One of the greatest rivalries in college basketball begins a new era Saturday night when the No. 18 men's basketball team faces off against No. 22 Michigan in Ann Arbor. The remnants of Michigan's highly-hyped Fab Five graduated last year, as did the Blue Devils' last link to their 1992 championship over the Wolverines. Now it's the responsibility of Jeff Capel, Ricky Price, Maurice Taylor and Robert Traylor to continue the intense competition these two teams have had over the last six years.
"I know Michigan is going to be really motivated, because they haven't beaten Duke... I can't even remember the last time they've beaten Duke," Capel said.
To refresh the junior guard's memory, the last Wolverine win came at Ann Arbor in 1989 in overtime, 113-108. Since then, the Blue Devils have dominated this famed inter-conference matchup, winning the last five games. Still, Duke's recent dominance hasn't taken away from the game's importance.
"These big-time games are why I came to Duke," Price said. "When these kind of games come around, that's when you really bring your best to the table, where you just really want to do well and excel and help your team win."
Both the Blue Devils (5-1) and the Wolverines (6-1) have had a hectic early season. While Duke went to the Great Alaskan Shootout, Michigan participated in the Preseason National Invitational Tournament, where it suffered its only loss to No. 4 Arizona.
And while many people consider the Blue Devils to have a young team, the Duke players are veterans in comparison to their Wolverine counterparts. Michigan has only two seniors, Dugan Fife and Neal Morton. Morton is a former walk-on who transferred form an NAIA school, while Fife has had a nice view of the last three Duke-Michigan contests from the pine, but now will be the starting point guard.
Duke is coming off of a Monday night victory over South Carolina State, but the win was less than impressive. For most of the first half, the Blue Devils lacked intensity and concentration, as Duke allowed the Bulldogs' smaller inside players to grab 34 rebounds. Duke assistant coach Tim O'Toole said the key for Duke against the Wolverines will be team togetherness.
"The key for us is that we do things together," O'Toole said. "People need to help each other out."
Capel agreed with his coach, saying the team has yet to grasp the togetherness concept since it returned from Alaska. The best example of that was the first half of Monday's game. Duke lost its aggressiveness during the middle of the first half, and allowed the Bulldogs to cut the lead to five late in the half. Intensity is just one thing the players admit they need to work on before Saturday.
"We feel like we need a lot of work," Capel said. "We have a lot of work to do. We are not anywhere near where we want to be in order to go up and be competitive against Michigan. Michigan is more talented than we are, that's something we know."
The Wolverines are loaded with talented inside players, with their main star being 6-foot-8, 300-pound freshman Robert Traylor. Nicknamed `Tractor' for obvious reasons, Traylor has been able to plow over opponents. He was one of four high school players on the 1994 U.S. Junior National team, and he averaged an impressive 22.4 points, 15.8 rebounds and four blocks per game his senior season.
Also manning the Michigan front line are the pair of 6-foot-9 sophomores, Jerod Ward and Maurice Taylor. Ward was considered the top high school prospect the year he signed with Michigan, but Taylor has so far made a bigger impact in college. Taylor started all but two of the Wolverines' games last year, averaging 12.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. With that much talent on the front line, junior center Greg Newton anticipates a tough inside battle.
"It's going to be a physical game--I can guarantee that," Newton said. "But I'm not going to back down from anyone. We're going to be just as physical to them as they are physical to us."
Michigan will also have an emotional advantage over the Blue Devils, having prevented Louisiana State from pulling off an upset Tuesday night when freshman Louis Bullock knocked in the game-winning jumper with just two ticks left on the game clock.
The one place where the Blue Devils should have the edge is on the perimeter. The Wolverines' top returning guard is Fife, who averaged a measly 1.8 points per game last year. Sophomore Travis Conlon had an even worse season, managing 1.2 points per game. Bullock, Conlon or senior Neal Morton will occupy the other starting spot in the frontcourt for Michigan.
Just as in years past, this year's contest is expected to be a battle. A win Saturday would be a major confidence builder for the Blue Devils, as it would be their third win over a ranked team this season. That's the same number of ranked teams Duke beat all of last season. But before they think too far ahead, the players have Saturday's game to think about.
"They have talented players inside and outside," Price said. "But our big guys will battle their big guys. Our perimeter guys will battle their perimeter guys. We are just going to go at them. They have a really talented team, but they can be beaten. I think the best team will win."
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