Duhon steps up, hits clutch shots

PHILADELPHIA - About 10 minutes into the Duke-USC game, one thing was clear: The Trojans clearly did not respect Chris Duhon's shot.

When USC needed to double- team Duke's major offensive threats-Jason Williams and Shane Battier-it was Duhon that they chose to leave open.

"We felt that two players could beat you on the team and that was Battier and Williams," Bibby said. "You're playing with statistics and so we went with Duhon making a few shots. He only had three or four buckets, that's not a lot of buckets. He's a big-time college player, he's on one of the No. 1 teams in the country, you have to figure he's going to make a few buckets."

The Trojans gambled, and according to most bookies, they would have won. Duhon was only 4-for-10 from the field with 13 points. It is not like he made the Trojans pay repeatedly for leaving him open behind the arc. If you win 60 percent of your bets in Vegas, you're doing pretty well.

However, when the high stakes materialized, Duhon cashed in all his chips and made the Trojans pay. Twice.

With 5:17 left in the second half, Southern California had cut the lead to eight and looked primed to make a run. Nothing had fallen for Duke except for a three-point play by Williams nearly a full minute before. The Blue Devils needed an answer, and so naturally, Williams tried to drive the lane like he had so many times before. However, he found himself in a trap and kicked the ball out to an open Duhon slightly off the top of the key. The freshman squared up and shot.

Swish.

"The guy that was guarding me kept leaving me as if he was daring me to shoot," Duhon said. "When I knocked that first one down I got a lot of confidence. Jason was penetrating and kicking it out to me. I didn't think, and I think that was the key for me. I just reacted and played off instincts."

"Winning a regional championship is very special," Battier said. "It's something in my old age I've come to appreciate. I told him a lot of people would pay a lot of money to trade places with him now."

In the past it had been Battier or Williams hitting the clutch shot to put the game out of reach, but this time it was Duhon.

The freshman. Fitting for the youngest team coach Mike Krzyzewski has taken to the Final Four.

"In those regional final games, big players step up," Krzyzewski said. "Tonight, freshmen stepped up. Shane had like his fifth double-double in a row, and Jason, of course played well, but to see Chris drive us to the Final Four was very gratifying to me."

Duke again demonstrated the number of tools they have to win with. Duhon was not the first, second or probably even third option on the team, but he came up big, again proving, just like Battier said, "This is by no means a two-person team."

The Trojans gambled and lost. But they were also outcoached and outplayed. As dangerous as Williams and Battier may be, the biggest problem teams have when playing the Blue Devils is forgetting the three other players on the court. Whether deliberate or accidental, Bibby forgot and just like clockwork, Duke made them pay.

"They forgot I was the McDonald's high school three-point contest winner," Duhon said at the post-game press conference, flashing that famous smile and getting ready to prepare his shot for Minneapolis.