LAHAINA, Hawaii -- After executing what coach Mike Krzyzewski termed "search-and-destroy missions" in its two lopsided exhibition victories, the top-ranked men's basketball team commences its regular season tonight against Seton Hall (1-0) in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
Competing in a field that includes top-10 powerhouses Kansas and UCLA, not to mention a Pirate team that defeated San Francisco 87-79 in its season opener Friday, the Blue Devils believe that the three-day tourney will not be all fun in the sun.
"I think that it's a fact of life that if you play tough people, you'll get a chance to lose and you also have a chance to get better," Krzyzewski said. "You don't come to Maui expecting to go 3-0. When you come to Maui, you expect three very difficult games and you expect to come out of here better."
One team that hopes to improve is Seton Hall, which lost its two top players from a year ago--forwards Eddie Griffin and Samuel Dalembert--and its coach, Duke alumnus Tommy Amaker. Griffin, who led the Pirates in scoring with 17.8 points per game, was taken with the seventh pick in the NBA Draft, while Dalemebert was selected 26th overall. Amaker bolted West Orange, N.J. for Michigan, a longtime suitor of Amaker dating back to his assistant coaching days at Duke.
New coach Louis Orr, who took the helm at Seton Hall after leading Siena to a 20-11 season, has the unenviable a reviving the once flourishing Pirate basketball program from its disappointing 16-15 season of 2000-2001.
Although unable to solidify its victory until the waning minutes of its opening contest against San Francisco three days ago, Seton Hall received promising performances from two of its role players from last season. Darius Lane, who followed Griffin as the Hall's second leading scorer last season, dominated the game with 27 points, seven three-pointers and seven rebounds, while point guard Andre Barrett displayed his on-court leadership with 17 points and 4 assists.
Orr hopes that his team improves even more in its battle against the Blue Devils.
"Coming out here, it's important for us to continue to grow. You have a first-year coach, you have a young team with some experience, so it's important to use every game to get better," Orr said. "I think when our guys saw that we were playing Duke on the Internet, I was hoping that it wasn't true.... We're excited to be here playing against a program like Duke and coach Krzyzewski. You get better when you're challenged."
While continuing to improve seems to be the main goal for the Pirates, Duke's primary aspiration is to do exactly what most believe it will do--fly away from Maui with an Invitational championship trophy. Although the Blue Devils certainly will not take their first- or second-round opponents lightly, a date with Kansas or UCLA in the tournament finals seems likely, depending on which of these two traditional powers makes it out of its part of the bracket.
Just as Duke would be eager to face off against the Bruins or Jayhawks, the other teams in the event are salivating at a chance to dethrone the defending national champs. However, these same teams are vowing to not look ahead to later games when the games they face in the first round could be just as challenging. On Duke's half of the bracket, the Blue Devils are joined by Seton Hall, South Carolina and tournament host Chaminade.
00020000073400000D6072E,The South Carolina/Chaminade first-round matchup has incited special interest because first-year Gamecock coach Dave Odom--who replaced Eddie Fogler in Columbia after serving as Wake Forest's coach for 12 years--was an assistant coach for top-ranked Virginia in 1982 when a virtually unknown Chaminade squad upset the Cavaliers in one of college basketball's most famous games. In fact, Maui Invitational chair Wayne Duke noted that the Silverswords' historic upset put Chaminade on the college basketball map and gave rise to the idea of the school's hosting of season-starting tournament like the one being played today at the Lahaina Civic Center.
"The memory of 1982... is indelible in my mind. That's one of the reasons I haven't been back. I got tricked into this one," Odom joked. "I really am pleased to be back. That was an unforgettable evening for sure, and certainly it was one that we enjoy talking back and revisiting as we go along."
On the other side of the bracket, UCLA returns All-America candidate Jason Kapono, who scored 17.2 points per game last season, and All-Pac10 center Dan Gadzuric, who average 11.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per contest. The Bruins square off against Ball State, which made the NCAA tournament last season after going 18-12. The Cardinals would have met the Bruins in the second round of the East regionals in Greensboro, N.C., but fell victim to Utah State in overtime of the first round of the Big Dance.
The final quarterfinal game pits Kansas, ranked No. 5 in the most recent Associated Press Top 25 poll, against Houston, which struggled last season to a 9-20 record. If the two favorites, UCLA and Kansas, advance to the semifinals and relegate Houston and Ball State to the consolation bracket, Cougars coach Ray McCallum will square off against his protege, Cardinals coach Tim Buckley.
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