It is the verbal salute of the Crazies, who pack the ancient arena, to Duke senior forward-guard Chris Carrawell. And when he hears it, Carrawell smiles, nods his head and touches his heart to let them know he hears them.

ACC no longer stands for Atlantic Coast Conference, it now stands for Amazing Chris Carrawell.

Carrawell has somehow become the ACC’s best player. He didn’t become a full-time starter until he was a junior. As a senior, the only one on the Duke team, he has become a full-time star.

When Carrawell arrived at Duke three seasons ago, he was the No. 3 guy in a three-forward recruiting class. Coach Mike Krzyzewski had brought in three guys who were the same size and told them to compete for playing time. Nate James got hurt and dropped back a class. Mike Chappell moved on to Michigan State, because he didn’t like the competition. Carrawell thrived on it.

Last year, Duke lost two games the entire season. One early (Cincinnati) and one for the national championship (UConn). That team, if anything, was too talented. Four of its players were chosen by the NBA in the first round of last June’s draft. Corey Maggette plays more as an Orlando Magic rookie than he did as a Duke freshman reserve.

On that team, it really didn’t matter all that much whether Carrawell played well or poorly. He was a contributing, but not essential part of a machine. If he played well Duke won by 40. If he didn’t, the Blue Devils only won by 30.

But you got the feeling that it wasn’t all that much fun for Carrawell. It was way too easy.

Carrawell came to Duke for the competition, and beating people 100-56 is not competition.

Carrawell has some polish now, but he grew up on some pretty mean streets in St. Louis. He comes from a different world than the Shane Battiers and Mike Dunleavys. As a boy, he played against grown men for money. He learned how to win and learned how to fight to keep his winnings.

This year, Carrawell has had to fight and scrap all over again — and he loves it. What he does this year matters an awful lot, and he loves it. Often, he puts Duke on his narrow shoulders, and he loves it. He wants the pressure, thrives on the pressure.

His reaction to overtime wins over N.C. State, Virginia and North Carolina? “Fun, man. Just fun.”

Duke lost its first two games this season, partly because center Carlos Boozer wasn’t all the way back from an offseason injury. The other reason was that freshman point guard Jason Williams didn’t yet know who could do what, when it really mattered.

In those games in New York against Stanford and UConn, Carrawell would often demand the ball and Williams, who was used to being the man himself, would ignore him.

Now, when Carrawell claps his hands and says he wants the ball, Williams listens and gives it up.

Carrawell wanted the ball a lot in last Thursday’s game with North Carolina when he was matched up against freshman Joseph Forte. He wanted it on every big possession, and most of the time he came through. One unbelievable baseline drive that produced a three-point play had Krzyzewski nearly in tears after the game.

“That’s the sort of move David Henderson (now an assistant coach) used to make for us back in 1986,” he said. “That’s the first time I’ve seen it since then.”

Carrawell has made big plays in big games all season.

He is not particularly big or strong. His legs are more scrawny than brawny. He runs with the awkward stride of a YMCA player, not the powerful grace of a Maggette. His shot isn’t out of any known textbook, but he always seems to get it off by half an inch.

Wily old baseball manager Leo Durocher used to have a player named Eddie Stanky, of whom he said, “He can’t run, can’t hit and can’t throw, but I wouldn’t trade him for any player in the league.”

That’s sort of how Carrawell is for Krzyzewski.

He is not a great shooter, not a great ball-handler, not a great passer and not a great defender. But he’s pretty good at all of the above and he has a heart and will that no one else can match. It’s for sure that Coach K wouldn’t trade him for any player in the league.

Carrawell is the leader of an odd, but increasingly awesome Duke team. A team that looked just as scary as last season’s unit in Saturday’s destruction of second-place Virginia.

Logic says this team is too young (three freshmen are often on the floor and six of 10 scholarship players are freshmen) to run away with the ACC — but it’s doing it.

Logic says it can’t make the Final Four in Indianapolis, but it’s well on its way.

Logic says it can’t go the distance if last year’s superhuman squad couldn’t, but who knows?

“After what we lost, a lot of people said we wouldn’t be any good at all this season,” Carrawell said after his team’s overtime win in Chapel Hill. “So this season is pretty satisfying. But we know we have to keep proving ourselves all over again every day.”

One person who has nothing more to prove is Carrawell.

When it comes time to vote for ACC Player of the Year, writers are going to be yelling “C-well, C-well,” right along with the Cameron Crazies.

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