The first year that seniors Carmen Wallace, Greg Newton and Jeff Capel came to play at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils went on win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and advance to the Final Four. For the first time since that year, No. 7 Duke will have the chance to clinch the ACC regular season title tonight at 7:30 p.m., as the triumvirate enters Cameron for Duke's last home game of the year against No. 16 Maryland.
"It's going to be really emotional," Wallace said. "It's like leaving your second home. I've been here for four years, I love the place, and it's going to be sad to see it go."
The three seniors have seen a Final Four, an interim coach, a rebuilding year, and prepare to come full circle tonight against the Terrapins (20-7, 9-5 in the ACC).
"We've all been through a lot, both academically and athletically," Capel said. "Through everything that's gone on, us three have had each other's backs."
Duke (22-6, 11-3 in the ACC) claimed the top spot in the conference on February 16 when Wake Forest lost to N.C. State. Arguably the toughest conference in the nation, the ACC boasts five teams ranked in the top 25.
"Winning the ACC regular season would be great, especially this year because of all the parity in the league," Capel said. "It would mean a lot to me personally and I think to our senior class."
Picked preseason to finish eighth out of nine teams in the ACC, Maryland surprised everyone as the Terrapins won 17 out of their first 19 games and got off to their best start in school history. Currently third in the ACC, the Terrapins rose as high as a No. 5 national ranking.
Maryland's fairy-tale season has included an upset win over Wake Forest and a record-setting 22-point comeback to beat North Carolina in January.
However, times have changed for the Terrapins. After beating Duke, Maryland began to lose momentum. With recent losses to Florida State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, the Terps have dropped five out of their last eight games.
"The big thing for us is just getting back to the way we can play," said Maryland head coach Gary Williams, who will be seeking his 350th career win in tonight's game.
Spearheading the Maryland team is 6-foot-6 senior power forward Keith Booth. After playing in the shadow of current Golden State Warrior Joe Smith for two years, Booth has emerged as the team leader.
A three-time All-ACC team member, Booth was honored on February 22 as he became only the eleventh Terrapin to have his number retired. Averaging 19.5 points per game, Booth is second in the ACC in scoring and fifth in the ACC in rebounding, with 8.1 per game.
Booth leads a Maryland team that is dangerous on the boards, and is 18-0 when it has outrebounded its opponents.
A familiar face to Duke fans is sophomore guard Laron Profit, who scored 19 points off of the bench in last year's ACC Tournament (when Maryland defeated Duke) and 16 points when the teams played in College Park this year.
Profit has also become noticeable for making the alley-oop a regular part of Maryland's playbook this season. He executed the maneuver twice in the final two minutes against Duke earlier in the season.
After coming on the scene as a freshman last season, sophomore center Obinna Ekezie is averaging over 10 points per game. Although he often finds himself in foul trouble, Ekezie came on strong with 14 points in the Terps' last game against Carolina.
In their final regular season trip to North Carolina, the Terrapins have the chance to go undefeated on Tobacco Road. A win in Cameron, in addition to their wins earlier this season at North Carolina, N.C. State, and Wake Forest would make Maryland only the third ACC team in history to go undefeated in North Carolina.
To accomplish this, however, Maryland will have to beat Duke. The Blue Devils have won seven out of their last eight games and have not lost in the ACC since their last game against Maryland.
Duke is entering the game coming off its 73-69 loss to UCLA on Sunday, but the Blue Devils see the loss as more of a wake-up call than a setback.
"I think we needed UCLA," Newton said. "Not that losing is good, but it makes you re-evaluate the team and rethink some things."
For Capel, UCLA was simply the culmination of weeks of lackluster Duke play.
"Over the past couple of weeks we haven't been playing at the level that we were at in late January of early February," he said. "Fortunately we've identified the problem, and we know what we have to do to get back."
If the Blue Devils have indeed found their secret, they will show it tonight, as the three seniors mark the end of their era in Cameron.
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