Duke wants ACC title first, then No. 1 NCAA seed

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

GREENSBORO, N.C. – At stake for Duke in this ACC tournament is a chance for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But that's not what they're playing for, if you ask coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"We don't talk about that at all," Krzyzewski said. "Not one second."

Top-seeded Duke, the defending champion, is gunning for its ninth ACC tournament championship in 12 years. The way the Blue Devils are approaching it, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament would be a nice bonus from winning an ACC title.

"It's not our goal," Krzyzewski said of the No. 1 seed. "What's the criteria for it? It's something you don't even know what the criteria is. We can compete for an ACC championship. The criteria is to win three straight games. So we focus on that and the other stuff will take care of itself."

The path seems to have opened up pretty clearly for Duke, at least to reach the ACC final, after Boston College, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech were all knocked off in the first two days. Duke plays No. 12 seed Miami in the semifinals on Saturday.

Getting there wasn't exactly easy for Duke, either. The Blue Devils were up only 46-44 on Virginia Friday with 6:24 left after Mustapha Farrakhan hit a 3-pointer. But that would be the last field goal for the Cavaliers and about the time Jon Scheyer cut loose for three baskets. To that point he'd been 2 for 14 from the floor but finished with 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting.

"I don't think we came with a sense of urgency and Virginia played with one," Krzyzewski said. "And that combination made it a two-point game, 46-44. The situation created the sense of urgency."

Stone Mountain's Jones excelling

In the absence of leading scorer and rebounder Dwayne Collins because of a leg injury, Miami has been looking elsewhere for offensive production. The Hurricanes found it this tournament in Stone Mountain's DeQuan Jones.

After averaging only 5.3 points per game during the regular season, the 6-foot-6 sophomorel forward scored 14 points in Miami's upset win over Wake Forest Thursday and 14 more in an upset Friday over Virginia Tech. Coming into the weekend, Jones had scored in double-figures only once all season, with 16 points Nov. 25 against Florida Gulf Coast.

"I can't really say I have done anything different," said Jones, a product of Wheeler High School. "I just want to go out and give my team the best opportunity to win."

That has come with picking up the slack in the absence of Collins, who was averaging 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Is Virginia Tech an NCAA lock?

That was the question posed to Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg after his Hokies lost to Miami on Friday. A weak non-conference schedule had their NCAA tournament credentials in question before the Hokies quieted that opinion by winning their last two ACC regular season games to finish tied with Florida State in third place. The Hokies (23-8) went 10-6 in the regular season.

"I would hope that the team that tied for third place in the ACC would be in pretty good shape," Greenberg said. "But that one is out of my control."