It took a one-point loss to unranked Florida State to finally fire up the reigning national champions. Amid the snarls and shouted comments directed toward Georgia Tech Thursday night, the Blue Devils finally found their intensity.
In a curious melding of the crowd and team, the Blue Devils, including the Crazies and special guest coach Mike Krzyzewski, took a game that would have been a satisfying victory and transformed it into a lesson for all the teams who might want to follow in Florida State's footsteps.
"Everybody wants us to lose," Chris Duhon said. "Everybody deep down wants us to lose and we know that."
Duke came out with a vengeance against the Yellow Jackets, led by Jason Williams' lip snarls and Duhon's defensive stare. As the Blue Devils roared out to a 26-6 lead in the first eight minutes, Duke made the transition from a finesse team that formerly took its success for granted to a snarling juggernaut that forced 18 Georgia Tech turnovers in the first half.
Yet the game was not as much a triumph of spirit as one of elbows and floor sliding, the like of which Duke had not seen since the not-so-long-ago days of Shane Battier. Although co-captains Williams and Mike Dunleavy led the Blue Devils to a 12-0 record before Florida State, their style of leadership tended more toward individual brilliance rather than leading their troops into a bloody trench war.
All that changed Thursday night.
"People are going to come at us," Dahntay Jones said. "We have to go to war every game."
As for the crowd, if it was possible for the Crazies to be any louder than they were when welcoming their team back home, they achieved it when Carlos Boozer was called for an intentional foul with 11:30 remaining in the half. The crowd was visibly upset by the call and Krzyzewski verbally stepped into the fray as the other members of the Duke coaching staff physically restrained him.
Krzyzewski's resulting technical not only inflamed his troops on the court, but showed that this general was not going to sit placidly by while his team fought in the trenches. And in that moment, as Duhon strutted across the court, his arms rising and falling in sync with the shouts of the crowd, the entire stadium erupted.
"Coach was fired up," Boozer said. "He doesn't want us to feel alone out there. He's passionate about the game, and he wants us to be the best we can be. It's great to have a coach like that."
It didn't matter that Marvin Lewis sank both free throws and Ed Nelson scored a field goal on the Yellow Jackets' next possession, because Duke showed its first signs of brilliance, not the individual kind, but the type that only comes when a whole team works together.
"We've got to start playing physically," Williams said. "That's what Duke's going to be about. It's about toughness."
Over 9,000 strong, the Cameron Crazies continued to play an important role throughout the game. Along with shouting "Our House" and reminding the scorers' table to change the possession arrow late in the first half, the crowd seemed to keep the Blue Devils sharp and focused.
Under its influence, Duke ran a clinic for the Yellow Jackets, outscoring them 22-8 after the technical. Thanks to a concerted effort to feed Boozer in the post and lightning-quick passing, the Blue Devils drew 15 first-half fouls from Georgia Tech.
Finally, when the crowd began shouting "Bring on Maryland" at the end of the game, Krzyzewski called to his on-court general, Duhon, to instruct the Crazies to shout "Bring on [N.C.] State."
The message was clear; Duke would no longer look further than its next game, and could no longer rest on last season's laurels.
In the end, it was by no means a perfect game. Georgia Tech went on a 9-0 run late in the first half and outscored the Blue Devils 47-46 in the second half. But Williams' cool, calm trey at the first-half buzzer, Dahntay Jones' newfound pull-up jumper and Dunleavy's eight rebounds showed that although Duke may not have all the answers at this point in the season, the Blue Devils know where they have to go, and they know who they want to lead them there.
Williams put it best when he spoke about the Blue Devils' plan for the rest of the season.
"Every time we step on to the court," Williams said, "we have something to prove."
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