No. 1 vs. No. 2: Blue Devils host Connecticut

For much of January No. 1 Duke (20-0) seemed to be trying to defuse the hype about the looming matchup with No. 2 Connecticut (19-0) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils needed 41 points and two last-second free throws from Alana Beard to win at Virginia, and Duke struggled to a surprising extent against Clemson, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

Then the Blue Devils went to Chapel Hill and saw a loss looming.

"We were down seven with six minutes left, so we played our best basketball the last five minutes and then the five minutes of overtime," said head coach Gail Goestenkors, whose team came back to win 78-67 in overtime. "We hit a turning point there, because we didn't panic when we were down. That's when we played our best basketball, and I think the overtime win we had over Arkansas [Nov. 30] made us confident for our overtime game against Carolina."

Since then, Duke has rolled over Maryland, Florida State and North Carolina State, and is well positioned for the much-ballyhooed matchup.

Meanwhile, Connecticut is in the midst of the longest winning streak in NCAA women's basketball history. The Huskies have won 58 straight contests, including the first 19 of this season and all 39 from last year's undefeated national championship run. Four-of-five starters from last year's team graduated, leaving only All-American junior Diana Taurasi to keep the streak alive.

"It has definitely been a change from last year," Taurasi said. "Obviously the experience was there, the talent was there and everything was there that we needed. This year, if anything, we don't have anything. We don't have the experience. We don't have talent. We've just been winning games with hard work and trying to grit them out."

Most observers would argue that Taurasi is being unduly modest, as the Huskies' freshman class split superlatives with Duke's during the offseason. Six-foot-two freshman Ann Strother is the second leading scorer for Connecticut, with 10.5 per game and freshman Barbara Turner comes off the bench to average 9.9 points per game, good enough for third on the team.

"I do not know what to expect--I am just excited," Goestenkors said. "I can't wait to see what they come up with because they can be very creative. I am sure they will have a few things up their sleeves."

Auriemma, however, is more concerned about the Blue Devil players than about the fans. His team must shut down Beard and Tillis, who are averaging 23.5 and 15.7 points respectively.

Taurasi will match up with Beard and the two will likely cover each other for much of the game, so a national television audience will likely get the opportunity to compare them for national player of the year honors.

"I don't think either one of us is going to try to go out there and out-do anyone," the Huskies' star said. "I know I am just going to go out there and play to our advantages and help everyone on the team play well and pull out a victory. I am not going out there to prove myself for an award at the end of the season, so I think I will just go play the game."

The Blue Devils feel the game should be more than just Beard versus Taurasi.

"If we make this game into Diana versus Alana it's going to take away from the greatness of the game," Krapohl said. "I don't think Alana has any intention of going one-on-one with Diana. There are four other people on both ends of the court."

Much like everything else, Auriemma has comments to add on the marquee matchup and the face of the game.

"I wouldn't be surprised if neither of these guys play well and somebody else emerges as a really good player," he said. "I also wouldn't be surprised if both of those guys are the two dominant players in the game. You know funny things happen in big games, but in my mind... Diana or Alana doesn't have to prove anything to anybody."