GREENVILLE, S.C. — Winthrop’s Greg Lewis and Marcus Stewart didn’t crack any jokes about their chances of beating Duke on Wednesday.
They admitted that the Blue Devils are a great team, but they weren’t in awe of them.
“They’re not superhuman,”Lewis said.“They can’t go undefeated through the whole thing, I don’t think.”
Coach Gregg Marshall said his players have to have that outlook on Wednesday if they are going to have any chance of winning today.
He has accepted the fact that the Eagles’ chance at an upset are less than slim.
“It will take four or five of our primary players having the best games of their careers on the same night, and two or three of their primary players having their worst games,”Marshall said. “We need tight rims for them, big rims for us. We need to get calls and a break here and there.”
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SOFT TOUCH: As for the rims, Duke junior Mike Dunleavy said the Bi-Lo Center seems like a good shooter’s gym. What concerns him are the new Rawlings basketballs.
“They’re a little harder and a little more slick,”Dunleavy said.“As the tournament goes on, they get a little bit of wear.”
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NO SLOWDOWN:Marshall was in the Charlotte Coliseum last Friday night when North Carolina put a scare into Duke with its slowed-down style of play.
The Eagles don’t plan to follow the Tar Heels’ lead.
“I can’t see Greg Lewis being pleased playing that type of basketball,”Marshall said. “I don’t think he has the patience for that.”
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LATE TIP:Duke’s first-round game against Winthrop tonight should tip off sometime around 10:10 p.m.
Blue Devil coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has been part of many 9 p.m. games, said NCAA tournament contests shouldn’t start later than what the teams are used to in the regular season.
Marshall doesn’t mind the late start time. His team routinely practices at 9:30 p.m. during the week.
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HIP CHECK:Twenty minutes into practice, Duke’s Jason Williams took a hard crash to the floor while diving for a ball during denial defense drills.
Williams, who has been playing with an injured hip, said he was fine even though he walked around gingerly after the incident.
“He’s a competitor, a fighter,”Duke sophomore Chris Duhon said.“He’s gives what he has to the team.”
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ROOMIES:Charlotte’s Jobey Thomas and Notre Dame’s Matt Carroll will face off for the second time in less than a year in tonight’s first-round game.
Thomas and Carroll were roommates last summer for the NIT All-Stars, which played against all-star players in Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. Thomas and Carroll often faced off against each other in practice.
“It was great to get to know Matt over the summer,”Thomas said.“Hopefully I got somewhat of an idea of how to play him. He’s a great shooter, that’s what sticks out.”
Thomas averages 19.0 points for the 49ers, while Carroll averages 13.7 points for the Fighting Irish.
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Charlotte, one of six teams from North Carolina in the field, has struggled to earn respect over the years. But the 49ers are in some elite company, at least within the state.
“In the middle of North Carolina, as we are, the ACC gets the credit it deserves,”Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. “What a lot of people don’t realize, even in our own backyard, is that we’ve been to the NCAA Tournament five of the last six years. In our state, only Duke and North Carolina can say that.”
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UPSET SPECIAL:No. 10 seed Kent State beat Indiana last season, which has many experts picking the Golden Flashes to upset seventh-seeded Oklahoma State this afternoon.
Kent State star Trevor Huffman doesn’t understand all the fuss.
“It’s unbelievable for some people to pick Kent State,” he said. “I’ve never felt we got the respect. I don’t know why that, only since we’ve won one game, that they’d do it.”
Huffman was one of the more entertaining players to speak on Wednesday. Asked if he had ever spoke on such a big podium — the players sat at tables that were elevated several feet off the ground — he responded, “I could actually die up here if I fell.”
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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