Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403260135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
Asked about their defensive plans for the Duke-Purdue game, Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski promised, "We're not going to do any kind of junk defenses or stuff like that, just basic man-to-man."
Grinning Boilermakers coach Gene Keady wasn't sure if he was buying, particularly since Coach K's mentor, Bobby Knight, had Indiana "in a zone the whole second half when they played us, and that's taboo out there."
Keady said Purdue would play man-to-man, "no junk, although I might try one on [Duke star] Grant Hill. But I'm not that proud, you understand."
Keady and Krzyzewski are pals primarily through their work on the National Association of Basketball Coaches board. They traded respect and humor during Friday's sessions with the media.
Krzyzewski, dipping into his best coachspeak, said no one "stops[Purdue All-American] Glenn Robinson, you only hope to contain him. . . . Isn't that original? Does this mean I'll be on ESPN? Please, I'm looking for all this airtime. Just think, 10 seconds of me is 10 seconds less of [Dick] Vitale."
Keady was asked what he sees in the game-within-the-game billed as Robinson versus Hill.
"Their team defense is it, and their guy sitting on the bench, pulling the strings," Keady said of Coach K, then laughed. "He's pretty damn clever for a Polack. I'd hope he'd say the same thing about Irish guys."
\ COACH AND FOUR: It would figure that Lefty Driesell is rooting for Duke in today's NCAA Southeast Regional final. He's a graduate of the Durham, N.C., school.
There's another reason the James Madison coach should be pulling for the Blue Devils. That's because Purdue's Gene Keady is right behind Driesell on the list of coaches with the most NCAA bids without reaching the Final Four.
Lefty could top that list by late this afternoon. Missouri coach Norm Stewart, with 14 NCAA bids and no Final Fours is first, and the Tigers meet Arizona in the West Regional final.
Driesell, one of only 10 coaches to take three different schools to the NCAA, made his 12th NCAA trip this year and first with JMU. Purdue's regional final date with Duke is the furthest Keady has advanced in 11 trips to the event.
\ ELITE EIGHT: Duke's victory in Thursday night's Southeast Regional semifinals kept an ACC streak alive - at least one school in the NCAA's final eight since 1980.
In the '79 tournament, with a 40-team field that included Duke and North Carolina, no ACC team even reached the Sweet Sixteen. Maryland was playing Michigan late Friday night in the Midwest Regional for the ACC's 29th regional finals berth in the 15 tournaments since then.
Of the 27 ACC teams in the regional title games, 14 went on to the Final Four, including six Krzyzewski-coached Duke clubs since '86. In that 1980-93 span, every ACC team except the Terrapins has played in the final eight.
\ BIG TEN BLITZ: Duke has won its past 11 meetings with Big Ten opponents, dating to a 113-108 overtime loss at Michigan in December 1989.
Duke and Purdue have not met since March 1981, when the Big Ten club won 81-69 at its Mackey Arena to advance to the NIT semifinals. That was the first season at their present posts for Krzyzewski and Keady.
\ CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: It is said that good teams win the close games. Southeast top seed Purdue offers evidence of that.
The Boilermakers' school record-tying 29 wins include 10 victories by five or fewer points. Purdue's four losses have come by a combined 12 points - six at Wisconsin, three at Penn State, two at Indiana and one at home to Michigan.
\ VOLUN-TEARS: The loudest noise from the Thompson-Boling Arena crowd of 22,896 at Thursday's regional semifinal doubleheader was a groan that was generated by the announcement of the top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols' 71-68 upset loss to Louisiana Tech in the NCAA women's regional at Arkansas.
That's three straight years the Lady Vols haven't reached the Final Four. Wonder whether the rabid Tennessee fans be calling for coach Pat Summitt's firing next?
\ TIPOFFS: Duke's 78.3-point average entering today's Southeast Regional final is Krzyzewski's lowest-scoring team since the 1986-87 club averaged 77.2. Defensively, the 67.4-point opponents' average is Duke's best since the 1980-81 club allowed 66.9. . . . Blue Devils' All-American Grant Hill needs 11 points to move into the top 10 on the Duke career scoring list and pass Dick Groat's 1,886. Jeff Mullins, the UNC Charlotte coach, is two points ahead of Groat and 12 in front of Hill. . . . Robinson's 1,017 points this season is the 13th best scoring year in Division I history.
by CNB