CHARLOTTE -- All season long, the men's basketball team has dreamed of playing in the Charlotte Coliseum.
But Saturday may have been Duke's last chance.
Grant Hill will get a few more shots next year when his NBA squad comes to town, or perhaps even hundreds of games in a long career as the starting forward for the Charlotte Hornets. But that's next year.
Hill's current team started this season with little national respect and played itself into Final Four contention, posting the best record in the Atlantic Coast Conference along the way. Entering the postseason, the Blue Devils had a dream.
Duke figured to play three games last weekend in the Queen City, advancing to the tournament championship game for one more shot at North Carolina. Then, it would be on to the NCAAs, a sprint though the regionals and a return trip to Charlotte for the Final Four.
It was quite a dream -- a realistic dream. And it still is.
But now, the picture doesn't look quite as rosy.
The league championship portion of Duke's magical ride ended Saturday when the unlikeliest of heroes -- two Virginia freshmen named Deane and Robinson -- played with poise and power beyond their youthful years. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils turned in poor performances in both of their tournament games -- one of the poorest of the year against Virginia.
"We didn't want to outwork anybody today or even yesterday [against Clemson] for that matter," Marty Clark said. "We can't keep putting ourselves in positions to try and pull it out at the end of games because the law of averages is going to catch up with you."
The two averages which hurt Duke the most in Charlotte came in the field goal department: 42.6 percent against Clemson and a season-low 36.2 percent versus UVa. The Blue Devils played hard in both games and were as solid as usual on the defensive end. They simply failed to put the ball in the basket.
"People always say `defense wins,' but it does help to shoot a little better than we did," center Cherokee Parks said.
If Duke has had a nemesis during this magical season of 23 wins and just five losses, it has been unexplainable fits of cold shooting. It is a weakness that is likely to hurt the Blue Devils in their NCAA run. It could keep them from returning to Charlotte for the Final Four.
In theory, this Duke squad is one of the best jump-shooting teams head coach Mike Krzyzewski has ever had -- Jeff Capel, Chris Collins and Clark are all capable of hitting the three-pointer. Antonio Lang has shown that he can stick the 18-footer. Hill, who came to Duke with little more than a five-foot floater, has developed into a formidable deep threat. Even Parks, as traditional as a back-to-the-basket, post-up center can be, was draining three-point jumpers this season. Factor in all the layups and dunks, and you would figure Duke could post a pretty decent shooting percentage.
In fact, the Blue Devils' regular season mark was 50.1 percent from the floor. But they shot below .500 in 16 of their 28 games. All five losses have come when Duke hasn't been able to bury half of its shot attempts.
"I had good looks, good shots," Hill said. "I don't know if it was Virginia's defense, or whatever. I just missed easy, open shots.
"But I'll get those shots again."
Even if Duke can count on Hill to hit for the remainder of the season -- and there is clearly no reason to doubt him -- the Blue Devils won't go far if their superstar does not get help, especially from his backcourt mates -- Collins, Capel and Clark.
Poor shooting is one reason why, right now, Duke is not playing at the consistently high level it will need in the postseason. The Blue Devils are bound to run into a lesser squad -- or even a better one -- which will play its best game of the season. And like Duke's second-round ACC loss to Virginia (or even 1993's season-ending loss to California) good defense won't be enough to save the Blue Devils.
The good news is that Krzyzewski has seen poor ACC tournament performances before.
"I've come out of this tournament getting killed and being successful -- I've done both," Krzyzewski said. "The teams I've had have always taken it as a positive and gone on to the next goal. And the next goal is to do really well in the NCAA Tournament. It's just a matter of how we practice and get together here for the next couple of days."
Krzyzewski had the formula in 1991, when Duke left Charlotte on anything but a high note.
"Back in '91, I thought we were a better team and we got blown out by our arch-rival [UNC, 96-74 in the conference title game]," Hill said. "We came back."
In case you've forgotten, the team finished with six straight wins and its first national championship that year.
But a ghost from the past doesn't mean the Blue Devils are in great shape for a title run this season. Once again, Duke leaves Charlotte with questions to answer and little more than hope for a speedy return.
"You can't just forget about a loss, but we have to -- this is it," Clark said. "This is NCAAs, it's either you win or you go home. We have to just flush it out of our system and just go on.
"Our captains need to step up this week and let everyone else know exactly what it takes to win a national championship, to do well in the NCAAs. It definitely has to be done this week."
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