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An Inside Look:
This Week's Cover Story
Posted: Wednesday February 17, 1999 01:18 PM
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Manny Millan |
In this week's cover story, senior writer Tim Crothers focuses on the Duke
Blue Devils, the team with the inside track on the Road to the Final Four.
Crothers has been following the Devils closely all season. In fact, he recently
emigrated from New York to an apartment 10 miles from Cameron Indoor Stadium --
and two miles from the Dean Dome, but we won't get into
that.
With 18 days to go before Selection Sunday, CNN/SI spoke with Crothers about the
piece, and Duke's designs on its third national championship of the
'90s.
CNN/SI: How does this Duke team compare to other teams Mike Krzyzewski has
had in the
past?
Tim Crothers: In the story we compare this squad to the national
championship teams of '91 and '92, and describe Krzyzewski's quest to return his
program to the attitude and toughness he feels will be required to win another
national championship. And I think by Krzyzewski's own admission, they're not
there yet; he feels that they're close, but he's not sure that it will ever be
possible to restore the total feeling of domination that the '91 and '92 teams
had. But right now he feels pretty comfortable with his team and where they are
in comparison to every other team in the nation, realizing, of course, that a
lot has changed in the college basketball landscape since 1992, with so few good
players actually playing their junior and senior years. The overall quality of
team necessary to win the national title isn't what it was back then. Obviously
Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill all played through their senior
years, and they might not do that if they were playing
today.
CNN/SI: Does this team stack up
talent-wise?
Crothers: It's a very good team talent-wise; experience, I think, is the
question. Last year in the South Regional final they played against
Kentucky, led by 17 in the second half -- just over 10 minutes to play -- and
ended up losing the game, and it was admitted by several Blue Devils after the
game that they just didn't have the experience, didn't have the same
championship swagger that Kentucky had. That's what they're looking to have this
year. I think everybody feels like Duke has as much if not more talent than
anybody else in the nation -- Connecticut might be the one team that could
compare to them talent-wise, and Connecticut does have some experienced players
on their
team.
I think Krzyzewski is very comfortable with the talent he's got -- he can go
eight deep with a various mix of players -- and that leaves the one question in
his mind, which is, How will this team react when it gets into a difficult game
in the tournament? Because the fact of the matter is they've played maybe three
close games all season and the rest of the games have been blowouts, so it's
hard to say how his team will
react.
CNN/SI: Do you think the missing attitude is a result of the mediocrity
the program endured a few years ago, or more because these players don't have
the same aggressive personalities that guys like Laettner and Hurley brought to
the
floor?
Crothers: I think the whole program, to an extent, was humbled by the
13-18 season in 1995, when Duke missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the first
time in 12 years. Basically the entire ego of the program was removed. One
player, Trajan Langdon, still remains from that team; he had to take a redshirt
season the next year. So he has direct experience with what it feels like to
fall out of the tournament completely, but I think everybody else needs to learn
exactly what it takes to win an NCAA championship. And a lot of them have
actually spoken to Grant Hill or Laettner or Hurley during the various times
when those guys returned to campus from the NBA to play pickup games at Cameron.
We talk about in the story how they try to almost goad the current players into
the attitude they feel it takes to win a
championship.
CNN/SI: As you point out, the team's top two scorers, Elton Brand and
Trajan Langdon, both have laid-back personalities. How big of a drawback is it
when a No. 1 team's two best players are not vocal
leader-types?
Crothers: I was at practice the other day, and the one thing that Coach K
has harped on the entire year and is still harping on is that these guys don't
talk on the court as much as his teams in the past -- especially last year with
Steve Wojciechowski, there was a natural leader on the floor. He feels neither
Elton nor Trajan has natural leadership qualities -- Elton perhaps because he
hasn't been around long enough, and Trajan because it's just not his
personality. And when it comes down to it, it would be nice to have somebody on
the floor for everyone to rally around. I think Coach K anointed Chris Carrawell
as the guy to be sort of the emotional touchstone for the rest of the team, and
I think they have rallied around Carrawell on those rare occasions when they
have been in close games this year. It doesn't necessarily mean that Elton and
Trajan can't come up big in those situations -- Trajan was responsible for the
comeback against Georgia Tech, when Duke was really in trouble in the second
half and Trajan hit some huge threes down the stretch to pull them through. I
think Coach K understands there has to be a balance out there. He needs someone
who is a calming influence -- and he's looking to Carrawell for that -- and at
the same time he's hoping the inside-outside threat of Brand and Langdon will be
able to carry them offensively in the
tournament.
CNN/SI: Is it possible he's playing too many guys and not leaving anyone
out there enough to establish himself as a
leader?
Crothers: Basically he's playing eight guys at this point, and I think
he's comfortable with that rotation. I don't think he's really worried about the
fact that there isn't a pattern, a set rotation at this point that leaves a pat
five players on the floor. I think you will see, as you almost inevitably see in
the tournament, that the rotation will shrink to some extent. I still think
he'll play eight players, but I don't think you'll see guys like Chris Burgess
get much time once the tournament starts. I think he's going to stick more with
his starting five, and I think Corey Maggette and Nate James will see some time,
but I think he'll limit it to his main five or six
guys.
CNN/SI: Having been around the team during the past week, how much
pressure are the players feeling to make the Final Four and/or win it
all?
Crothers: There's a sense of destiny here -- as we say in the story,
Wojciechowski was the first player since 1995 not to make the Final Four at Duke
as a four-year player -- and there's a sense that it's time again for it to
happen, and that this team really has no excuse not to go to the Final Four.
Langdon, in particular, can feel the clock ticking because it is his last
chance. And I think he has tried to convey to the others a sense of urgency
that, while they may feel that this isn't their last chance, it is his
last chance, and they should put themselves in his shoes and play as if they,
too, were playing in their final season. And the fact is, while Duke has never
had anyone go to the NBA early, it is possible that this could be Elton Brand's
last year, so he, too, may be playing with a sense of urgency the rest of us are
not privy to. So there's a general sense of urgency around the program now --
the expectations are such that if they do not go to the Final Four it would be a
huge
disappointment.
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