ANAHEIM, Calif. - Reaching the Sweet 16 has become a pattern for the Blue Devils, who last failed to advance past the NCAA Tournament's first two rounds in 1996. But this evening at Arrowhead Pond, Duke will break with an even longer-standing tradition - they will enter the game as the lower-seeded team.
Tipping off against No. 2 seed Kansas in the West Regional semifinals, the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-6) encounter a position that they last held in 1994, when they advanced to the national championship game as the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Region.
But even though they are technically underdogs, the Blue Devils aren't looking for - or expecting - any sympathy from college basketball fans who have grown accustomed to watching Duke achieve postseason success.
"I don't think the country looks at us as underdogs," junior point guard Chris Duhon said. "They just want us to get out of the tournament. They think that if they're seeing us in different color [jerseys], then we'll get out of the tournament quicker. I think if you're an underdog, there are some people that will root for you, but I don't think anybody's rooting for us other than the guys in the locker room."
Instead, Duhon and the Blue Devils are expecting to see support for the Jayhawks (27-7), a team that boasts one of the most potent inside-outside combinations in the nation with seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.
"With Nick Collison and Hinrich, they have two of the top 10 players in the nation," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Leading Kansas' perimeter attack is Hinrich, a deadly outside shooter who is shooting 43.3 percent from outside the arc this season, including a 7-for-8 performance against Missouri-Kansas City in January.
"Hinrich's really good," Krzyzewski said. "He has tremendous competitive courage. He revels in moments that other people would shy away from. You have to admire that."
Collison, a first-team NABC All-American, mans the post for the Jayhawks. The 6-foot-9 senior leads Kansas with 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Collison could present matchup problems for the Blue Devils, who have recently been using a smaller starting lineup that includes four players who stand 6-6 or shorter.
"I love Nick," Krzyzewski said. "I think that Collison is the best player in the United States. I would love to coach him, and a number of our guys have played on teams with him and they've loved playing with him. He's a beautiful kid and a beautiful player to watch, but I hope he's not that beautiful [tonight]."
While Kansas may have the edge in the paint, Duke figures to hold an advantage with its depth. The Jayhawks, who lost Wayne Simien midway through the season with a right shoulder injury, now have only seven players who average over 10 minutes per game, compared to nine for the Blue Devils.
Kansas head coach Roy Williams recognizes his team's lack of depth, but hopes that his Jayhawks can refrain from accumulating too many fouls and thus minimize its effect.
"We need to stay out of foul trouble," Williams said. "Our bench isn't as strong as it's been in past years.
"Stamina's not a problem. I'm not trying to be critical of CBS, but the timeouts are so long you can take a nap. The problem is foul trouble."
Aside from trying to force Kansas into utilizing its bench, Duke also hopes to slow down the Jayhawks, who often try to score points out of transition rather than setting up a methodical half-court offense.
"They're very explosive," Duhon said. "They're probably the quickest team in America in bringing the ball up the court in transition. With great guards like [Aaron] Miles and Hinrich, they really do an amazing job of pushing the ball up the court. So one of the main things is that we have to slow them down."
Whether Duhon and the Blue Devils succeed in their game plan remains to be seen, but regardless of the outcome, Krzyzewski knows that tonight's contest promises to be one of the season's best.
"These are two of the great programs in the history of the game," Krzyzewski said. "Any time these two programs get together, no matter who's playing or who's coaching, it's going to be a marquee event."
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