Duke Vs. UCONN Rematch To Be Televised By ESPN2

Duke (#10 AP/#10 USA Today) vs. Connecticut (#1/#1)
November 12, 1999--6:30 pm--espn2
Coaches vs. Cancer Ikon Classic 
Consolation Game--Madison Square Garden
--New York, N.Y.

Consolation Game With Headline Participants Duke and Uconn
In a rematch of the participating schools in the 1999 NCAA Championship game, Duke (0-1) will face Connecticut (0-1) Friday night in the consolation game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Ikon Classic. Both teams are looking to rebound from close opening night losses as the Blue Devils fell in overtime to Stanford, 80-79, and the Huskies dropped a 70-68 decision to Iowa. Tipoff is set for 6:30 pm on espn2.

Duke Versus No. 1
Connecticut enters tonight's game as the nation's number one ranked team in both national polls. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski leads all active coaches for the most wins against the No. 1 team with five such victories. He owns a 5-9 record against such top-ranked opponents and has won four of the last six such meetings.

Duke's most recent encounter with No. 1 came at the 1997 Maui Invitational when the Blue Devils knocked off defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Arizona.

Last Night
Senior Chris Carrawell scored a career-high 28 points, including nine points in the overtime session but the No. 10 Blue Devils couldn't overcome Stanford's dominant inside presence and timely outside shooting in an 80-79 overtime loss.

It was Duke's first opening game loss since Nov. 28, 1981 when Duke fell to Vanderbilt, 76-75, in overtime.

Duke held a 66-60 lead with under a minute to play in regulation but then surrendered consecutive three-pointers as Stanford tied the game at 68-68. In OT, Duke trailed 78-70 but then nearly won the game when Nate James' 35-footer at the buzzer just missed.

Shane Battier added 19 points and nine rebounds but the Blue Devils shot just 28.2 percent from the field - its lowest team mark in the Coach K era.

More About Duke
Duke returns two starters and five lettermen from last year's national runnerup squad which compiled an NCAA record-tying 37 wins against just two losses and swept through the ACC with a perfect 16-0 mark.

Senior Chris Carrawell and junior Shane Battier return as starters and are both listed as preseason candidates for the Wooden Award - given to the nation's most outstanding player at the conclusion of the season. Carrawell has 62 career starts and is just 93 points shy of becoming Duke's 45th player to score 1,000 career points. The versatile 6-6 performer recorded a career-high 28 points against Stanford and added seven rebounds.

Battier earned the 1999 National Defensive Player of the Year honor and has already started in the effort to repeat with four steals, two blocked shots and a charge taken in the opener. He also hit for 19 points and nine rebounds against the Cardinal.

Nate James and Matt Christensen are returning lettermen in new starting roles while freshman Jason Williams rounds out the lineup. Two more freshmen - Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy - were first off the bench in the opener. Williams had 13 points and 10 rebounds against Stanford.

Starting Lineups

No Player            PPG RPG APG
23 Chris Carrawell  28.0  7.0 4.0    (6-6, 215, Jr., St. Louis, Mo.)
31 Shane Battier    19.0  9.0 4.0    (6-8, 215, Jr., Birmingham, Mich.)
41 Matt Christensen  4.0  5.0 1.0    (6-10, 240, So., Belmont, Mass.)
14 Nate James        1.0  5.0 0.0    (6-6, 205, Jr., Washington, D.C.)
22 Jason Williams   13.0 10.0 3.0    (6-2, 190, Fr., Plainfield, N.J.)
 
Key Reserves
34 Mike Dunleavy      7.0 2.0 1.0    (6-7, 200, Fr., Lake Oswego, Ore.)
3 Nick Horvath        5.0 3.0 0.0    (6-10, 215, Fr., Arden Hills, Minn.)
4 Carlos Boozer       2.0 4.0 0.0    (6-9, 260, Fr., Juneau, Ak.)
20 Casey Sanders      0.0 1.0 0.0    (6-11, 205, Fr., Tampa, Fla.)

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Duke's all-time winningest coach and certainly one of the leading ambassadors of college basketball, Mike Krzyzewski, opens his 20th season at the helm of the program that he has guided to unparalleled success during his career.

The numbers don't tell the whole story of his program at Duke, but nonetheless, they are impressive: 469 total wins, 218 weeks in the Top 25, 115 weeks in the Top 10 (including the last 43 straight polls), 51 weeks ranked #1 in the country (including eights polls in 1998-99 and three times in the final regular season poll in 1986, 1992 and 1999), 48 NCAA Tournament wins, 15 NCAA Tournament bids, eight Final Fours in the last 14 years, seven regular season ACC championships, six NCAA championship game appearances, four ACC tournament titles and the only back-to-back national championships in the past quarter century of college basketball in 1991-92.

Coach K's overall career record stands at 542-215 (.716). The 542 wins is the fifth highest total in NCAA history for a coach after 24 seasons. He became just the 10th coach in NCAA history to attain his 500th career victory in his 23rd season as a college coach.

The Chicago native began his coaching career at Army in 1975-76 where he led the Cadets to an NIT appearance. He took over the Duke program prior to the 1980-81 season and has accumulated a 469-156 record (.750) in 19 seasons.

Coach K was the President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in 1998-99 and is also involved with several community groups, including the Duke Children's Hospital and nationally with the Jimmy V Foundation. He underwent hip replacement surgery on April 4, 1999 and spent the spring and early summer months rehabilitating from the surgery.

The six-time National Coach of the Year and five-time ACC Coach of the Year has a 48-13 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament. Coach K is the winningest active coach in the Tournament and is second behind only Dean Smith for most NCAA Tournament wins by any coach.

Duke in the Big Apple
The Blue Devils return for a second straight year to Madison Square Garden after an exhilirating 92-88 overtime win over St. John's last January 24. One area scribe went so far as to call the college basketball epic between the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils and No. 8-ranked Red Storm, one of the top five sporting events he had ever witnessed in the famed arena.

Duke owns a 5-3 record in the building under Coach K with Preseason NIT appearances in 1986, 1990 and 1996.

The Blue Devils will return to Madison Square Garden to play St. John's in 2001 and will also play in the Preseason NIT next season.

National Rankings
Duke opens the 1999-2000 season with a current streak of 43 straight weeks ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 which is also the longest active streak in the country. Duke has been in the Top 25 for 56 consecutive polls. During Mike Krzyzewski's career at Duke, the Blue Devils have spent a total of 218 weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 with 115 of those weeks in the Top 10.

The Blue Devils finished the 1998-99 season on top of the national rankings for the first time since 1992. In fact, it was just the third time in school history that Duke has finished No. 1 in the final poll, joining the 1986 and 1992 squads.

Duke spent the first three weeks of the 1998-99 season as the nation's top-ranked squad in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls. The preseason top ranking marked the fourth time in school history that the Blue Devils began a season on top of the polls.

Duke finished in the Top 10 in the final AP poll seven times in the 1990's, including eighth in 1997, third in 1998 and first in 1999. Duke is 0-1 against Top 25 teams in 1999-2000 and own an all-time record of 8-19 against the No. 1 team in the country.

Blue Reign - The 1990s & Forever
Over the past 15 years, the Blue Devils have dominated opponents outside the ACC by a wide margin. In that span, Duke owns a 233-31 record (88.3 percent) against non-conference teams, including the NCAA Tournament.

In the 1990's, Duke owned the third highest total of wins with 271 victories. Duke has also climbed into fourth place for the most all-time wins in NCAA history. Duke moved three ahead of St. John's with 1,585 all-time victories while the Red Storm sport 1,582.

ACC DOMINATION
Duke has dominated ACC regular season play over the last three seasons, topping it with an unprecedented 16-0 record with an average winning margin of 24.3 points in 1998-99.

The Blue Devils are just the fourth school to win three or more straight outright ACC regular season titles. The others are Duke (1963-66) and North Carolina (1967-69 and 1976-78).

Duke has won 22 straight ACC regular season games and owns a 41-3 record in the last 44 such games. The only three losses were to Top 10 ranked opponents. The Blue Devils have also won 32 of its last 33 ACC regular season games.

Final ACC Standings of The 1990s No. School W L Pct 1. Duke 109 47 .699 2. North Carolina 108 48 .692 3. Wake Forest 86 70 .551 4. Maryland 80 76 .513 5. Georgia Tech 73 83 .468 6. Virginia 69 87 .442 7. Florida State 56 72 .438 8. Clemson 60 96 .385 9. N.C. State 49 107 .314

ACC Regular Titles in 1990s No. School Outright Share Total 1. Duke 6 0 6 2. North Carolina 1 1 2 3. Clemson 1 0 1 Georgia Tech 1 0 1 Maryland 0 1 1 Virginia 0 1 1 Wake Forest 0 1 1

EXHIBITION WRAP UP
Duke proved to be a high-scoring machine in its two exhibition victories. The Blue Devils opened with a 128-80 victory over the Five-Star Hawks on Nov. 2, followed by a 123-63 crushing of the Down Under Bandits on Nov. 8.

Both games were early blowouts as Duke exploded to a 27-4 lead in the opener and a 37-12 advantage against the Australians. Both games featured seven players scoring in double-figures. Jason Williams led the Blue Devils with 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds against the Hawks while Carlos Boozer paced Duke with 22 points and seven rebounds against the Bandits.

Cameron Advantage
The Blue Devils have had a great deal of success in famed Cameron Indoor Stadium, winning over 80 percent of their games all-time. The 1999-2000 season marks the 60th Anniversary of playing in Cameron. Duke opens the year owning a current 36-game winning streak in Cameron, equalling the longest in school history and ACC history. The streak dates back to an 81-69 loss to then-No. 2 Wake Forest on January 11, 1997.

Duke's all-time record in Cameron is 594-135 for an 81.5 win percentage in the building which opened January 6, 1940. The 594 wins is the most in the ACC and sixth-highest total in the country on a current home court.

Under Coach K, the win percentage increases to 84.9 with a 236-42 record since 1980-81. Duke has also won 120 of its last 122 games against non-conference opponents in Cameron. During the stretch, the Blue Devils have reached the 100-point mark 42 times, including six times in 1998-99.

The only two losses to non-conference teams in Cameron since 1983 have come against Illinois on December 2, 1995, and Michigan on December 8, 1996.

Duke Starts With "D"
The Blue Devils will look to continue a long-standing tradition of outstanding team defense in 1999-2000 after two straight seasons of inspired efforts on the court.

Duke's field goal percentage defense of 39.1 in 1998-99 was the lowest in the Coach K era and the best at Duke since the 1959-60 squad limited opponents to 38.3 percent shooting from the field.

Duke's Defensive No's

Category                   1992  1993 1994  1995 1996 1997  1998 1999
Opp. FG Pct.               46.7  44.2 41.5  43.9 43.7 42.2  41.1 39.1
Opp. 3pt FG Pct.           38.2  28.9 29.7  38.6 33.5 34.0  30.5 30.1
Opp. Points/G              72.6  71.2 67.3  73.7 69.8 66.2  64.1 67.2
Blocks/Game                 3.9   5.0  6.0   4.4  3.6  4.0   5.1  6.3
Steals/Game                 8.2   8.4  7.1   5.7  6.0  8.5   9.4  8.9
Opp. TO/Game               17.8  17.9 15.1  13.6 16.0 18.2  19.9 17.7

The Minister of Defense
(And Much, Much More--Shane Battier
Coach K has called Shane Battier one of the most fundamentally sound defensive players he has ever had in his program. In 1999-2000 he plans to show why his coach has such high praise.

The Birmingham, Mich., junior was named the National Defensive Player of the Year by the NABC after setting the school record for most charges taken the past two seasons with 29 in 1997-98 and 36 in 1998-99. He is also the school's career record holder with 65 to his credit. The 6-8 Battier also led the team in steals with 65 and was second in blocked shots with 43.

On the offensive side of the ball, Battier developed his game tremendously in 1998-99. The efforts were topped with a 27-point explosion versus Maryland in which he converted 10-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-4 from three-point range. His scoring average is up to 9.1 points per game and he scored in double-figures in nine of the last 18 games.

He finished the year with a streak of six games in the last nine played with two or more three-pointers.

Rejection Defense
Shane Battier and Elton Brand led Duke to the top of the ACC charts for blocked shots. As a team, the Blue Devils averaged 6.3 rejections per outing and set a new school and ACC standard with 245 rejections. Against Virginia on January 10, Duke recorded a school record 17 blocked shots.

Brand and Battier have quickly moved up Duke's all-time rejection list with Brand standing fifth with 113 blocked shots in just 58 games played. His 1.95 blocks per game average is second only to school record holder Mike Gminski who had 345 blocks in 122 games for a 2.8 per game average. Brand had a career-high seven blocked shots at St. John's on Feb. 24 and had the fourth highest single season total of 86 in school history.

Fellow sophomore Shane Battier stands in ninth place with 96 career rejections after swatting away 43 shots in 1998-99, the second highest figure on the team.

Career Blocked Shots Leaders

1. Mike Gminski, 1977-80 345 2. Cherokee Parks, 1992-95 231 3. Christian Laettner, 1989-92 145 4. Grant Hill, 1991-94 133 5. Elton Brand, 1998-99 113 6. Antonio Lang, 1991-94 106 7. Mark Alarie, 1983-86 104 8. Greg Newton, 1994-97 101 9. Shane Battier, 1998- 96 10. Robert Brickey, 1987-90 90

Roster Updates
Duke travelled to New York without two of its team members. Junior J.D. Simpson was admitted to the Duke Student Infirmary Tuesday night, suffering from flu-like symptoms. He has been released and is resting at home in anticipation of rejoining the team next week. Freshman walk-on Andy Borman is a member of Duke's No. 1-ranked men's soccer squad and thus has not joined the team as of yet. He is playing in the ACC Tournament semifinals tonight in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Impending Grandfatherhood
Coach K's oldest daughter, Debbie Savarino, is now four days past her expected due date for giving birth to the Krzyzewski's first grand child. Debbie and her husband, Pete, are anticipating and waiting in Durham while the team plays in New York. During the game Friday night, Duke SID Mike Cragg will have his cell phone on next to the bench in case of any news that needs to be delivered to Coach K during the game.

Duke Vs. UCONN Rematch To Be Televised By ESPN2

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