current roster has ever won a game beyond the first weekend, which would make for some awkward chit-chat at future team reunions.

"That's why we came to Duke," junior forward Kyle Singler. "You want to be the team that makes it to the Final Four."

So is this year's edition that ends the dry spell, or is it just another overrated, overseeded Duke squad destined to fall short? Critics have already wondered if the Blue Devils were more deserving than West Virginia of a No. 1 seed, and their path to Indianapolis couldn't offer much less resistance. With a weak No. 2 seed in Villanova -- which needed overtime to beat Robert Morris on Thursday -- and a No. 4 seed in Purdue that's missing its best player (the injured Robbie Hummel), everybody agrees that the Blue Devils got the most favorable draw in its South Region. Well, everybody but Mike Krzyzewski.

"It has nothing to do with anything," Krzyzewski said when asked about the perception that his team has it made. "It doesn't mean anything, and you can't focus on things like that."

Duke's players don't want to focus on their recent disappointments either, but it's a subject that's hard to avoid.

"We haven't made a run [lately] and that's a fact, but you can't worry about that," Singler said. "It's just something that you have to accept."

This year's team went 29-5 and won the ACC regular season and tournament titles but was blown out in its toughest nonconference game, at Georgetown. And it was a down year in the ACC.

On the plus side, recent Blue Devils teams relied almost exclusively on the perimeter shot and got pushed around by bigger and more athletic teams. This year's Duke is more effective inside with the emergence of senior Brian Zoubek as a rebounding force, as well as 6-foot-10 freshman Mason Plumlee. The Blue Devils led the ACC in rebounding margin (plus-6.0) for the first time in 21 years. They also allowed just 61.7 points per game, their lowest amount in 60 years.

So even if one or more of the team's Big Three -- Singler, Smith and Jon Scheyer -- aren't hitting the outside shot, this team has other options.

"We've had games where we shot terrible but still won the game by 15 points," Smith said. "And that's because of defense and rebounding."

Friday's first-round game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff doesn't figure to offer too stiff of a challenge, but the Golden Lions are at least mentally tough. They opened their season 0-11 while playing on the road against the likes of Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Arizona State. They didn't play their first home game until Jan. 16, yet they went on to win the SWAC and handily beat Winthrop in Tuesday's opening-round game.

"I looked at [the schedule] and I asked coach, 'Where are the home games?'" senior guard Terrence Calvin said. "But I think it was good for us."

Perhaps it's fitting that Duke begins its latest tournament against a team whose initials -- APB -- could represent a search call for the Blue Devils' previous success. If this team with this draw can't make a deep run, it's fair to ask when it will happen again.

"We're not trying to make up for what we did the past three years," Duke senior Lance Thomas said. "This is a new team, and we're just going to take that and keep moving forward."

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- If Duke is going to amount to a real threat later in March -- if the Blue Devils are going to be a team you can confidently advance on your bracket -- then they have to start to play smarter, poised and with even more energy away from Cameron Indoor Stadium.

That’s why beating Boston College Saturday at Conte Forum, regardless of how it occurred, was a must for the Blue Devils.

Duke is something at home, clearly the top team this season in its own building (yes, Kansas has the win streak but the Jayhawks get pushed more at home than the Devils). The numbers back up the debate as Duke scores 89 points a game, makes 44.2 percent of its 3s, and shoots at a near 50 percent clip at home.

Save the win at Clemson, which was significant, the Blue Devils have sagged in true road games -- losing at Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, NC State and last week at Georgetown. Of course, three of those four teams are bound for the NCAA tournament and are hardly slouches. Still, the numbers back up the premise that this is a different team on the road, where the Blue Devils shoot 30.9 percent on 3s, score 20 points less a game, and make just 41 percent of their shots.

“We needed to win this game," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "This is a big, big win for our basketball team based on how things have gone for us."

Duke did win, 66-63, after Brian Zoubek and Nolan Smith did a terrific job of shutting down a potential game-tying, 3-point attempt on the final play of the game. The play started out with Reggie Jackson looking for his second consecutive trey, but Smith shadowed him and Joe Trapani missed the final shot with Zoubek jumping out.

Had Trapani’s shot gone down, and the Eagles won in overtime, then Duke would have had yet another true road loss to ponder.

But the Blue Devils don’t. They earned this one by making free throws late (Jon Scheyer, Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly for 1 of 2) and rebounded when needed (19 defensive rebounds). In late-shot clock situations, Smith made a deep 3 early in the game and then drove for a key hoop that was a dagger for the Eagles.

The win comes on the heels of Duke’s dominant victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday. That’s two wins in less than 48 hours after a disastrous trip last Saturday to Georgetown.

“We weren’t emotionally ready,’’ Krzyzewski said of the Georgetown loss. “We just weren’t there and that leads to all the other things. We gave up 15 layups. They were really good. We were not very good.’’

Krzyzewski put a wrinkle into the offense to create more motion. The plan was to ensure more players touched the ball on a possession. Not everyone was going to shoot it, but at least there was a feeling that they were a part of the play. The opportunities to score were there, even if they didn’t always convert.

Still, there are warts to fix on the road with games to come Wednesday at North Carolina, at Miami (Feb. 17), at Virginia (Feb. 28) and a senior night at Maryland (March 3). Remember, the NCAA tournament is a neutral-court event without the comfort of Cameron.

Scheyer said the lack of that “killer instinct” is apparent. The “silly” errors keep occurring -- like fouling after successive rebounds to create more opportunities for the opponent (which happened to allow BC to stay in the game). That can negate Duke’s size advantage.

“We haven’t shot the ball as well on the road and that’s because we haven’t moved the ball as well,’’ Scheyer said. “When we get our best 3s, we move the ball.’’

Whatever Carolina’s record is Wednesday it won’t matter. Duke will have to be sharp to win.

“We’ve never had a problem winning on the road as long as I’ve been here," said Duke senior Lance Thomas of the issue this season. “It gets frustrating. We have to make sure everybody is right mentally on the road. We have a target on our back. Everybody wants to get us."

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- If Duke was going to continue to climb, to be a team to take seriously to win the title, then winning away from the comfy confines of Cameron had to be more of a priority.

But not just winning, rather playing with the same type of defensive intensity and care with the basketball.

Duke has had one of those true road games since New Year’s Day. That came at Clemson and it was a surprising lackluster Tigers’ that were the fodder.

But Duke has had its moments where even the Blue Devils looked pedestrian -- at NC State (prior to the Clemson game) and at Georgetown. That’s why playing as well as the Blue Devils did in the first 20 minutes against Boston College Saturday -- getting timely shooting from Lance Thomas (facing the basket), Nolan Smith (rainbow 3-pointer as the shot clock expired) and a few key shots late from Jon Scheyer -- was critical for the psyche.

Duke opened up a 35-25 lead at the half.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Duke finally won a road game Saturday night, beating No. 16 Clemson 60-47 at Littlejohn Coliseum.


The No. 6 Blue Devils avoided their first 0-4 road start since the 1981-82 season, which was Mike Krzyzewski's second season at Duke.

The Blue Devils also avenged one of the worst losses of the Coach K era: a 74-47 rout at Clemson last February.

After the score was tied at 23 at the half, Duke started to pull away early in the second half. The Blue Devils' suffocating defense forced Clemson to turn the ball over five times in its first nine possession after the half.

Guard Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils with 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting, and reserve Lance Thomas added 13 points. Senior forward Trevor Booker led the Tigers with 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting.