DURHAM— With each passing game, the numbers grow more impressive: 52 out of 54 league wins in the regular season; an average winning margin of 19 points; half the wins by more than 20 points.
In the last three years, the Duke men’s basketball team stands 59-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
And still, the challengers come. The outsiders looking in on the most historic reign in league history.
Few thought the Blue Devils would rule the ACC as easily this season as last. Not because of a dropoff at Duke, but because of more talented teams around them.
Virginia andWake Forest entered the ACC seasons with perfect records. Duke demolished the Cavs 103-61 earlier this month. Wednesday night, Wake took its best shot at taming the Cameron Crazies.
Challenge accepted. After a brief flirtation with the Demon Deacs, Duke got serious in a hurry to the tune of an 85-62 victory.
“We like to tell teams, ‘Hey, you guys are good. But we want to play on a different level.’ We don’t want anyone to gain their reputation off us,”Duke senior Shane Battier said after his 22-point night. “We know that’s the attitude of every team coming in to play us — let’s make our name against Duke. We don’t want that to happen.”
Duke beat Wake the same way it beats everybody else: the Deacs shot the ball decently; Duke did it better, hitting 54 percent of its 3-point shots. Wake rebounded well; the Devils grabbed just three more total, but held a 23-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Every loose ball, Duke’s. Every steal, every block, every hustle play.
Duke’s. Like always.
“It starts at the top and works its way down,”Wake head coach Dave Odom said, referring to his counterpart, Mike Krzyzewski.“He’s done a great job demanding that they play a certain way. He’s done a great job of developing leadership. It helps when you have players understand exactly what you want, and they want it, too.
“That’s the key,”Odom added. “Kids say, ‘I’d do anything for coach … .’ That’s not good enough. They have to want it, too. He has convinced them that they want it.”
On Wednesday, point guard Jason Williams wanted to play ferocious pressure defense on Wake ballhandlers Ervin Murray, Broderick Hicks and Robert O’Kelley.
His defense completely changed the complexion of the game not once, but twice — late in the first half, when the Deacons went from a 26-24 lead to a 45-29 halftime deficit; and early in the second half when Wake narrowed the Blue Devil lead to single digits.
Center Carlos Boozer, averaging better than 15 points a game, wanted to settle for passes out of constant double teams. He finished with just four points, but hit Battier, Williams and Mike Dunleavy on the perimeter for open 3s.
The all-encompassing team effort eventually overwhelmed Wake.
“They’re a very good team. We respected them and they played us tough for the entire game,”Battier said. “But we came to a point where we knew it was time to open this game up.”
“Do the little things, then come down and get a dunk or a 3-pointer,”Dunleavy said. “Besides one loose ball they got in the first half and scored on it, it seemed like we were getting all the loose balls, jump balls.”
With every big Duke play, the crowd roared andWake wilted. The chant of “Show-No-Mer-cy” started with three minutes remaining and the Blue Devils up 81-60.
“The margin doesn’t say it, but I think we played as hard as we could,”said Wake forward Darius Songaila after being held to 10 points. “Overall we gave a great effort, but it wasn’t enough.
“When every team comes into this building, their mindset is to win the game,”Songaila added. “It was the same with ours. Every team has the opportunity to win against this team.”
Technically speaking, that’s true. But in reality, every time the Blue Devils take the court, their opponents have to start wondering:
What’s it going to be tonight? The 3s? The power game? Offense?Defense?
Even those nationally ranked powers like Wake Forest, and Maryland and North Carolina — next to try their luck against the Blue Devil juggernaut.
“That’s why you come to Duke.You don’t come to Duke to pad your stats with I-AA patsies,”Battier said. “You come to play the Marylands, the Wakes and theCarolinas. It’s a blast. A whole lot of fun.
“We think we can play better,”Battier added with a laugh. “We’re still developing as a team. We’re playing well on one end, but we feel we could put both ends together better.”
As Duke works to improve its already-awesome basketball machine, the challengers will continue to come. The Blue Devils will continue to welcome them, saying, ‘Sure, you’re good. But are you Duke good?’
“They’re saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to come into Cameron and get a win,’ ”Dunleavy said. “We’re saying, just because we’re Duke and we have a lot of success in the past, a lot of history, it’s a huge game for us.
“Having that mindset, always being the hunted, we’ve kind of turned it around to being the hunters.”
n
Steve Hanf covers ACCbasketball for the Post.
Steve Hanf