Someone has to play giant-killer, right? The Alabama State Hornets (16-14) will be rolling plenty of tape this week from the infamous 1989 matchup between No. 16 seed Princeton and the top-seed Georgetown. In that contest, the Hoyas squeaked by with a 50-49 victory and avoided the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski's Duke Blue Devils (27-5) have no intention of heading into the history books with the dubious label of losing to the No. 16 seed Hornets Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
"They are very well coached," Krzyzewski said. "They'd rather play a game in the 60's and they are a really good team. They're not as talented as we are, of course."
Alabama State's top-two players, Malcolm Campbell and Rafael Golden, lead the team in scoring at 13 and 12.2 points per contest. Their opposition, however, consists of one of the premier backcourts in the nation. Senior Chris Duhon has led Duke all year long, and his 44-point, 16-assist performance in the three-game ACC tournament was impressive. It is likely his minutes will be limited in the opening round because of a bruised rib that caused him to leave the ACC Championship game in the first half.
J.J. Redick, who is in currently in a 9-for-30 shooting funk dating back to the beginning of the ACC Tournament, leads the Blue Devils in scoring at 15.9 per contest. On the other wing for Duke will be Daniel Ewing, who exploded for a season-high 26 points in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Ewing will most likely matchup with Golden while Duhon will start out on Campbell. Sophomore Sean Dockery will replace Duhon early if Duke comes out of the gate firing after its only ACC championship loss in the past six years.
"I think this is a team that is very good at learning from our mistakes and obviously we made a lot of mistakes especially towards the end of the [Maryland] game," Shavlik Randolph said. "As long as we can take it and make it a learning experience we can take a positive out of it."
If the painted area of the court was a playground, Shelden Williams would play the role of bully Thursday night. The Hornets' leading rebounder, Xavier Oliver, stands at 6-foot-7 and gives up 25 pounds to Williams. The inside-out game that Duke utilizes to punish opponents should be in full effect Thursday, as its interior will be able to dominate Alabama State. The Blue Devils will use their matchup with the Hornets as a chance to rest Duhon and get over last game's jitters before facing their second-round opponent, the winner of the No. 8 Seton Hall and No. 9 Arizona matchup to played later in the night at the RBC Center.
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