Men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski owns 502 career wins, but it's his 40 W's in the NCAA Tournament that have made his name synonymous with winning.
While upping that number to 46 by the end of this year's tournament is the ultimate goal, knocking down win No. 41 is the task at hand-and one that should come with relative ease as third-ranked and top-seeded Duke (29-3) faces No. 16 seed Radford (20-9) tonight at 10 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
The Highlanders, the Big South Tournament champs, face the daunting task of going where No. 16 seed has gone before, upending a No. 1 seed in the first round. Radford does come into the NCAAs on a role, having won 11 in a row, including a 63-61 triumph over UNC-Asheville in the conference tourney finals.
Still, as is the case with every 16 seed before them, the Highlanders will be encountering a new level of competition in the Blue Devils. Radford did get a look at one Atlantic Coast Conference team, Wake Forest, earlier this year but lost 85-53 in Winston-Salem. Their only contest against a tournament team came back in December when they lost to Utah State, 80-73. The No. 13 seed Aggies lost their opening round game to Maryland last night.
For Duke, the mission is clear-take care of business Friday night and Sunday at noon against the winner of Oklahoma State-George Washington and advance to its first Sweet 16 in four years. Perhaps the Blue Devils biggest impediment is the late start time of Friday's game. Duke had experience dealing with the late tipoff in its opening round win over Virginia in the ACC Tournament (9:45 p.m.) last Thursday, and considering the caliber of the opponent, it should fare just fine. The disadvantage could come from having to make the quickest possible turnaround and play Sunday's first game.
The Blue Devils should also be able to avoid the common mistake of overlooking their opening round game. Duke ended up with almost more than it could handle last year in Charlotte as its first opponent, No. 15 seed Murray State, fell just a loing three-pointer shy of sending its game with the Blue Devils into overtime.
Second Round:
The eighth-seeded Cowboys (21-6), who finished second behind Kansas in the Big 12 could pose a threat to Duke as they feature a strong guard combo-a necessity for success in the Big Dance. Adrian Peterson led the team is scoring with 17.6 points a game and Notre Dame transfer Doug Gottlieb led the conference with 6.9 assists a game.
The Colonials (24-8) finished the regular season 2-4 but bounced by in the Atlantic-10 Tournament to beat both Temple and Massachusetts before losing to Xavier in the finals. Enigmatic center Alexander Koul could pose a problem for the Blue Devils... if he shows up. Point guard Shawnta Rogers is an unimposing 5-foot-4 but is own of the country's quickets players.
Early returns to not bode well for GW, however, as both Xavier and Temple have already fallen victim to upsets, raising questions about the A-10's legitimacy.
Sweet 16:
Should the Blue Devils take care of business in the first two rounds, they will end up spending the last weekend of spring break in sunny St. Petersburg, Fla. There, one of a quartet of teams will be awaiting Duke to play for the right to advance to the Elite Eight. Whoever emerges from the pack (No. 5 Syracuse takes on No. 12 Iona and No. 4 New Mexico faces No. 13 Butler) is still likely to provide only a minimal challenge for the Blue Devils.
What lies waiting in the next round is an entirely different story. Duke's most likely opponent is the No. 2 seed, Kentucky. The Wildcats (26-4), ranked fifth nationally, come into the tournament riding a seven-game winning streak, including a 30-point win over South Carolina in the SEC championship game. Kentucky would pose interesting matchup problems for the Blue Devils as it plays the same aggressive, 10-deep, defensive style as Duke.
Still, it might not even be the Wildcats that await Duke in the South Regional finals; the third-seeded Michigan Wolverines (24-8) enter the NCAAs red-hot, as Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock have led them to six-straight wins, including the first-ever Big 10 Tournament Championship.
Most of the Blue Devils might relish an opportunity to face the Wolverines again, considering that Michigan is the only team other than top-ranked North Carolina to beat Duke this year. That road loss in December is one that the Blue Devils feel simply got away from them and would welcome an opportunity to face Michigan again.
One other team that could come out of the other half of the South is sixth-seeded UCLA. The Bruins have underachieved all season but even without the services of center Jelani McCoy, UCLA still has the talent to make some noise in the tournament.
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