8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010 NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

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by Danny VinikTHE CHRONICLE

As Duke prepares itself for the NCAA Tour-nament, The Chronicle gives you five things the Blue Devils must focus on to get to the Fi-nal Four in Indianapolis.

1. Crash the GlassDuke shot 44.1 percent from the field this

season, ranking it a lowly 139th in the coun-try and a mediocre eighth in the ACC in that category. However, the Blue Devils made up for their poor shooting by grabbing offensive boards and getting easy put-backs. Duke was 15th in the country and third in the ACC in offensive rebounds per game, and senior Brian Zoubek led the team on the offensive glass by taking down 3.4 offensive rebounds per game. Zoubek also led the team in fouls, though, and Duke needs the 7-foot-1 center on the court and snagging missed shots if it expects to be playing in April.

2. Defense, Defense, Defense!Three-pointers and slam dunks may be

exciting, but defense is what wins basketball games, and this Duke team knows that. The Blue Devils gave up more than 70 points eight times this year and lost five of those games. In those five losses, Duke’s oppo-nents shot 52.4 percent from the field. The Blue Devils’ offensive production has varied in those defeats (from shooting 37 percent in the loss to Georgetown to shooting 45 per-cent against Wisconsin), but their defense, or lack thereof, was their Achilles’ heel.

On the other hand, when the Blue Dev-ils step up their defense, the team becomes nearly unbeatable. Duke is undefeated when it holds its opponent under 70 points.

THE BASICS

Keys to a championship

MICHAEL NACLERIO/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

Mason and Miles Plumlee can make Duke better by playing tough defense and scoring timely baskets.

3. Support the Big ThreeIt is no secret that Jon Scheyer, Kyle

Singler and Nolan Smith carry the bulk of the load for the Blue Devils, but if head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad wants to reach the Final Four, it is going to need some production from other players. Scheyer, Singler and Smith accounted for

SEE KEYS ON PAGE 13