A week after Battier's dive, freshman Chris Duhon crashed into a water cooler with time running out in a 10-point win over Southern Cal. Not at all, the Blue Devils say. It's part of the Duke culture. What you do in the blowouts determines how you react in big games, like today's Final Four match-up with Maryland at the Metrodome. Battier said Friday.
All teams talk about playing hard.
The teams in the Final Four wouldn't be here if they didn't. The only way coach Mike Krzyzewski allows. One could argue that it's been a constant under Krzyzewski, who is taking the Blue Devils to their second Final Four in three years, their ninth since 1986. Players are less likely to get hurt if they are going all out, Krzyzewski said. That's why he doesn't worry when Duhon takes a header into a water cooler.