No Secrets But A Lot Of Points
3/31/2001 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 31, 2001
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - There is very little Duke and Maryland don't know about each other.
Saturday night's national semifinal will be their fourth meeting this season, so the scouting reports should be short and sweet and the game should be high-scoring.
"I think overall we know what to expect from Maryland and I think Maryland knows what to expect from us," Duke forward Shane Battier said Friday. "So I think the game is really going to come down to what team is the hungrier team and which team executes their offense better."
Both teams are very impressive when it comes to scoring.
Duke (33-4) is second in the nation in scoring at 90.8 points per game. Maryland (25-10) isn't too far down the list at 85.2.
The big difference is how they score. Duke set NCAA records for 3-pointers made and attempted with an average outing of 10.6-for-27.1 from beyond the arc. The Terrapins take almost two games to reach those numbers.
The three previous meetings were all fun games with the winner of each recovering from being down by at least 10 points.
Duke won the first game 98-96 in overtime, overcoming a 10-point deficit in the final 54 seconds of regulation. Maryland also won on the road, 91-80, to even the regular-season series. The game most people thought would break the tie for the year was an 84-82 victory in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals on a tip-in by Nate James with 1.2 seconds to play.
"It was just so competitive out there. It was three great, hard-fought games," Maryland guard Juan Dixon said. "Each team had to work extremely hard for those victories."
This will be the second year in a row two teams from the same conference meet in the semifinals as Michigan State beat Wisconsin 53-41 in all-Big Ten matchup. That could be the halftime score of Duke-Maryland IV.
"Both teams are very difficult to defend," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I would be shocked if this wasn't a high-scoring game."
One big difference in the programs is their success in the NCAA tournament.
This is Duke's 13th Final Four, the 10th under Krzyzewski, and the Blue Devils won two national championships, the second in the Metrodome in 1992.
This is Maryland's first Final Four appearance and coach Gary Williams wants to make sure his team isn't treating this game like any other.
"I want the players to feel this week. That's part of the deal if you make the Final Four," he said. "I don't want it to be completely normal. I want them to realize what they've done in getting to the Final Four."
Krzyzewski was adamant his team wouldn't fall prey to past success of the program or having beaten the Terrapins twice.
"I think that we're really hungry," he said. "I mean I'm not saying that we're going to be hungrier than them, but we won't lose because of lack of hunger. Our team's really excited. They worked so hard this week and they really want to win."
Maryland point guard Steve Blake said what's at stake won't matter much because it is still the Terrapins against the Blue Devils.
"I don't think all the hoopla and stuff is going to change the game," he said. "They're going to play the way they've been playing all year. We're going to play the way we've been playing, so it's going to be a great matchup."
