Just about everything is different for Indiana this year-even the practice shorts.
As a result, the ACC-Big Ten challenge game between Duke (5-1) and the Hoosiers (3-1) tonight at 9 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium will feature a very different game than last year's classic in Bloomington, Ind.
Indiana lost its top three scorers from last year's game-a 75-67 Duke victory-in Marshall Strickland, Robert Vaden and Marco Killingsworth, who dominated Shelden Williams down low on his way to 34 points. But the Hoosiers have gained a new, and somewhat controversial, head coach in Kelvin Sampson, who went 279-109 in 12 seasons at Oklahoma.
Before leaving Norman, Okla. Sampson incurred penalties for a series of recruiting infractions, but that has not distracted him from imposing his coaching style on the Hoosiers.
Sampson has done all he can to implant the word "Intensity" on his players' minds-even plastering the word on the back of their new practice shorts. The word, however, is not just a tired-out cliché.
Sampson has drilled his mantra into the players' lives with 5 a.m. wakeup calls, 6 a.m. weightlifting sessions and an offseason conditioning program that included what he called "ultimate suicides."
"For me, it's about establishing work habits and work ethic," Sampson said. "Before you can be a good road team, you have to have a foundation of how it is you want to play. That's the thing that we're still searching for."
Indiana's starting lineup features all juniors and seniors, a stark contrast from Duke's youth. The Hoosiers' two primary scoring options-junior forwards D.J. White and Lance Stemler, who stand 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-8, respectively- present unique matchup problems for the Blue Devils.
"It's very hard to pick your poison," Duke assistant coach Chris Collins said. "They give you a tough matchup because they have a great inside threat in White and yet their second big man is their best three-point shooter in Stermer."
Even with all the upperclassmen and threats that the Hoosiers possess, Sampson still knows where his team stands right now.
"There's not an area that I can say is our strength right now," Sampson said. "Our point guard play has to be more confident. We can't worry about turning the ball over."
The Blue Devils will look for continued improvement from their own guards in extending their dominance in the ACC-Big 10 challenge. Duke has never lost in the seven-year history of the challenge-the only team in both conferences to do so- and much of the success in last year's game could be attributed to the play of Greg Paulus.
The sophomore point guard played one of his best games last year against Indiana, scoring 13 points and distributing six assists while playing all but one minute.
With Paulus coming off one of his best games of the year against Davidson, it appears that Duke's only true point guard is emerging at the right moment for the Blue Devils despite his preseason foot injury.
"When he's on the court, he gives us someone who's in control," Collins said. "Certainly when he's at his best our team becomes dangerous."
With the season still young and both coaches still tinkering with their lineups, the game will give Duke a chance to measure itself against a quality opponent at home.
"By no means are we a finished product," Collins said. "As we continue to play these games early in the year, we'll learn, more guys will continue to improve and will gel into a cohesive unit."
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