DUKE 81
MARYLAND 68

   Duke beat Maryland 81-68 to win the ACC Championship on March 12th.  The game was both a reflection of Duke's dominance over the ACC right now and a measure of redemption for Duke's home loss to the Terps back in February. It erased some doubts about Duke's ability to compete with teams at the highest level.  More than anything, it reestablished Duke's identity as a tough defensive team, one that can impose its will on others.  That identity as a defensive juggernaut had fallen by the wayside this year, as teams had regularly been able to put up a lot of points against the Devils, particularly in the second half.  Maryland had nearly crossed the 100 point mark in Cameron, a nearly unthinkable feat.  The last team to accomplish this was UNC in 1995, and it took them two overtimes to do it.  But with the unyielding will to win of the program's Three Pillars and the dazzling talents of the precocious frosh, Duke extended their dominance of the league beyond the regular season once again and into the ACC tournament.  The title is Duke's 11th, second only to UNC's 15. 

  Maryland had stumbled into the finals after a rough matchup with NC State, who nearly tied the game on their final possession.  The Terps had had trouble with turnovers and foul shooting, but finally managed to assert themselves down low against a helpless State frontcourt.  They would not find the going so easy against Duke's undersized but fierce post players. The aggressiveness on offense from Carlos Boozer and the inspired play on defense by Matt Christensen proved to be the difference in the game, since it allowed Duke to concentrate on putting the clamps on Juan Dixon and Steve Blake.  In Durham, Maryland was able to switch from strength to strength, but in the ACC finals, it was Duke who dictated the game's pace and style of play.  It helped that in the tourney, the officials were letting a lot of rough play underneath go.  About the only things they'd call were direct attempts to score by going hard to the basket.  This is something that Duke did a lot of.  Also, since Duke is so thin, not having many fouls called helped keep the rotation pretty much intact.  Only Nate James encountered early foul trouble, but this didn't prove to be much of a factor.

  Both teams were a bit tight early on.  Duke pounded the ball into Boozer early and often, with Carlos getting a turnaround and pulling up for a 7' jumper.  With nearly five minutes gone by, the score was only 6-2 in favor of Duke as both teams missed easy shots and turned the ball over.  The Terps finally got a couple of jumpers to fall and even took the lead on a Blake three at 9-8.  It was to be their last lead of the game.  Duke immediately struck back when Williams hit a three on a relocation pass from Christensen and then took advantage of a bad pass to get an easy layup.  Duke made it a 14-2 run when Carrawell scored on a drive, Boozer swished a couple of foul shots, Williams found Boozer loose underneath, and C-Well passed to James for a 15' jumper.  Duke led 22-11 halfway through the first stanza. The Devils got out to a 12 point lead when the very aggressive Jason Williams got a steal, a transition layup and the foul.  The Terps responded with back-to-back threes from Dixon and Morris on their way to an 8-0 run to make it a game again at 25-21.  Williams then found C-Well with a bullet pass for an easy dunk, but the Terps continued to chip away and got the lead down to 1 at 28-27.

  Sometimes, a lead can be a very important psychological edge, and losing that lead can hurt a team's confidence.  At the same time, not being able to completely erase a lead can hurt the challenger.  It was with this in mind that Chris Carrawell's offensive rebound plus a foul came at a crucial time. It gave Duke a 4 point lead and a small working margin.  Still, the Terps kept hammering away, with Morris hitting yet another three.  Blake hit a tough shot with seconds left in the half and Duke turned it over before they could get a final shot off themselves.  The halftime score was 37-36. Duke had held their own on the boards, owning a 14-11 margin, and had kept the turnovers low at 5.  But Duke's ice-cold 1-11 mark from three kept the Terps in the game, as well as Maryland's unusual three point accuracy. The heroes of the half were Boozer with 10 points, Carrawell with 10 points and 5 boards, and Williams, with 8 points, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals.     

  The second half was a series of attempts by Duke to put the game away and subsequent attempts by Maryland to stave off elimination.  It began with Williams hitting a three and then the two teams trading baskets.  Duke then seized control with back-to-back threes from Carrawell and Battier. The latter came after a frustrating series where Lonnie Baxter missed a couple of close shots before Boozer grabbed the rebound.  A Duke turnover helped Maryland pull to within 6 before Duke slapped them down again.  Again, it was sparked by Williams, who made up for a couple of turnovers with a drive and a nice feed to Boozer.  Battier also got to the foul line and Duke was up by 10 at 54-44. 

  Maryland held Duke to a single Williams short jumper in the next five minutes, going on an 8-2 that brought them within shouting distance at 56-52.  Boozer scored on the very next play, and then found Williams in the corner for three to put Duke up 9 with about seven minutes left.  Jason then had a short jumper goaltended to keep a 9 point lead.  After a couple of Dixon misses, Carrawell scooped up the crucial rebound.  Battier found Boozer down low, who hit the basket and got fouled.  This was a demoralizing play, one where everyone involved knew that Boozer shouldn't have even had a chance to take that shot, much less get a three point play out of it.   The Devils now had the margin to start working the clock, and they did it rather efficiently.  Carrawell found Battier for a three as the shot clock was winding down, putting Duke up 13.  Maryland did manage to cut it to 8 with three minutes left, but Duke began a parade to the foul line.  Battier also found Williams for a three with under two minutes left that absolutely, finally killed them.  A couple of more free throws followed, then a great steal and layup by James.  The matter was settled, and the tougher Duke squad had earned their championship.

  Williams and Boozer carried the team in the second half.  Jason was 3-4 from three and Boozer had 11 points and 3 boards.  Jason was also MVP of the tournament after averaging over 20 points and 9 assists a game.  Battier and Carrawell were also first-team all-tourney, along with Dixon and Baxter. James, Boozer and Dunleavy were all on the second team, along with Morris and Damien Wilkins of State.  Note that Maryland only hit 2 threes in the entire second half.  Baxter was only 4-15 from the field, Morris 6-16.  Danny Miller hurt his ankle in the first half and did not return, which really shortened Maryland's bench.  With a fresh James and Dunleavy to throw at them, their backcourt got a bit worn down by the end.  After a 1-11 start, Duke's three point shooters got back into the swing of things with a 6-9 second half, with many of those shots absolutely killing the Terps.

 ** Negatives:

 1. Turnovers.  Too many miscues meant that Maryland was let back in the game, bit by bit.  When Duke started making shots instead, the Terps were no longer in it.

 2. First half shooting.  Atrocious.  1-11 is a terrible start from three. The short game was a hair better than the long with Boozer getting 4 of 9. Battier was 1-5, Williams 2-6 and James 2-5.   

 ** Positives:

 1. Offensive rebounding.  A newfound strength, as players like Boozer and C-well scrap and claw for everything.   Every starter had at least 4 boards.

 2. Foul shooting.  86%, and 10-11 in the second half.  Everyone looked smooth and confident down the stretch.

 3. Post play. Boozer and Christensen were a powerful duo, with Boozer using his agility and Christensen his size and strength to give the Terps some looks they weren't expecting.  Speaking of which, Duke actually ran a little box and one on Juan Dixon, with Williams chasing.  The hope was to get Maryland into a more stagnant game, and it worked.

 Player-by-Player Analysis:

 ** Boozer: Perhaps his finest game, considering the stakes and his high level of play on the offensive end and the good job he did defensively.  He came out and made a statement with his early play, getting a turnaround and short jumper to fall.  Even though a later, longer jumper didn't drop, I liked the fact that he wanted to take Baxter outside a bit.  Boozer was almost unopposed when he shot his 10 footers.  Carlos continued to score periodically throughout the half, a dunk from Dunleavy being the best.  He was a steady scoring force in the second half, getting another layup on a great pass. He really put the game away with his tough three point play, drawing a foul from Baxter in the process.  About the only area he didn't dominate was on the boards, though he did step up a bit in the second half and wrest away some tough ones.

 ** Battier:  Shane was clanking shots in the first half, missing all 3 of his threes.  Morris really held him in check, not allowing Shane to do much on the boards, either.  Shane's only basket was a 15' jumper from the baseline.  In the second half, Battier was much more of the Daddy. He finally nailed his first three on a pass from Williams, then hit a couple of foul shots as Duke not coincidentally was able to pull ahead a bit. He was also playing demonic defense, getting most of his 5 steals in the second half by aggressively slapping away at the ball or simply anticipating bad plays.  One memorable sequence had him slapping away a ball as he was falling down and calling a timeout before he could travel.  He also shut down Morris in the second half, preventing easy looks.  He also worked harder on the boards.  Shane had three significant plays down the stretch that sealed Duke's win.  The first was an aggressive drive and pass to Boozer, who then had that three point play.  The second was hitting a three with just a second left on the shot clock that put Duke up 13 with four minutes left.  The third was finding Williams for a three with just over a minute left, again with the shot clock running down.  While not a dominant performance, Shane's game was crucial to Duke's win.  I'd like to see him drive more, because good things usually happen when he does, the pass to Boozer being an obvious example.   

 ** Carrawell:  Chris asserted himself early on in this game, both in scoring and rebounding.  I think it was important for him to set the tone as a senior.  While Dixon was able to score a bit on him, Chris did a much better job of forcing him to take long shots rather than penetrate and kill Duke with his deadly medium-range jumpers.  Coach K also kept Chris fresh by rotating different players on Dixon.  More than anyone, I think Chris is feeling the effects of fatigue.  A lot of this is mental, because he had to carry the team for so long.  While he's not scoring in bunches the way he once was, he's also been freed up to concentrate on defense again. He started the game by feeding Boozer and sticking a 15' jumper of his own.  His offense was steady, as he drove a couple of times, scoring on one and getting fouled on another.  His best play was his remarkable offensive rebound and stickback over a couple of Maryland players, showing how badly he wanted to win.  He also nailed a three early in he second half, which began the slow process of Duke taking control of the game. Chris did lose the ball a couple of times, a bit surprising considering he's usually so sure-handed.  But his defense was very sticky, and he even came up with a block.  Hopefully the rest he gets will re-energize him, because he'll be needed to come up big in the tournament, both in scoring and containing other players.

 ** James:  Kind of a stealth game from Nate, who hit only 1 jumper and missed both of his threes, but still contributed with 4 assists and 5 boards.  He had no shot attempts in the second half, but still swished both of his free throw attempts with three minutes left, putting Duke up 10.  It just goes to show that Duke's tourney win was a total team effort, where different team members stepped up at different times.  Nate shone in the Wake game when others were struggling from the perimeter.  Maryland didn't leave him alone in this game, meaning that others had a chance to get loose.  Duke's overall offensive balance is probably the team's greatest strength.

 ** Williams:  In so many ways, Jase is the second coming of Bobby Hurley. When he does something good, the result is spectacular.  But when he loses concentration, the result is often disastrous.  Early in the game, Maryland was on a break and Jason lost Steven Blake on defense.  Blake saw this and fired a three that was wide open, nailing it.  Coach K called an immediate time-out and screamed at Jason the entire time.  Jason translated the dressing-down as Coach K urging him to be the player he could be.  After that, Jason didn't disappoint, utterly dominating the clever Blake in every facet of the game.  Blake had only 1 good look at the basket the rest of the game and turned the ball over 6 times.  Meanwhile, Jason had an excellent sense of when to pass and when to shoot, reading the defense while at the same time forcing them to react to him.  His first half was solid but not spectacular.  He hit an early three off a relocation pass when Christensen got a rebound, and found Battier and Boozer for baskets.  His best pass was a brilliant read of the Terp defense, smoking in a pass to C-Well under the basket.  His offensive highlight was getting a steal and going all the way to the rack, scoring and getting fouled by a bewildered Blake.  His only real miscue was losing a pass right before the half ended.  But he dominated the second half, starting off with a three and soon finding Battier for another.  He was attacking the Terp defense in a variety of ways, penetrating and dishing to Boozer, driving all the way to the hoop, and pulling up for a short jumper.  His chemistry with Boozer was definitely on, and they had had a little two-man game going.  Jason was in the corner, and threw the ball into Boozer.  Boozer posted up and immediately threw the ball back to Williams, who was immediately ready to shoot, and nailed a three. That put Duke up 61-52 after the Terps had come back from a 10-point deficit. Jason would hit another short jumper and swish a long three with the shot clock running down that was the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Terps. Maryland is a fine defensive team, and Williams was more than ready to not only survive, but to excel.  If he continues to play at this high a level, Duke will be a formidable match-up in the NCAA tourney.

     ** Dunleavy:  Mike was somewhat quiet, getting an early steal and a late first half jumper, but he missed both of his three attempts and in general didn't see the ball that much.  He did have 5 boards but looked merely average in comparison to his first 2 games.  I think he still needs a bit more rest to recover so he can get his legs back all the way.  Three turnovers were a definite minus, but he's still learning.  I'm amazed at how good his ballhandling is as a frosh, but he still tries to force things at times.

 ** Christensen: Came in and fought very hard, playing some great post defense. Got Boozer some critical minutes of rest and also came up with some excellent blocks.  Played very physical defense against Mike Mardesich and blocked a Morris jumper.  Had three first half rebounds.  It's hard to quantify what he did for the team, but his fighting spirit and willingness to knock some heads meant a lot to the team.  Any help from the bench really invigorates the starters.

 ** Buckner: Hit 2 foul shots in the last minute.

 ** Horvath, Sanders, Simpson, Borman:  Played briefly but didn't do much.

 Next Game: Friday the 17th at 10:10 pm vs Lamar in Winston-Salem.  Lamar has one great player named Landon Rowe and won the Southland Conference tourney as a 7 seed.  Rowe can shoot and rebound extremely well and will probably draw Battier as his defender.  The team is deep but no one else really puts up big numbers.  The team is also pretty small, so look for Duke to try to establish Boozer early and often, and look for Battier to post up.  Anything can happen in the tournament (I personally witnessed Western Carolina come within a single basket of knocking off #1 seed Purdue), but Duke is unlikely to lose this game.  What will be interesting is to see who Duke draws in the second round, as DePaul and Kansas offer different challenges.  The Jayhawks are experienced, huge and deep, but not very quick.  Their guard play (other than Kenny Gregory) is somewhat suspect.  Duke knows all about DePaul, who very nearly knocked off the Devils in Cameron. They are now fully reloaded, and their survival will depend on their outside shooting. I wouldn't be surprised to see KU go zone and hope that Quentin Richardson has a bad shooting day.

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu