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Emotion is men's basketball`s emphasis in Round 1**
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There is a `win or leave' theme buzzing through the eight NCAA Tournament sites across the country this weekend. After one day of action, 16 of the 64 teams invited have already started packing for the trip home.
The Texas Southern Tigers may have expressed serious discontent with their less-than-luxurious accommodations at the Comfort Inn Thursday at a press conference, but they will no doubt be looking to prolong their stay here in Florida.
The Duke men's basketball team, however, will probably have something to say about that. Despite being a 20-point favorite, the second-seeded Blue Devils still have to earn a ticket to the second round tonight when they match up with 15th-seeded Texas Southern.
Duke surprised basketball gurus everywhere by capturing the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season crown two weeks ago. But the Blue Devils then dropped two of their last three games amid concerns of missing emotion.
"So much is put into the regular season," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Even though you want to be emotional, it just wasn't there [in the ACC Tournament]."
Rediscovering that emotion in time for tonight's 7:35 p.m. contest will be crucial for Duke.
"All my focus, all my energy, all my enthusiasm are focused on this game tomorrow," senior Grant Hill said at a press conference yesterday.
And as usual, the rest of the Blue Devils are following Hill's lead.
"I think everyone's excited to play, and I think you'll see a lot of emotion out of this team," sophomore Chris Collins said.
While the Blue Devils will be trying to shake the uncertainties surrounding their late-season losses, the Tigers will be doing just the opposite. Texas Southern is riding high on a 13-game winning streak, and it has every intention of extending that run.
"I don't see why we can't win our 14th [game] in a row," Texas Southern head coach Robert Moreland said. "We came to win a ballgame, and that's what we plan to do."
The mindsets of these two teams certainly appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, and the list of differences between the two squads seems to go on forever.
For starters, the teams bring totally different levels of experience to the tournament. Freshmen aside, every Blue Devil is accustomed to attending the Big Dance. Duke will be making its 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and Hill and fellow seniors Antonio Lang and Marty Clark have experienced 14 tournament games and emerged with a 13-1 record. The big-time exposure and media hype surrounding the tournament are also nothing new for Duke as it's already had 18 games televised nationally this season.
Texas Southern, on the other hand, will be making its second-ever trip to the NCAAs with the last one coming back in 1990. None of the current Tigers were around when Georgetown cruised past them in the first round four years ago. Yet none of that seems to faze TSU.
"I don't think we're in awe," Texas Southern senior Theon Dotson said. "We're excited to play [Duke] because we have seen them play on TV. I think it will make us play better, hit our shots and concentrate more. They are like any other team to us."
Although their experiences have been quite different, both coaches have been around for quite some time. Krzyzewski has brought Duke to the pinnacle of college basketball. His six Final Four teams and two national championships speak for themselves. Moreland has been at the TSU helm for 19 seasons, but his accomplishments, including an NAIA National Championship, pale in comparison. But what it all comes down to is knowledge of the game of basketball.
"Maybe I'm a coach and just crazy," Moreland said. "Some people think that some coaches need to be in awe of others... [The big-name coaches] do the same things I've done. We all coach kids, and none of us score or defense. I'm not going to bow down to anyone."
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