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Duke on its guard against underdog

Southern Cal is on a hot streak with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2001

PHILADELPHIA -- Ever since the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced, most folks predicted and eagerly anticipated a Duke-Kentucky rematch in tonight's East Region championship.

But before it's all said and done, Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski actually might have preferred that matchup rather than tonight's against lightly regarded Southern California.

Really.

"The fact that their school has not achieved this level of success is a huge motivating factor for those kids, and we have to understand that," Krzyzewski said. "As well as we've seen them play on tape, and a little bit in person, they'll probably be better (tonight)."

The top-seeded and top-ranked Blue Devils (32-4) were expected to get here. This is their 10th region final under Krzyzewski, and they've won eight.

The No. 6-seeded Trojans (24-9) are in unchartered territory. Since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, they had never made it to the Sweet 16, let alone the Elite Eight. The program's last and only Final Four appearance came in 1954.

"Duke has all the mystique, all the tradition, that goes with being here in the NCAA Tournament," said USC coach Henry Bibby, who is sure to use that as a ploy.

He mentioned to his players all the newspaper stories about the 1992 Duke-Kentucky East Region final. He pointed out that their school name seemed to be in smaller letters on the press row dasher boards than that of Duke, Kentucky and UCLA.

"We knew coming into the tournament, no one was going to be pulling for us; we've heard that since Day 1," junior forward Sam Clancy said. "Look where we are now."

"It's a lot of motivation, being in the underdog role," added senior guard Jeff Trepagnier. "We don't have anything to lose." So, what else is new?

The Blue Devils realize less acclaimed teams look to make a name at their expense. And that's even in a regular-season game. The stakes here -- a trip to the Final Four -- mean more than a moment of fame. "When we come to Duke, we know that we're going to have a nice, big, red and white target painted on our backs every time we step out on the court," star senior forward Shane Battier said. "For me, it's something I've had to learn to enjoy; enjoy taking other teams' best jab, best hook and turning around and delivering your own haymaker. If you can do that, win and succeed when people are giving you their best shot, it's that much more fulfilling."

Duke has won 91 of its past 92 against unranked opponents. USC is not ranked.

"You know every time you step out on the court, you have to bring it with the same kind of intensity and emotion night after night," sophomore guard Jason Williams said. "Because no matter what team you're playing against, they're going to bring their best effort. USC is going to come at us very strong, but as strong as they come after us is as strong as we're going to come after them."

They know they have to. The Blue Devils struggled to beat USC 81-68 in last season's Wooden Classic. USC returns five starters from that game: Clancy, Trepagnier, point guard Brandon Granville, center Brian Scalabrine and forward David Bluthenthal.

Also, the Trojans rebounded from a 44-point home loss to Arizona on Feb. 17 to close the regular season on a high with a two-point loss to Stanford and wins against California, Washington and Washington State. In the post-season, they've defeated Oklahoma State, No. 3-seeded and Big East tournament champ Boston College, then No. 2-seeded Kentucky, the SEC tournament champ.

"We have a lot of confidence and we're not going to be intimidated," Trepagnier said.

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