With 7:49 remaining in the game and his team down by a count of 78-47, what could Villanova coach Steve Lappas have told his team during the television timeout?
At this point, the Wildcats only needed 11 consecutive three-pointers, while at the same time not allowing Duke to score more than one point, to take the lead.
Really, this is not that big of a request. Just because Duke tipped nearly every pass to the wings, applied relentless pressure on the ball, contested nearly every shot and dived for every loose ball, it did not mean that Villanova had no chance.
Well, actually, it probably did.
"Obviously they're a great, great team," Lappas said. "They have tremendous depth. They're running great player at you after great player."
The aspect of the Blue Devils' game that has been their trademark this year is a high-intensity defense. The depth that the Blue Devils enjoy allows them to play a style similar to the old Arkansas "forty minutes of hell."
Last night, Duke used a mix of fullcourt and halfcourt man-to-man to confuse the Wildcats and force 19 turnovers. While Duke may not press for an entire game, the intensity level has been at 100 percent for every player every minute on the court.
"With our defense, no one can play 30 minutes because you'll get so tired," senior Roshown McLeod said.
Against the Wildcats, this defense was sparked by nose-to-nose pressure on the ball applied by Steve Wojciechowski, who had two steals, and William Avery.
This tough defense was backed by solid performances defending the wings. The Villanova guards often picked up the ball and had nowhere to go. It seemed
"What a lot of people don't realize is that because they put so much pressure on the other wings, that's where you get your turnovers from," Lappas said. "Wojo's a great defensive player. I'm not taking anything away from him, but it's not so much the pressure on the ball as much as it is [the opposing player] has nobody to pass to."
The times Villanova managed to advance the ball past the wings and near the lane, things got even uglier due to a certain player named Elton Brand who was waiting near the basket.
"We've got more of an inside presence," sophomore Chris Carrawell said. "Last year it was just me and Ro, we had no presence. This year we have Elton, Shane [Battier] and [Chris] Burgess."
Brand led the Blue Devil swatters with four blocks, while Carrawell added two and Nate James and Battier each had one.
The effects of these blocks were twofold: they often ignited fast breaks, and they frightened the Wildcats from driving to the basket.
With five minutes remaining in the first half and Duke leading 36-17, Villanova's T.J. Caouette drove the lane trying to be a player, but as Stuart Scott would say, "Brand was a 'playa-hata.'" Brand rejected Caouette on one end and then ran the floor to finish on the other with a thunderous dunk off a no-look pass from Avery.
This block was part of an 8-0 run which led to Duke's largest first-half lead of 27 points. The run was closed out when Mike Chappell made a steal at halfcourt and sped toward the basket where he stuffed the ball through the hoop.
Later in the half, McLeod, in a gesture similar to Chappell's, stole the ball in the backcourt and proceeded toward the goal all alone for another slam.
On the ensuing possession by Villanova, Carrawell, following the good example set by his teammates, literally took the ball from Villanova guard Howard Brown.
Brown decided his best option was to give Carrawell a hug. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was called a foul.
"We caused a lot of turnovers in the first half and played with a lot of energy," coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
The statistics show that Duke stole the ball 10 times and scored 21 points off Wildcat turnovers, while holding Villanova to 26 first-half points and a 36.6 shooting percentage for the game. But there are many things the stats do not show.
All the little things compounded and Villanova ended up making unforced errors. The mere thought of a Duke player tipping a pass often caused Villanova to lose control of the ball or throw it away.
"We don't want [the opponent] to make any passes, we want domination," McLeod said. "That's been our identity thus far and we want to keep it that way."
The Blue Devils were not concerned with Villanova's game plan. What the Wildcats wanted to do offensively and what Duke's defense allowed them to do were two entirely different things.
"We're not into what our opponents do-we care about what we do," Brand said. "We go out there and we want to play the best we can."
The Blue Devils hope to keep this intensity at its high level as they travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Saturday.
"We're playing so hard," Krzyzewski said. "It's just fun to coach them when they're doing that."
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