Friday, March 18, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Devils, Tar Heels play to strengths

Talent, perseverance make Duke, North Carolina No. 1 seeds

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Shelden Williams and Duke will play 16th-seeded Delaware State today in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There are several reasons why North Carolina and Duke are No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Obviously, they're good. But they're also durable and flexible.

Both teams have continued to win despite injuries to key performers.

The Blue Devils, the top seed in the Austin Regional, have had more players miss time this season than the Tar Heels, the No. 1 seed in the Syracuse Regional. But both teams will be at full strength today when they play their first-round games at the Charlotte Coliseum.

Duke will welcome back point guard Sean Dockery from a knee injury when it meets 16th-seeded Delaware State. Guard Rashad McCants missed four games with an intestinal disorder, but he'll be on the floor when North Carolina faces No. 16 Oakland, which defeated Alabama A&M on Tuesday in the play-in game at Dayton, Ohio.

The other pairings today have No. 8 Stanford facing No. 9 Mississippi State in the Austin Regional and No. 8 Minnesota meeting No. 9 Iowa State in the Syracuse Regional.

"We've earned it," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said when asked if his 25-5 team, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Sunday, deserved to be a No. 1 seed. "We have been a top-10 or top-eight team all year and we've had one of the toughest schedules in the country and played the toughest conference schedule this year."

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said his team, which won the ACC regular-season title, also did enough to warrant a top seed.

"It shows you how tough the ACC is," Williams said. "There could have been three No. 1 seeds if Chris Paul had played for Wake Forest (in the ACC tournament). I think there was a sense of accomplishment, but I didn't see any players doing cartwheels."

The Tar Heels (27-4), finished the season strong, winning eight of their last nine games, including a 77-70 victory at Connecticut on Feb. 13 and a 75-73 home win over Duke on March 6.

"Our best basketball was over our last six games," Williams said. "We won at N.C. State, won at Maryland and won at UConn. That's a pretty good stretch."

Still, Williams would like to see improvement on defense. Clemson shot 62 percent from the floor against North Carolina in last week's ACC tournament, and Williams said that won't get it done in the NCAAs.

"We've gone back to the basics, working on fundamentals," he said. "There's been a renewed effort on their part to get better defensively."

Duke's balanced scoring has helped it be a formidable foe. Dockery's return will mean more shot opportunities for Daniel Ewing, who moved to point guard while Dockery was sidelined.

"We get the ball inside a lot, but we haven't been as successful in scoring it because we've been turning it over a bit," Krzyzewski said. "But we have good balance. As Shavlik Randolph comes along, we'll look inside even more because he's starting to assert himself offensively."

Duke's perimeter shooting, primarily from J.J. Redick, allows the team to adapt to any defense.

The Tar Heels like to play fast. But opponents have given them trouble by making them wait to shoot. Williams said he thinks his team can adjust.

"We'd rather win in the 90s, but we have to be able to win games in the 50s," Williams said. "Being able to adapt is based on the experience of your players. We've got a lot of experience, which will allow us to adjust to the different styles of play we can expect to see during the tournament."

Williams is already tired of answering questions about a potential regional final matchup with Kansas, the school he coached for 15 years. He said his focus is on Oakland. Since the NCAA went to the expanded field in 1985, no 16 seed has defeated a No. 1.

"We're not talking about anything but one game," Williams said. "If we win, there's a good chance they'll let us stick around Charlotte and play another game.

"This is physically the freshest team I've ever had. But that doesn't mean anything if you're not focused and don't have your concentration."