MINNEAPOLIS— Going back for seconds is one thing.

But a fourth helping of Duke-Maryland is beyond gluttonous.

They’ve given us desperate rallies, stunning comebacks, timely tip-ins and near-misses at the buzzer.

And still, we want more.

“This is what everybody wanted to see,”Terrapins point guard Steve Blake said. “Everyone wanted to see Maryland vs. Duke with the great games we’ve played already.”

The others were big. This one is huge. When Maryland and Duke hit the court tonight for the fourth time this season, they’ll be playing for a spot in Monday’s national championship game.

In the first three meetings, the eventual winner trailed at halftime and was in a double-digit hole at some point.

In College Park, Duke rallied from 10 points down in the final 54 seconds to force overtime and pull off one of the more improbable wins in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

At Durham, Maryland returned the favor, ruining senior night with a second-half comeback in a 91-80 victory.

And in the ACC Tournament semifinals, the Terps jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but lost when Nate James’ tip fell through the hoop with 1.3 seconds to play and Juan Dixon’s half-court prayer bounced off the rim.

“I was asked earlier today if, by playing one another so often, is there animosity?”Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I would think ‘respect.’ I think we’ve grown to respect each other at the highest level.”

With good reason, added Maryland head coach Gary Williams.

“The respect this year has been from the competitiveness of the players,”Williams said. “I think when you see Duke play Maryland, there wasn’t much going on other than great basketball. There wasn’t any talking, there were no cheap shots, nothing like that.

“You just come and play, and I think both teams respect that.”

Maryland (25-10), the No. 3 seed out of the West Region, had to earn back the respect it lost from its first meeting with Duke this season.

After the Blue Devil rally, Maryland dropped four of its next five games, including a home contest to ACC bottom-feeder Florida State. The sleep-walking Terps were 15-9 and showing no signs of breaking out of their funk.

“After we lost that Duke game, a lot of guys lost confidence,”guard Juan Dixon said. “After we lost that Florida State game, we knew we had to pick it up or we weren’t going to be able to be at the NCAA Tournament.”

The turning point came at Wake Forest, where Maryland roared to a 73-57 victory. That started a six-game win streak, halted at the ACC Tournament by Duke, but renewed in the NCAA Tournament.

“Sometimes it’s a blessing to have adversity during the year because kids listen better. Kids don’t listen as well when you keep winning,”Krzyzewski said. “It’s obvious that Gary’s used that to get his team to this point.”

The Terps avoided disaster in the first round, hanging on against George Mason for an 83-80 win. Double-digit wins over Georgia State, Georgetown and Stanford, the No. 1 seed, followed.

Different stars emerged in each game. Center Lonny Baxter crushed the Cardinal with 24 points in the post. Tahj Holden came off the bench for 10 points against Georgetown and 14 vs. Stanford. Forward Byron Mouton smoked George Mason for 22 points.

“There are other really good players in this game besides the so-called stars,” Krzyzewski said. “Probably one of those guys who hasn’t gotten the acclaim could step forward.”

For top-ranked Duke (33-4), that means getting a big game from someone other than Jason Williams and Shane Battier, who have accounted for 59 percent of the Blue Devils’ points in the tournament.

Nate James, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer and Chris Duhon have enjoyed good performances against the Terps so far this season, and the pressure will be on each to duplicate that in front of a sold-out Metrodome crowd and huge national television audience.

But the pressure applies to both sides. While the Blue Devils are in their 13th Final Four, this is Maryland’s first despite reaching the Sweet 16 five times in the past eight years. Now that the Terps are here, they’d like to make a little history.

“We get measured by what North Carolina and Duke do, as all the other teams in the ACC get measured from that point,”Gary Williams said. “So we want to be competitive against those two schools. I think our players felt this year that we were a good enough team to play against Duke.”

Certainly, the Terrapins got Duke’s attention.

“Both teams respect each other so much,”Battier said. “If we don’t bring it against Maryland, they’re gonna clean our clocks. If they don’t bring it against us, we’ll do the same.”

On college basketball’s biggest stage.

“It’s kind of strange. It’s going to show that, whatever we get, we’re going to have to earn it,”James said. “That’s one team that really makes us work for everything.

“They always seem to bring out the best in us.”