The NCAA Tournament East Region notebook …
GREENSBORO— Despite all the excitement surrounding Quin Snyder’s coaching debut against Mike Krzyzewski, players on both sides acknowledge that the real action will take place on the court this afternoon.
“Tomorrow is not about the coaches once the game starts,”Duke guard Mike Dunleavy said Friday from the Greensboro Coliseum. “I’m sure they’ll shake hands and the media will be on top of that, and after the game when they meet I’m sure there’ll be a lot of cameras on that. In between, we’re just playing.”
At stake when No. 1 Duke (30-4) and No. 9 Missouri (20-12) meet is a trip to the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia next weekend. While Snyder does know an awful lot about the team he used to play and coach for, how much it helps his Tigers pull off the upset remains to be seen.
“As a kid, when you were playing against your older brother, and you know he’s going right, you KNOW he’s going right, but he still beats you right,”Duke senior Nate James said. “There’s a difference between knowing what we do and stopping what we do.”
Duke cruised to an opening-round win over No. 16 Monmouth on Thursday, hitting 18-of-38 shots from the 3-point line. The Blue Devils, now 5-0 since starting center Carlos Boozer went out with an injury late in the regular season, have depended more and more on their long-range shooting.
“Any time you’ve got four of the five players who are excellent 3-point shooters, it’s something you’ve got to be prepared for,”Missouri senior guard Brian Grawer said. “They rely on it heavily. We’ve got to try to control their open looks and their penetration to kick out for open 3s.”
Both Duke and Missouri built early leads in Thursday’s games. While the Blue Devils cruised to a 95-52 victory, the Tigers needed a clutch shot with 0.9 seconds to play to beat Georgia 70-68.
Junior guard Clarence Gilbert did the honors on the game-winner. He averages 16.8 points a game for Missouri.
“Gilbert is a big-time scorer with big-time range and the ability to hit big-time shots,” Duke forward Shane Battier said. “He’ll take shots from a range that you think might not be a good shot, but he makes them.”
Missouri’s leading scorer, forward Kareem Rush, averages 21.2 points a game and has been noticed by the Devils.
“He’s quick and he’s good,”Duke point guard Jason Williams said. “It’s going to be a battle.”
Williams survived a scare Thursday night with his previously injured ankle but said he’s at full strength. It’s just one of many distractions that he and the rest of the players have dealt with surrounding the Duke/Missouri-Coach K/Snyder matchup.
“Coach is a very energetic, very fiery competitor, and any time before game day, he’s very jacked up and very excited,”Grawer said. “With all the background going into this game, he’s treating it just like a normal game.”
Still, it’ll be just a bit odd for Williams and the current crop of Devils — many of whom Snyder recruited — to see the former Duke assistant manning the other bench.
“He’s the coach that recruited me,”Williams said. “We always watch them play, support them. It’s just weird that we’re actually playing against each other now.”
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taking care of business: Today’s other matchup, UCLA vs. Utah State, features one of several squads from a lesser-known conference that advanced by knocking off a better-known squad.
Utah State, seeded No. 12, beat Ohio State 77-68 in overtime Thursday, starting a trend of upsets in the tournament field.
“I do feel like the mid-major schools deserve more opportunities,”Aggie Shawn Daniels said. “Teams like us, we just want to show the critics that we can play, too. We showed it yesterday and so did some other teams, like Southern Utah. Even though they didn’t win, they proved that they belonged.”
Southern Utah just missed against No. 3 seed Boston College, but other major programs have been less fortunate than BC. Late Thursday, No. 2 Iowa State lost to No. 15 Hampton.
“If a 15 seed can beat a 2 seed, then there’s no doubt an 9 seed can beat a 1 seed,”Dunleavy said of today’s game against Missouri. “We’re scared to death to lose and that motivates you.”
The Blue Devils also have watched scores from their ACC counterparts march in. Along with the Big Ten and Big XII, the ACC is struggling, losing Georgia Tech on Thursday and Virginia and Wake Forest on Friday.
Duke senior Nate James hadn’t heard any details about the Wake loss, but was stunned when he heard about the 33-point halftime margin.
“That’s terrible. That’s like a nightmare — 43-10?”an incredulous James asked. “We did not represent the ACC in that game. We always talk about the ACC being the best conference in the country, but it’s all about Duke right now.”
As the upsets keep rolling in, that’s all the Blue Devils can concentrate on.
“We worry only about ourselves,”Duhon said. “We just watch the other games and don’t root for anybody. I’ve got the admit, though, that this tournament has been crazy.”
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gotta be the shoes: UCLA’s players took the court Thursday in some wild yellow sneakers that looked all the world to be some sort of shoe factory disaster.
“I call them banana peel shoes,”Bruins head coach Steve Lavin joked. “As long as we don’t slip and fall down and commit turnovers because of those shoes, I’m OK with them.
“Adidas has a contract with our entire university, so sometimes they want us to break out their newest shoes. It reminds me of my rain outfit in grammar school.”
For the players’ part, they’re mostly excited to be part of something new and exciting.
“It’s a situation where we had the opportunity to debut some shoes that are a hot commodity with people our age,”senior guard Jason Flowers said. “As a kid, I remember when Michigan’s Fab Five wore some new shoes, and I see this as exciting, to be in a position that I once looked up to.
“On the road, people ask me about them,”Flowers added. “A band member from Washington State asked me for my shoes after a game.”
Sophomore forward Jason Kapono was less impressed.
“They’re not the cutest thing, but shoes are shoes,”he said. “They are bright,” he then allowed.
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