GREENSBORO — Duke’s current and future All-Americans played like world-beaters Thursday night.
Shane Battier. Jason Williams. Mike Dunleavy. Chris Duhon. By now you know the cast like you know the alphabet. These guys spent the evening bombing Pearl Harbor — err, make that thrilled-to-be-here Monmouth (NJ) — in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
But Casey Sanders? The 6-11 sophomore didn’t show up on anyone’s radar screen. Didn’t set the world on fire. Didn’t make a single one of Duke’s team-record 18 3-pointers in its lopsided 95-52 win.
All he did was fill in a huge blank in the Blue Devils’ lineup. Again.
“I knew a lot was going to be expected of me,” said Sanders, who started in place of injured power forward Carlos Boozer for the fifth straight game. “This hasn’t been easy. I was just settling in to my role as someone coming off the bench, providing energy, and then this happened.”
What happened to Boozer is old news. He fractured the third metatarsal in his right foot in a game against Maryland on Feb. 27. He’s scheduled for a follow-up x-ray on Monday and may or may not be available should Duke advance to next week’s East region semifinals in Philadelphia. “We’ll have to see,” is all Boozer will disclose.
Even though Boozer’s injury has benefited Sanders — he’s played 18 minutes per game since then — he’d like nothing more than return to his seat on the Devils’ bench.
“I think Carlos really, really wants to play,” said Sanders. “I know him. He’s my work partner in practice. If he could get out there tomorrow, he would.”
In the meantime, Duke fans are getting an eyeful of Sanders, a role-player extraordinaire. They’ve learned he was Florida’s Mr. Basketball two winters ago. That he was selected to the McDonald’s All-America team. That he recorded 26 career triple-doubles and once blocked 19 shots in a single high school game.
“Casey’s athletic ability has never been questioned,” said Battier, the nation’s premier player and someone who’ll be banking NBA millions a few months from now. “We know he can play and run like the wind. But he also gives us a presence in the middle, a big man who blocks shots and plays great defense. He’s definitely been a spark.”
Even Boozer, relegated to street clothes and a ringside seat, had to agree.
“I think he’s fantastic,” he said. “Look at what he’s done since I got hurt. He’s blocking shots left and right. He’s fast so he’s running the floor, wearing out the other teams’ big guys. He’s catching alley-oops like he did today. He’s just playing fantastic.”
Then came this must-be-a-misprint revelation: “I think we got better when I went out,” Boozer said without flinching or winking or anything. “We come together in times of adversity. This has made us focus on winning and not getting too full of ourselves. Something like that makes any team better.”
Hmmm. Just a minute here. Boozer, a low-post banger with a sweet mid-range jumper, takes his nightly 14 points and 6.5 rebounds to the sideline, gets replaced by a guy with all of six career starts — and Duke is better?
“Well, it makes us different,” said Dunleavy. “Casey’s got those long arms and legs and he runs the court like a deer. It causes us to play a different style, a faster style.”
It’s a style Duke played with precision last night. While Battier and Williams dialed in from long distance, Sanders leaned on the pound sign — slamming home a couple of second-half alley-oop passes from Williams.
“Those two dunks were a result of beating everyone down the floor,” said Sanders. “I wasn’t even running hard until Jason spotted me and yelled, ‘Go Casey.’ That’s when I kicked it in.”
So while his teammates toil with the cool assuredness — the near-arrogance — of a kid who already knows what he’s getting for Christmas, Sanders awaits tomorrow with wonder and anticipation.
“I’ve always wanted to be part of something great,” he smiled. “And look at this window of opportunity that’s opened for me. Here I am, playing for the No. 1 team in the country. Whether I come off the bench or get the minutes I’m getting now, all I want to do is help us win. Nothing’s as important as that.”
For a team eyeing a visit to the White House rather than the Waffle House, Sanders has been an ideal plug-in.
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