After surviving its first conference road trip of the year, No. 3 Duke steps outside the ACC to host a surging Georgetown team Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But just because the No. 13 Hoyas (11-3) hail from the Big East doesn't mean the Blue Devils (14-1) are any less familiar with them.
For Nolan Smith, this weekend's contest reunites old friends and teammates.
And for jilted Duke fans, the game provides an opportunity to see the player they almost had: Georgetown's star freshman, Greg Monroe.
A graduate of Virginia's prestigious Oak Hill Academy, Smith played alongside fellow guard and Hoyas' starter Chris Wright, who leads his team in minutes and assists so far this season.
In addition to high school basketball, Duke's starting point guard played for the AAU team D.C. Assault, whose most famous recent alumnus is Miami Heat star Michael Beasley. Georgetown's Austin Freeman, Jason Clark, Julian Vaughn and DaJuan Summers, the Hoyas' best player and leading scorer, all played for D.C. Assault, and Smith remembers them well.
"I know their games like the back of my hand, sure," Smith said. "They get better as the years go by, as I have, but I know their games. They are in a system [at Georgetown], so all of them do different things in that system. But all the guys I know, their strengths are still the same."
Smith may have spent years on the same court as those players, but he has yet to share one with Monroe, the Hoyas' dynamic freshman. Monroe, a forward, has replaced Roy Hibbert's production on the boards while also adding an impressive level of athleticism to head coach John Thompson III's Princeton-style offense.
Throughout 2006 and 2007, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski tried to bring Monroe to Durham, but he chose to make Washington, D.C. his home instead. Smith spoke glowingly of the potential Monroe would have brought to Duke, but also said he was more than confident in the frontcourt players Duke does have.
"[Monroe] definitely would have fit in. Defensively, I see him blocking shots, being a presence in the paint, and he can run the floor tremendously," Smith said. "So if he had come here, he would have fit in right along with our offense. But we will be just fine. Lance [Thomas] and Kyle [Singler] are great bigs themselves. Hopefully we can expose [Monroe] a little bit and make him defend a little harder than he has so far."
Pressuring Monroe and Georgetown's other big men will be crucial for Duke, and for once, the Blue Devils should not be at a significant height disadvantage. Singler, Thomas and center Brian Zoubek match up favorably-at least in size-with Monroe, Summers and Vaughn.
But along the perimeter, Duke's aggressive man-to-man defense, which carried it to a 70-56 win Wednesday at Georgia Tech, should be tested to the extreme. Georgetown's offense is known for its intricate backdoor cuts and multiple screens, and the team takes almost as many 3-pointers as Duke does.
In fact, in the Hoyas' last game, they put on a show in trouncing No. 8 Syracuse, 88-74. Georgetown shot an astounding 57.1 percent from beyond the arc, earning its second victory over a top-10 team after defeating No. 4 Connecticut.
"We have guys that can make shots, and we did a very good job of throwing it in, throwing back out, getting penetration, throwing it opposite," Thompson III said after his team's win over Syracuse Wednesday. "When we get it into the paint and back out [for a 3-pointer], for some reason or another, the ball seems to go in a little more."
Regardless of Georgetown's offense, though, Duke's defense will be the deciding factor Saturday. Junior Gerald Henderson said that the Blue Devils are no longer learning what to do on defense-they just go out and do it.
That maturity could be the difference against a Hoya team that has already proven it can beat anyone.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.