The wait is over

Sporting News, The, April 2, 2001 by Mike DeCourcy

After four seasons, 131 wins and numerous awards, Duke's SHANE BATTIER is about to fill that one last hole in his resume--winning an NCAA title

Shane Battier remembers the moment. Of course he does. It was a moment that suggested gold-and-diamond rings, a net-cutting ceremony, a trip to the White House and a really plain-looking wooden trophy that does no justice to the NCAA championship achievement but that no college player would decline to embrace.

One of his Duke teammates missed a shot. Which player is not germane. What mattered was Battier unleashed all his strength, energy and will and twisted over a Connecticut defender to grab a most impossible rebound. Upon landing, he teammate Trajan Langdon alone on the wing. Langdon turned Battier's immediate into a 3-point dagger that figured to decide the 1999 NCAA title game.

Duke was going to win.

Only it didn't.

"That play was one of those plays that was like, `Wow, he hit that! There's no way we're going to lose this game,'" Battier says, two years removed. "Unfortunately, we didn't hang on."

So that rebound did not mean what it appeared to mean. It did not mean Duke was about to win its third NCAA Tournament under coach Mike Krzyzewski. It simply meant UConn had to deal with 3 more Duke points on the way to claiming its first championship.

It also meant we could expect great things from Battier at Duke. That rebound said everything about the kind of player Battier could become, that he would not always be content to blend into the background. He has not. He has been national defensive player of the year and a first-team All-American and is the reigning Naismith Award winner. He is as respected for his personality, intelligence and leadership as for his 19.9 points per game. He is the best player on the team that will emerge as champion when the Final Four is played out in Minneapolis.

A 6-8 senior power forward from Birmingham, Mich., Battier never has known anything but monstrous success. His teams own a 131-15 record in four years, a winning rate of 89.7 percent. He did not spend one day of his Atlantic Coast Conference career in second place until the Blue Devils lost to North Carolina on February 1. They were back on top a month later. Duke ended the past three regular seasons as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll. He is the only player in NCAA Tournament history to play for four No. 1 seeds.

His objective this week is simple--to avoid becoming the first player in the tournament's history to fail to win a championship in four tries from that position.

"I think there've been people satisfied with less than I've accomplished in my career," Battier says. "If I don't win the national championship, will I be disappointed? No question. But will I be unfulfilled? No. I'm just very lucky to play at a place like Duke, see the things I've seen. That said, it would be sweet to go out on top."

Battier is exactly where he thought he would be at this time four years ago, but not with the same group of teammates he imagined. Battier was part of one of the great recruiting classes, arriving at Duke with centers Elton Brand and Chris Burgess and point guard William Avery. The others left for various reasons following that loss to Connecticut: Burgess for more playing time at Utah, Avery for easy money in the NBA, Brand because he had little left to accomplish as a collegian after sweeping the player of the year awards. Battier is still here.

"It's been an interesting path, and a path I've really enjoyed. This Final Four is exciting to me because in '99, that was Trajan's team. Although I thought I had an integral role, I can really take pride in this year."

He insists he will savor this experience, his last as a collegian, and well he should. It is a fabulous Final Four: the defending champion (Michigan State), the preseason No. 1 (Arizona), the postseason No. 1 (Duke) and a newcomer (Maryland) that arrives with the talent to legitimately threaten for the title.

Arizona and Michigan State, relative strangers who last met in December 1999, will play in one Saturday semifinal. In the other, Duke will face Maryland for the fourth time in 64 days. The Devils own a 2-1 edge in that matchup this year, a tally that is misleading in a couple of ways.

Maryland dominated Duke this season without the results to prove it. The Terps plastered the Blue Devils at Cole Field House in late January but left the job unfinished, surrendering a 10-point lead in the last minute and losing in overtime. At Duke one month later, the Terps surged from a half-time deficit with a 48-point second half that produced an 11-point victory. On a neutral court in the ACC Tournament semifinals, Duke escaped at the buzzer on a tip-in by senior wing Nate James.

However, the Terps still have not seen this particular Duke team, with freshman Chris Duhon sharing the point with Williams and center Carlos Boozer healthy enough to spell new starter Casey Sanders for 22 minutes, as he did in each of the two East Region games in Philadelphia. This is a dramatically better defensive team, and that improvement, combined with Jason Williams' astounding individual scoring ability and Battier's steady production, will deliver Duke the title.