Could you talk about Shavlik Randolph's transition to a more physical player? It's pretty impressive what he's been able to do.
"Shavlik's been really a good player, and it wasn't known until the end of last season that he had been playing with an injury he's been playing with the past two years: his last year in high school and his first season at Duke. The problem with his hip caused some other injuries, and for him to get that straightened out and to pick up the weight he has and become a much better player is amazing. When you play with an injury, you compensate in some way. You have to change some of the physical habits that you've used for two years. It's not just coming back from an injury to a regular reference point, you have to change the reference point that you were at before because of playing with the injury for a couple years. Shav's been doing that, and I think he's going to become a better player over these next couple years."
With Shavlik and Shelden it seems that they are not only playing well as individuals and in the team, but also as a duo. What do you think their key is to their work inside together?
"They're both good kids who are not threatened by each other. They want each other to do well. They can see that one is not taking anything away from the other, but rather is enhancing the other's abilities. When playing against one another in practice when they're doing individual drills, Shav gets to play against a very powerful player who is becoming more skilled and Shelden gets to play against a very skilled player who is becoming more powerful. In that combination they make each other better. They complement each other. But also they'll be playing separately, too, like yesterday because of foul trouble or match-ups. Those two kids have really done a good job for us. Obviously yesterday Shelden's second half was one of the better halves that anyone's played so far this season."
Do you think that the ACC is as good as it's been in several years?
"I think that the ACC is equally as good as it's been over the last several years except it hasn't been as obvious to people who don't watch us as closely."
"First of all I think that competition over the years within our conference has made every conference team better as long as everyone stays healthy while playing those games. The thing that should be recognized by the end of the year is that when they are choosing teams to play in the tournament that a team that may be 7-9 in our conference has played against better competition than maybe some of the other conferences. So a 9-7 team may not have been 9-7 in our conference. People don't mind getting beat up as long as they get rewarded at the end for the tough job that they've accomplished, and I think that in the last few years a few of our teams have not been rewarded with an NCAA berth because our conference has not been recognized at the level that it is being recognized this year."
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