Opportunity knocked... Sheana answered
(01/29/01 5:00am)
In the heart of Pennsylvania in a quiet town called Clearfield, a coach began teaching his daughter the arts of baseball and basketball.
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In the heart of Pennsylvania in a quiet town called Clearfield, a coach began teaching his daughter the arts of baseball and basketball.
CHAPEL HILL - It was a play that received little mention after the fact in Carmichael Auditorium's media room, and it was a play that hardly made an impression on the box score following No. 4 Duke's thrilling 92-85 victory over archrival North Carolina.
Jason Williams found out about his alleged stress fracture the same way everyone else did yesterday-word of mouth. But nothing had to be said for Dave Odom to find out the alleged fracture was nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor.
CONTINUED FROM BLUE DEVIL BLUES
In most parts of the country, there is no looking forward to the dreary grays of winter. Then there is Duke, where the 12-degree nights and the occasional snow flurries are always a welcome change to the temperate days of late summer and early fall. It is one of the rare places in the country that lives for the month of November, the one month that simultaneously brings an often-merciful end to football season and marks the dawn of another possible run at the Final Four. There are, of course, the few loyalists, the football diehards who either remember the glory days of football seasons long since past, or who dream of a new glory yet to come. They are rare around here, especially this time of year, when they are vastly outnumbered by the crowds of tents parked in front of the Wilson Recreation Center. But they do exist, and they do not spend their summer and fall waiting for November.
When it comes to tenting and the somewhat incredible scene that has become January tradition on the walkways to Cameron Indoor Stadium, I generally consider myself to be a purist. Graces should be kept to a minimum, and the "hard-core" tenters should truly have to earn their right to stand in the front rows on game day.
Charlottesville, Va. - When she arrived at Duke a year ago, her coach called her the best ball-handler in the history of the program. Better than 1999 graduate Nicole Erickson, better than every Blue Devil ever.
It has been a season of questions and answers for the fifth-ranked Blue Devils.
I admit, I am no expert when it comes to the NFL this season. And I am probably the only columnist who will discuss the Super Bowl having watched not one second of last Sunday's conference championship games. But in the day-long trek from Durham to College Park and back, with CBS radio sports providing a comical rendition of the Minnesota meltdown, I managed to learn two things. First, New York is a lot better than I or pretty much anyone else was giving them credit for a week ago. Second, the Giants are not good enough to win against the top-rated defense in the NFL in a week-and-a-half. I will experience no joy when Art Modell hoists the Lombardi Trophy on Super Sunday. Coming from Los Angeles, I know how frustrating it is to watch mediocre-to-terrible franchises up and leave in the middle of the night and then suddenly become contenders in only a few short years. It was painful last season with the Rams, and it was an entirely uneasy feeling this season with the Raiders. Enter the Baltimore Ravens, a team that went on the road to stuff the championship aspirations of both Oakland and AFC top-seed Tennessee. I am not one to be dazzled by dominating defenses. I always preferred the high-scoring attacks of the 49ers and Cowboys to the Monsters of the Midway. But I also recognize that if there is one thing that can be relied upon to win championships, it is defense. Ask Denver. Ask Tennessee. Ask Oakland. Sure, Sunday was a tremendous coming-out party for a quarterback who was out of football only a short while ago. But much of the credit for Kerry Collins' magnificent afternoon can be given to the game's whipping boy, Wasswa Serwanga. Like I said, I was not fortunate enough to watch Collins make Serwanga look like an amateur on a football field, but I would venture to guess there is not a single person who thinks the Giants can move the ball anywhere near as effectively against Ray Lewis' Ravens. It will not be pretty, it will not be enjoyable, but this Super Bowl will be won by the Ravens. They have no offense, but who needs one when the opposition scores 10 points per game? Their defense has the talent, it has the intangibles and it knows how to win games. At some point during Super Sunday, Shannon Sharpe will turn to one of the Ravens defenders and he will ask one question. How many points do we need? With a less-than-spectacular offense built around Collins and Tiki Barber, the response will probably be less than a touchdown. And that's something that even Sharpe, Trent Dilfer and the Ravens can manage.
COLLEGE PARK, Mary. - One story Sunday night at Cole Field House was the way No. 5 Duke quickly turned a close game at halftime into a 16-point cushion and held on for a somewhat-comfortable 75-64 victory over Maryland.
TALLAHASSEE - In the season's opening two weeks, the mighty Blue Devils marched confidently into places like Albuquerque, University Park, Penn. and Chestnut Hill, Mass., and each time they walked away with easy victories over highly ranked teams. Monday, for the second time in as many ACC road games, the conference heavyweights quickly learned that life away from home in the ACC is no cakewalk.
TALLAHASSEE - Quiet and shy around the media as always, the hero of Duke's 73-60 victory over Florida State only answered two questions Monday night.
Ali Curtis came to Duke with a powerful leg and incredible quickness that made him one of the most talented and targeted players in college soccer.
CLEMSON, S.C. - When a frustrated and teary-eyed team of players moved quickly toward their locker room following an 18-point loss at Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday, the 75 points in No. 3 Duke's scoring column belied the ineffectiveness of the Blue Devils' offense.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>PHILADELPHIA - Following Temple's most humbling loss in three seasons, an uncharacteristically mellow John Chaney entered the media room in the First Union Center Saturday night lacking his typical fire, ear-to-ear grin and menacing aura of intimidation. Only 20 days into the Owls' season, a two-hour bloodbath had stripped Chaney of everything that 19 years at the program's helm had made his trademark. Minutes after a school record-tying 17 three-pointers helped No. 1 Duke (7-0) bury the 17th-ranked Owls (4-3) 93-68, Chaney offered no reason for the dramatic disparity between Saturday's blowout and the previous week's nailbiter in Madison Square Garden. He shared no criticism of his team, nor did he make any excuses. He simply made one request. "I just don't want to see Duke anymore," the Temple coach said. "I wouldn't mind seeing anybody else." The top-ranked Blue Devils rode Jason Williams' career-high 30 points and a frightening clip of 56.7 percent from three-point range to their second victory in eight days over Temple. Unlike Duke's thrilling come-from-behind win over Temple last week, Saturday's contest was never close as the Owls suffered an arena-emptying rout in front of the largest men's college basketball crowd in Pennsylvania history. Duke withstood sloppy play early, including nine turnovers in the opening 13 minutes, to grasp its first double-digit lead of the game when Carlos Boozer crashed through the lane to score his first points with 7:19 remaining in the first half. Boozer's powerful drive marked the first points scored inside the three-point arc by the Blue Devils, and it pushed their advantage to 26-15. The Blue Devils did not look back, regaining their composure on offense to turn the ball over seven times the rest of the night and maintaining a double-digit edge that reached as high as 29. "You need preparation time; we had it, they didn't," Krzyzweski said, contrasting the three days of rest his team had since Tuesday's victory over Illinois with the one day off Temple had since its loss to Miami (Ohio) Thursday night. "We might have still won the game, but not by this margin." Chaney, on the other hand, felt this was nothing out of the ordinary and that his Owls had been "very fortunate" to keep the first meeting close in New York. "I've never seen a team as good as this team," Chaney said of Duke. "They have mix-and-match parts; they have ideal parts. I would love to be able to coach that team. I felt like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; every time I looked up, someone was shooting." Chaney's witty analogy was a fitting description for an evening that saw the Blue Devils launch 30 three-pointers, exactly three-fifths of all the field goals they attempted. Freshman Andre Sweet tied the program's school record-17-with his successful bomb from long range on a clean look from the left corner with 53 seconds left. Still, while it was the barrage of treys that made Saturday a unique offensive performance by Duke, it was the team's stifling defense that flustered and frustrated a Temple team now riding a three-game losing streak for the first time since Dec. 1998. Owning a distinct size advantage, the Owls never managed to ignite their two big men, forward Kevin Lyde and center Ronald Rollerson. Rollerson and Lyde, who when matched up against Boozer and Shane Battier each faced significantly smaller opponents, only attempted 10 total shots in the entire game. Chaney attributed their ineffectiveness to the fact that each big man neutralized the other by restricting movement inside and allowing the opposing guards to double-down with ease on the more dominant big man. Whether or not the twin-towers attack is "dead," as Chaney claimed, much of the credit for the struggles of Rollerson and Lyde can be attributed to freshman defensive stalwart Chris Duhon. Duhon prevented Temple from ever setting up its normally methodical, precise offense by harrassing point guard Lynn Greer, who turned in his worst performance of the season on 6-for-23 shooting with four turnovers. Through Temple's first six games, Greer had played all 240 minutes, led his team in scoring in every game except its season opener and turned the ball over a mere 10 times. "Chris had a great floor game and he loves to pass," Krzyzewski said of Duhon, who equalled Temple's team total with 12 assists. "He got a lot confidence from the way he was defending Greer." The Owls only committed 13 turnovers, but Duke's pressure in the backcourt and constant movement from player to player disrupted Temple all night long. After controlling the tempo of the first matchup, Temple found itself running up and down the court in a shootout-style game that decidedly favored the Blue Devils. "They play excellent defense and they make you keep changing offenses," Chaney said. "They shut down everything. Mike [Krzyzewski] and I have talked many times, and he has, in my opinion, the best team he has ever had." Krzyzewski was quick to dismiss that claim, noting a handful of seasons he coached stronger teams. "No, this is not the best team we have ever had," Krzyzewski said. "This team is still very much a developing team." That the team Chaney does not want to see again anytime soon is "developing" is most certainly not what relative lightweights Davidson and Michigan want to hear entering their games at Cameron Indoor Stadium this week.
"Reminder to Hurricane Club members to obtain priority status for Miami's national championship game!" That is the headline on Miami's official team website. But not so fast, Miami fans. Only one thing is certain: the opinion of the 130 combined voters in the two major polls does not count, or at least not for very much. Nearly all of them agree that Oklahoma is No. 1, Miami is No. 2 and Florida State is No. 3. Still, despite Miami's 27-24 victory over Florida State earlier in the season, Florida State will DEFINITELY be playing in the Orange Bowl for a national championship, and it will only be against Miami if Kansas State upsets Oklahoma in the Big 12 conference championship game. "Not fair," you say. Miami coach Butch Davis would certainly concur. "There's an awful lot wrong with this current formula," Davis recently complained in reference to the Bowl Championship Series computer ranking. As the saying goes, however, life is not always fair, and to make that statement even more apropos, you can change "life" to "college football" and "always" to "ever." As long as college football continues to pass on a playoff-determined national champion, something like this will occur on a fairly regular basis. Still, for Miami to whine about getting the short straw is not exactly tugging at my heart strings. It had to be someone, and why not Miami? Miami's claim that it should be included in the title game because it defeated Florida State is not all that convincing. By that very same logic, No. 4 Washington (one loss, just like FSU and Miami) should be banging down doors out West for not receiving an Orange Bowl invitation. And then what a Pandora's Box that would open up. The fifth-ranked Oregon State Beavers, whose only loss this season came against Washington, would be able to make the same claim. But it does not stop there. Next on the list-No. 6 Virginia Tech, which boasts a perfect mark except for a solitary loss to Miami. In a season of incredible parity at the top, the "I beat you so I'm better" logic just is not good enough. When you get right down to it, Florida State deserves a shot at a title as much as anybody. The Seminoles thrashed then-No. 10 Clemson and beat then-No. 4 Florida, giving them as many quality victories as anyone else. Do the Hurricanes deserve to play for a national title? Yes. Do they deserve that shot more than Florida State? Not until college football moves to at least an eight-team playoff. The fact is, there are five teams ranked No. 2 through No. 6 nationally, each with its only loss coming against another team in that group. So before anyone sheds a tear for Miami, keep in mind that three other equally deserving teams are getting the proverbial shaft as well.
After a "disappointing" 97-66 thrashing of Duquesne in the first round of the Duke Classic Saturday, ninth-year Blue Devils coach Gail Goestenkors shared her vision of Duke's defense.
Carlos Boozer, the most valuable player of the preseason NIT tournament, deplaned in Raleigh-Durham International Airport with his teammates at nearly 4 a.m. Saturday morning, only five hours after the sophomore center had finished pounding home 26 points to rally Duke over Temple in the tournament championship game.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Six and a half minutes into last night's thrilling 88-87 victory over Penn State, Duke coach Gail Goestenkors had to make one of the tougher decisions of the young season.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Late in the first half, the 9,001 Nittany Lions fans in attendance sensed an upset was in the making, but Duke's Crystal ball said otherwise.