It’s Often Over Before It’s Over for Duke

Ask Maryland about one of the keys to tonight’s game between No. 1 Duke and No. 2 North Carolina.

Ask Virginia too. Ask Wake Forest, Clemson and Georgia Tech.

North Carolina hasn’t gotten a firsthand look yet, but you can ask the second-ranked Tar Heels. They know.

They’ve seen enough of No. 1 Duke’s game-opening blasts to know they need to avoid one.

“It’s really scary, the way they’ve come out against some of those teams, where all of a sudden they’re up, 20-6,” North Carolina Coach Bill Guthridge said. “I think it’s more Duke’s good play than another team playing bad. One thing they do very well is come down quickly on the break, spot up and hit shots.”

With an onslaught of defensive pressure and three-point baskets, Duke has developed a penchant for building huge early leads.

A steal by Steve Wojciechowski or Shane Battier turns into a three-pointer by Trajan Langdon or Mike Chappell or a dunk by Taymon Domzalski, and Duke is up, up and away.

After 21 games, Duke has yet to trail at halftime, leading by an average of 19.6 points.

The only time Duke has trailed in the second half was against Michigan, when the Wolverines came from 17 points behind in a December game and handed Duke its only loss, 81-73.

“I think, to our kids’ credit, they’ve really been ready to play,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They’ve been in a little more of an attack mode.

“If you can hit a shot, hold your opponent scoreless and then hit another, you’ve had a run right at the start. I’ve been amazed how many times we’ve gotten off to a three-point barrage.”

That doesn’t mean anyone is predicting a blowout, either way.

“That’s hard to imagine,” Wojciechowski said.

North Carolina is braced for the pressure. Clearly enough, it’s imperative that the Tar Heels take care of the ball and guard against the Blue Devils--including the forwards--pulling up for three-pointers in transition.

“We definitely don’t want it to happen,” forward Antawn Jamison said. “They do a tremendous job jumping out to a lead. We’re very conscious of their quick starts, but most teams don’t know how to handle that, how to take their time and get it going again.”

It’s just as important for Duke not to let Jamison and Vince Carter go on a dunk-fest that would incite the Smith Center crowd.

One of the biggest issues being debated is depth, with Duke going 10 deep and Carolina sticking primarily to a six-man rotation.

“The thing about Duke, they’re so explosive, if you don’t play well for a couple of minutes, the game’s over,” Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. “That’s not true against a lot of teams. But Duke doesn’t get tired. If somebody gets tired, they bring in another guy who is just as good as the guy he’s coming in for.”

The Tar Heels argue--and some of their opponents agree--that depth isn’t an issue because of the players’ conditioning, the number of TV timeouts and North Carolina’s proven ability to come from behind.

“You’d think they’d wear down, but I’ve seen them pull it out, even when you think they’re worn down,” Langdon said.

Foul trouble, though, could put the Tar Heels in a bind. Duke doesn’t have that problem.

“They keep coming. They keep coming in waves,” Clemson Coach Rick Barnes said. “It’s not like from Steve Wojciechowski to William Avery is a very big drop-off.”

FRESHMAN DISORIENTATION

Think of North Carolina guard Ed Cota now, and the image is of those spectacular alley-oop connections with Carter.

But a year ago, Cota endured a hazing against Duke, suffering through an eight-turnover game in an 80-73 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium in January.

The second half of that game might have been Cota’s turning point, and by the end of the season, he was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s rookie of the year after leading the league in assists and falling one shy of Carolina’s single-season record of 235, set by Kenny Smith in 1985.

Now Cota leads the ACC in assists and is third in the nation at 7.5 a game--the highest average in the ACC since Duke’s Bobby Hurley averaged 7.6 in 1992. “That was part of his growth last year. He certainly learned from his mistakes, as all the others did,” Guthridge said. “He was a freshman. He’s a sophomore this year. He has more experience, and he’s done a great job running our team.”

This season, it’s Duke that relies on freshmen--although none are in the starting lineup anymore, with Elton Brand sidelined for the season and Battier coming off the bench.

They’re experienced, but are they ready for the intensity of the Carolina game?

“It’s definitely something you can’t put in words,” the Tar Heels’ Jamison said. “I talked to our freshmen the other day some, and told them, ‘You’ve never experienced anything like it. You’ll be on the bench, and it’s something you’ve never felt before.’

The only freshman who gets much playing time for the Tar Heels is 7-foot center Brendan Haywood.

Duke, on the other hand, relies heavily on three.

Brand was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder before he was lost for the season because of a foot injury. Battier was starting then too, but now comes off the bench and is drawing remarkable accolades from Krzyzewski for his defense.

Chris Burgess from Irvine Woodbridge High is an inside reserve, but Avery, a guard, has emerged as the leading scorer of the vaunted freshman class, averaging nine points.

CAN STANFORD STOP THE SWOON?

There wasn’t any shame in the loss to Arizona, a team at the peak of its prowess that played an almost perfect game.

Then Stanford tumbled in an overtime loss to Arizona State--in Maples Pavilion, no less--and on Wednesday, California took its best shot before losing at home, 74-72.

Now Stanford has to pull itself together--and quickly--or a team that was unbeaten in late January might have four losses before Valentine’s Day.

Stanford plays at No. 7 Connecticut on Saturday in a made-for-TV game that couldn’t come at a worse time, then returns to California for a Pauley Pavilion rematch Thursday against No. 6 UCLA--a team that is considerably better than it was when Stanford won at Maples last month.

“Frankly, the Arizona game, I didn’t find much problem with that,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said.

The loss to the Sun Devils was harder to swallow.

“We were all disappointed Saturday,” Montgomery said. “The thing you have to deal with, when you’re given a position in the poll or have an undefeated streak, it is not going to last. You know it’s going to happen sooner or later. We just talked about the thing we’re most concerned about--our season. You have to compete and be as good as you can be and accept the consequences. We talked about having to concentrate and play well in every game.”

The good news for Stanford is that Mark Madsen is playing again after missing five weeks because of a stress fracture in his foot. But it’s a matter of getting back his conditioning and confidence, and it doesn’t help that Pete Van Elswyk, his fill-in, has aggravated a chronic shoulder injury.

Added to that, Stanford is suddenly shooting poorly.

None of it makes it a great time to travel cross-country to play Connecticut.

“It comes with the territory,” Montgomery said. “When CBS calls and says there’s a matchup they’d like to put together and we can get the game back next year, your initial reaction is you don’t want to do it, it’s the middle of the conference season.

“But we had an opportunity to fill in our schedule and get national exposure. All things equal, you’d rather not go coast to coast, but it gives you a little gauge and lets you prepare for that level of game.”

STARS OF THEIR OWN SHOW

After showing some surprising early promise--a win over Cincinnati and an overtime loss to Kansas--Arizona State had slipped back in conference play.

Friday night before the Stanford game, interim coach Don Newman slipped in a videotape. Before he hit the play button, he told his team to watch carefully--he was going to show them a team that played with great offensive spacing, a team that rebounded well. . . .

A team, it turns out, that looked exactly like Arizona State against Kansas in its 90-88 overtime loss to the Jayhawks in the preseason NIT.

The gimmick worked, and on Saturday, the Sun Devils beat Stanford in overtime, 90-87.

That has given Arizona State visions of contending for an NCAA tournament bid, but the Sun Devils would need to start by beating Washington State and Washington--a tougher assignment--this week.