Duhon a real do-it-all
SAN ANTONIO -- How many players here at the 66th Final Four could make the following statement?
"I took one shot in 36 minutes of playing time in an NCAA Tournament game, and everyone told me I was the most important player on the floor."
The correct answer is one, and his name is Chris Duhon, who will lead his Duke squad against streaking Connecticut in the second game of tonight's semifinal doubleheader at the Alamodome.
"He's a smaller version of Shane Battier," says Duke assistant coach Johnny Dawkins. "Shane always used to say, `It doesn't matter if I score 2 or 30, I'm always trying to do what we need to win.' A lot of guys can say that, but very few mean it."
Chris Duhon said it yesterday when asked how he'd like to be remembered when his Duke career is over. "I'd like people to remember that I was a winner," he declared. "That I was an unselfish guy who played with a lot of heart and a lot of courage and left his emotions out there on the court. And that I was someone who would do anything it took to win."
As Exhibit A, he will always be able to point to the events of his team's regional semifinal against Illinois. Hampered severely by the effects of ribs bruised when he crashed into a TV camera located behind the basket during the Atlantic Coast Conference title game against Maryland 12 days earlier, he found shooting the basketball an almost impossible task; hence, the 0-for-1 FG-FGA numbers. But the 6-foot-1-inch senior from Slidell, La., is not a shooting specialist. He is an old-fashioned basketball player. And so he found other ways to help his team, pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds, handing out eight assists, playing stout defense, and just simply providing irreplaceable leadership as the Blue Devils knocked off the
There was never a question about Duhon's participation in that game, no matter how much he was hurting. And he was hurting.
"It felt like three guys were squeezing me in there," he explains.
OK, Chris Duhon is not the first kid to play hurt in an NCAA game. Fine. Now try this: He is the first player in a long, long time to make a recognized All-America team in a season during which he may not average in double figures (he goes into tonight's game at 9.9 ppg). Of course, such a thing could only happen to a player in a marquee program such as Duke's. But there is also a tautology at work here. Quality programs such as Duke tend to identify and nurture special players such as Chris Duhon. In the end, players do make the program, not the other way around.
The object of this entire enterprise is to win, and the record shows that Duhon has now participated in 143 games as a Duke player and has been on the winning side in 123 of them. From a cautious freshman ("I had that deer-in-the-headlights look"), he has matured into the consummate take-charge leader in the finest tradition of Krzyzewski-era point guards such as Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Quin Snyder, Bobby Hurley, Jeff Capel, Steve Wojciechowski, and Jay Williams. "He will go down as one of the best point guards in our history," says Dawkins. "He's now got a pair of Final Fours as bookends to his career. The winning speaks for itself. He has been the ultimate winner."
Do not get the wrong impression. Chris Duhon can score. He will either take it to the hoop or step back to drill a three in the proverbial heartbeat. It would not be wise to fall asleep when he has the ball in his hands. Among his other talents, he is the master of the quick-strike basket after the opponent has scored. He is an attack player -- at both ends.
"He's an easy player for other guys to play with because he'll distribute the ball, he'll pressure the ball, and off the ball he'll help his teammates, both offensively and defensively," maintains coach Mike Krzyzewski. "You know, he likes to pass, which a lot of them don't, and he likes to play defense, which a lot of them don't. And he'll show up every night, as evidenced by his durability. He's won 123 games in his college career. That means you have to be in at least that many."
In career game No. 144 he'll have some heavy defensive responsibilities, whether covering Connecticut point guard Taliek Brown or shooting guard (and occasional point guard) Ben Gordon. Brown is only a modest scoring threat, while Gordon perhaps the nation's best off-guard. People are very eager to see that matchup, and Duhon won't deny he's looking forward to it himself.
"I'll just try to restrict his freedom of movement," Duhon explains.
Duhon arrived at Duke with certain things in mind, but one thing he was not counting on was some day finding himself captain of America's Polarizers. It has become chic in many sports circles to hate Duke, which many people have now framed as the Yankees of college basketball. However strange and off-putting this was at first for the players, they have learned to handle the situation. "We're always under pressure as the most-hated team," Duhon says. "We've learned to use it as motivation. We figure if we win you'll have to write more bad things about us for two more days."
He may be confusing some chat room venom-spewers with a national media that has been more than kind to Coach K and his program over the years, but never mind. All athletes should be allowed to manufacture whatever scenarios will help them be at their best when it matters most.
This young man is 123-20 and is playing in his second Final Four in four years. Whatever his personal motivational approach, it seems to be working.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
