Call them serious contenders and you'd be a bit unrealistic. Call them a Cinderella team and you'd be overstating it. But call the wrestling team unimportant to this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference, and you would be dead wrong.
"Even though we won't seriously threaten for the title, we could serve as spoilers for a lot of teams in the conference," said coach Clar Anderson, whose team is currently on a seven-match losing streak. "A lot of the tournament will depend on our wrestling."
After rocketing off to a six-game win streak heading into the ACC schedule, the Blue Devils (6-6, 0-4 in the ACC) as a team have hobbled through the conference schedule heading into this weekend's tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Individually, however, Duke has produced several wrestlers considered favorites in their weight classes.
With the extra motivation of a berth in the NCAA individual tournament, which is awarded to all class finalists and three wild cards, on the line, these grapplers might have all they need to add their names to the championship roster.
"Even though this is a team tournament, it is an individual tournament," Anderson said. "My guys are motivated because they really can make it to the nationals. A lot of the matches this year were close, and with the berth at stake I think a lot of matches can be turned around. If they wrestle their best match, they're in the nationals. There is a lot of incentive to be the best."
Being the best is something senior Chris Heckel knows all about. Heckel, who has dropped only one conference match in the past two seasons, will be looking for his third berth in the NCAA tournament and is favored in the 126-pound class.
"[Heckel] is the favorite to win the tourney, even though he is in the toughest weight class," Anderson said. "He has put together some great matches here, wrestled some brilliant matches. He can compete nationally for us if he's at his best."
Heckel isn't the only Duke wrestler that will have to fight through a tough class. The Blue Devils' other top finisher, junior Matt Mapes, who posted a 3-1 conference mark, will have a fierce battle at the 167-lb. class in pursuit of his first trip to the NCAAs.
"[Mapes] has looked good this year," Anderson said. "He's beaten some real good guys, and the one he lost was a real close match to UNC. He has shown that he can win, and he can win at a high level. The problem is that where we're strongest, the conference is strongest."
Of course, there are a pair of Duke wrestlers who don't plan on seeing experience finishing before youth. Sophomores Bill Morris and Conway Harris, wrestling in the 158-lb. and 150-lb. classes, respectively, have proven themselves able to wrestle with the best in the ACC despite posting less-than-stellar regular-season results.
"Either [Harris or Morris] is capable of beating anyone in the ACC, it just depends on the draw and how they wrestle on that day," Anderson said. "I would not be surprised if both of them qualify for nationals."
Battling for the team championship this year will be regular-season champion North Carolina (12-4, 4-1), runner-up Virginia (7-5, 4-1) and N.C. State (7-8, 3-2). Over the past 20 seasons every tournament title has found a home in either Raleigh or Chapel Hill. However, this year , with five fifth-year seniors and a strong desire to polish off an amazing run that took them to second in the conference last year, Virginia could turn this tournament into the year of the Cavaliers.
"Virginia this year is setting out to finish what they started last year, and there's a lot more parity this year to help them do that," Anderson said. "With five fifth-year seniors, and that kind of maturity added to a goal is a lot of motivation. It will be an interesting tournament."
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