Blue Devils

Last season, the Duke Blue Devils were everybody's All-Americans. Players came across as interesting, articulate guys who were good enough to get to the Final Four, but not quite good enough to win it. So despite their success, they were underdogs.Then they beat Nevada-Las Vegas -- a seemingly unbeatable team favored mainly by deeply tanned men with jewelry -- and, in the NCAA championship, Kansas.Basketball fans rejoiced.They aren't rejoicing now. We are in Year 1 of the great Duke backlash.

COLLEGE PARK -- Duke's Aaron Shaw knew his number would be called. What the senior tight end didn't know was how often.L "I didn't know I was going to have a career day," Shaw said.He did. In Duke's 17-13 victory over Maryland yesterday, Shaw caught 11 passes for 149 yards. His total production in Duke's first five games: 13 for 131."He's a heady player," quarterback David Brown said. "He wants the ball more than anyone else."It wasn't that simple. There was more to it than that. Duke noticed last week that some Maryland defensive coverages might leave Shaw with an open lane to catch the ball.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In addition to strong fundamentals, Duke's talents apparently also include a little magic, because last night the Blue Devils made a 286-pound man disappear.For 24 minutes of its NCAA semifinal against Florida, Duke was bedeviled by Dametri Hill, the Gators' 6-foot-7, 286-pound sophomore forward. When he scored in close with 16:23 left, Florida had a 49-39 lead and Hill had 14 points.In the final 13:37, Hill was limited to one basket. He had three follow shots rim out and missed a front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation with 7:55 to go, when Duke was making a run that developed into a 70-65 victory.

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Mike Maddox was being recruited out of high school four years ago, his final choices came down to Kansas and Duke. And when the 6-foot-7 forward from Oklahoma City took his visit to Durham, N.C., the Duke coaches told him that the last scholarship would go to either him or Greg Koubek."

College Park -- The Maryland women's basketball team is riding a 10-game winning streak but is eager to halt a more dubious stretch - 12 consecutive losses to Atlantic Coast Conference nemesis Duke. "It needs to end," said sophomore center Crystal Langhorne, whose No. 6 Terps (14-1, 1-0 ACC) will play host to the No. 2 Blue Devils (13-0, 2-0) at 1 p.m. today at Comcast Center. "I think in the past, the [Maryland] teams were like, `It's Duke. That's that.' But I believe now that we're good, too."

Greg Patchak and Adam Dretler each had four goals as second-ranked Duke blasted No. 14 Butler, 20-5, yesterday in the season opener for both teams in Chapel Hill, N.C.The Blue Devils reeled off seven goals in the final 7: 31 of the first period to take a 7-1 lead, then scored five more to take a 12-1 halftime margin.Mike Regan's three goals led Butler, which was outshot 54-28 and lost 25 of 29 faceoffs.No. 12 North Carolina 18, Colgate 8: Matt Crofton had five goals and an assist as the host Tar Heels rallied from an early deficit for a season-opening win.Pub Date: 2/27/99

DURHAM, N.C. -- North Carolina's two-year spell over Cameron Indoor Stadium finally wore off last night.Instead, a frenzied Duke home crowd worked some magic of its own, inspiring the No. 12 Blue Devils to a second-half surge and a convincing 74-60 upset victory.The No. 5 Tar Heels committed 11 second-half turnovers and shot a horrendous 27.6 percent for the half, Duke broke out of its JTC defensive mode, erasing a 28-24 halftime deficit with a 50-point explosion in the final 20 minutes.The Tar Heels, who saw their 11-game winning streak ended along with a two-year string in Cameron, fell to 13-2 on the season and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke doesn't have a homecourt advantage. It has homecourt destructions.The top-ranked Blue Devils turned North Carolina State into their latest victim, barreling past the Wolfpack 110-75 in an ACC basketball game last night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.Christian Laettner scored 23 points while Bobby Hurley and Thomas Hill tossed in 19 points apiece as the Blue Devils turned an 11-point halftime lead into a blowout early in the second half.But that's nothing new. The Blue Devils (11-0, 5-0)

In some of yesterday's editions, it was reported incorrectly that Duke University's basketball team has been to three Final Fours. Duke has reached the national semifinals nine times, including the past four in a row. Also incorrect was that Duke's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament victory Sunday was its first. Duke had won eight previous ACC tournaments.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Forget, for a moment, all the talk about repeating. For yesterday, as throughout this year's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, all the Duke basketball team seemed concerned with was re-peaking.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Duke women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors warned her Blue Devils in the locker room that their East Regional semifinal meeting with Old Dominion yesterday would more likely resemble Darwin than Naismith."