By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
GREENSBORO ó Duke possesses momentum entering a tournament that’s troubled the Blue Devils in recent years.
Painful or positive, past experiences are not a focal point heading into their NCAA tournament opener tonight against America East representative Binghamton (23-8). Tip time is scheduled for approximately 9:40 p.m.
“What we’ve tried to do is live in the present, not in the past or in the future,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “These kids have nothing to make up for. You spend your whole life making up for something. I don’t know if you ever take advantage of what is actually going on.
“We’ve learned from every experience over the last couple of years. Let’s just concentrate on right now.”
Duke (28-6) is now in Greensboro as the No. 2 seed from the East Region because of what it accomplished last weekend in Atlanta.
The Blue Devils beat Boston College, Maryland and Florida State to claim their first ACC Tournament title since 2006. They were upset by Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2007 and fell to West Virginia in the second round a year ago.
“In the past we’ve been putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, whether it’s our first year with some new guys trying to live up to some past people or trying to get past the prior year of not doing as well as we thought we could do,” fifth-year senior David McClure said. “This year, we all know how good of a team we can be.”
Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek were freshmen on a Duke team that started the 2006-07 season with an 18-3 record but lost eight of its final 12 contests. A four-game skid marked the end of that campaign.
Last year, with Kyle Singler in the mix, the Blue Devils won 22 of their first 23 games. They lost to Clemson in the ACC semifinals and squeaked by Belmont in the NCAA tournament before being eliminated by the Mountaineers.
Duke has remained a top-10 squad throughout this season, and it’s currently playing its basketball.
“Everybody on this team now has a championship under our belt, and the whole team has a different swag about us now after winning a championship,” sophomore guard Nolan Smith said. “We’re going to carry that into the NCAA tournament.”
Binghamton is on a similar roll.
The Bearcats, with four double-figure scorers in their starting lineup, have won 11 consecutive games. Junior guard D.J. Rivera averages 20.0 points and 6.5 rebounds.
Another junior, guard Emmanuel Mayben, said he hopes the presence of top-seeded North Carolina in Greensboro gives his team a boost. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils were both in Charlotte four years ago, and UNC fans backed Duke’s opponent.
“They say that Madison Square Garden is the mecca of NBA basketball,” Mayben said. “This is kind of like the mecca of college basketball with North Carolina and Duke.
“I think we’ve got a tough one being that we’ve got to play them here, but hopefully we’ll get some Carolina fans that don’t like them that come show us some support.”