When a team plays at the same level of intensity against an unranked in-state school as it does while upsetting the defending national champion, that unranked school might feel some pain.
And especially agonizing to North Carolina-Greensboro in its 93-37 loss to Duke last night was the sting of freshman "Killer B" Elton Brand.
From the opening tip-off, Brand took control of the game. It wasn't but four seconds after Brand tipped the ball to classmate Shane Battier that Brand was inside scoring the first Blue Devil points of the night.
Shortly thereafter, Brand was driving to the basket and scoring the next two Duke points.
And it wasn't but half a minute later when Brand scored on the first two of his 13 free throws of the night, 11 of which he would nail for just under half of his 23 total points. Those foul shots also gave Duke the early lead at 6-4, with Brand singlehandedly providing all of Duke's points.
Thanks in part to the Spartan's propensity to foul Brand, he finished the game leading all scorers and added seven rebounds. All this despite playing only 19 minutes.
When Spartan Matt Javit tied the score at six with 17:52 left in the half on a 10-foot jumper, the rest of the Blue Devils joined Brand's nearly maniacal intensity.
"The one thing
From Taymon Domzalski's diving steal from Larry Gilbert with six minutes left in the game to the Brand dunk that resulted from that turnover, the Blue Devils played with equal fire regardless of their starting status.
"There's not a drop off when they went to their bench," Spartan coach Randy Peele said. "It's 40 minutes of literally every pass being challenged."
Such intensity seems second-nature for Duke.
"It comes the minute you step on the court," Battier said. "That's the way it should be-basketball is the greatest sport in the world."
But the greatest player on the court last night was still left with second-thoughts. Despite his team-leading performance, Brand was lamenting the few shots that did not drop for him.
"It was a little frustrating," he said. "I wanted to finish those little chippies. They were just rolling out. The free throws pretty much made up for it, but I want to get three points out of those plays-not two."
Brand was actually six of nine on field goals-hardly a shabby shooting percentage. But a percentage that will lower the 74 percent field goal shooting that he held entering Wednesday night's contest.
This constant drive for self-improvement may be part of what landed Brand as a first-team Parade All-America in 1997 and the preseason pick for ACC Rookie of the Year. The improvement is evident to all, including his head coach.
"You can see Elton getting better," Krzyzewski said. "It's not that he hasn't been good, but he's getting better."
He leads Duke in scoring this season, and the 23 points against UNC-G tie the career high he set against Chaminade at the Maui Invitational.
What Brand did not lead the team in was free throw shooting. After struggling at the start of the season, he entered the game shooting 71.9 percent-one of the lowest percentages among Duke's core players. He exited the game shooting 11 of 13 on the night (84.6%), with both misses on the same foul call.
"[Free throw shooting's] been a focus," Brand said. "We've been working on it. I've changed my form a little bit and the free throws keep falling."
The Blue Devils take on unranked Virginia Saturday afternoon, with Brand facing a probable match-up against Cavalier center Norman Nolan.
And Brand, along with the rest of his team, will play the only way he knows how-as if the opponent were the defending national champions.
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