Monday afternoon, when the Associated Press weekly college basketball poll was released, the men's basketball team accomplished a rare feat.
The Blue Devils became only the second team in NCAA history to be ranked No. 1 for six consecutive years--a record the deified UCLA teams from the mid 60s and 70s hold at 12 straight.
A result of the same game, Duke (9-0) also slashed the number of unbeaten Division I schools from four to three with its 89-71 squashing of Clemson, joining conference rival Wake Forest and Big East power Connecticut as the only remaining schools without a blemish.
"We don't pay attention to those types of thing," senior Dahntay Jones said, adding that he was not sure the Blue Devils deserved to be the top-ranked squad. "We just want to be respected as a basketball team."
Now that the young Blue Devils have finally earned respect from the national media, they will defend their top ranking for the first time when they meet the Georgetown Hoyas (8-1) tonight at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
In Georgetown, Duke will have to work on containing one of the toughest frontcourts it has seen all season.
The Hoyas are led by junior power forward Mike Sweetney, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound beast out of Oxon Hill, Md. Coming into tonight's game, Sweetney is averaging 19.9 points and 9.2 boards per contest.
"They're very big, they're very athletic, they like to press, and they're going to try and make us turn the ball over," junior captain Chris Duhon said. "They have a strong inside presence in Mike Sweetney. He scores well and rebounds and is a force in the paint."
To neutralize Sweetney and inside conspirators Victor Samnick and Wesley Wilson, Duke will turn to its inside quartet of Nick Horvath, Shavlik Randolph, Casey Sanders and Shelden Williams.
With more inside depth that arguably any other team of head coach Mike Krzyzewski, the Blue Devils should be able to play a physical inside game even if there is a prolific whistle. On the flip side, if Sweetney sits with foul trouble it could be a long night for the Hoyas.
"We have four men, all of whom can handle [Georgetown's big men]," Jones said. "We can neutralize them, we just have to stick to our game plan."
Although Duke backcourt is unquestionably more talented, almost all of Georgetown's depth lies at the one through three slots, and either some slick passing, poor shooting or a combination of the two could turn the game into a track meet.
Another favorite strategy of the Blue Devils that may matchup well against Georgetown is the 4-and-1 set Krzyzewski has been utilizing lately. With Sweetney as the only major inside threat, Krzyzewski could go to a Duhon, Daniel Ewing, Jones, J.J. Redick and one big man game plan.
That move would force Duke's lone paint guy to neutralize Sweetney, but could leave the more talented Blue Devils to exploit mismatches on the perimeter.
"Coach [Krzyzewski] likes that line," Jones said. "If you can get me, Daniel, J.J. and Chris on the floor and playing well together at the same time, that's going to be a hard lineup to match up to or beat."
On the defensive end, expect to see Duke move back to the half court press as opposed to the full court it had been utilizing earlier in the year.
Duhon said the team is still too young, inexperienced and wild to make good use of the full court attack, but that the half-court scenario fitted it better and helped the team play more contained, controlled defense-leading to less mental and positioning errors.
Regardless, it will be the first time this young team steps on the court with the common Duke bullseye of "No. 1 in the country" on their backs.
"We finished the last four seasons ranked No. 1," Krzyzewski said. "This team is not that, but this is also a good team. We can't get concerned with things like that."
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