Oregon daily emerald., April 03, 2001, Page 8, Image 8

Local boy makes good, propels Duke to title
By Eddie Pells
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Before Mike
Dunleavy’s dad became a coach,
he was a shooter — an unabashed,
unrelenting shooter, who never
saw a long-range jumper he didn’t
like.
So when the Duke sophomore
looked as if he really didn’t belong
in the first half of the national title
game Monday night, he reacted the
way any son of a coach, or son of a
shooter, would.
He just kept shooting.
“I was thinking I wanted to stay
aggressive,” Dunleavy said.
The tall, gangly swingman with
the baby face and the shooter’s
touch was the star of Duke’s 82-72
victory over Arizona because,
quite simply, he excelled at what
both he and his team do best: Mak
ing three-pointers.
He scored 18 of his team-high
21 points in the second half, in
cluding an amazing stretch of
three three-pointers in 46 sec
onds to give Duke a double-digit
lead the Wildcats couldn’t over
come.
“I was feeling it, and it was good
timing, too,” Dunleavy said. “To
do it in the championship game.
Wow. I’m sure some of these guys
were thinking it was about time.”
Dunleavy earned his never-say
quit shooting mentality honestly.
As early as age 3, he would stand
on the sidelines and watch the
Milwaukee Bucks practice, his dad
working off picks, looking for open
outside jumpers.
Early in the second half, he
looked like a kid testing things out
in the driveway, spotting up three
straight t|mes and' draining the
open threes to give the Blue Devils
a 49-39 lead. It was a welcome
break from their ice-cold shooting
from behind the arc (4 for 15 in the
first half).
“It gave us a big dose of confi
dence,” Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said.
Down 10, Arizona rallied, but
Dunleavy answered.
He made a lay-up, a dunk, a nice
little 8-foot jumper and then, of
course, another three-pointer —
{ 4 I had a long talk with
coach yesterday about stay
ing aggressive, and I didn Y
change my mindset Then I
hit one from pretty deep,
and that got me going.
Mike Dunleavy
sophomore,
Duke
yy
and Duke had staved off the initial
Arizona comeback to stay ahead
61-51.
Later, All-Americans Jason
Williams and Shane Battier began
playing to their potential, and
Dunleavy slipped back into the
key supporting role he has grown
accustomed to during this champi
onship season.
“He hit a couple threes in a row,
a couple times I missed my assign
ment,” Arizona’s Richard Jefferson
said. “We did a good job defending
the threes overall, but we just
couldn’t get to him a couple
times.” ,
That’s the method to Duke’s out
side-shooting madness. Stop Batti
er or Williams, and they’ll simply
swing it around the perimeter to
another teammate. Dunleavy has
taken pride in being one of four
Dukies with the reputation of be
ing able to hit a shot from any
where on the court.
This team set the NCAA record
for three-pointers made in a sea
son, and Dunleavy was a big part
of it, making 52 on the road to the
Final Four.
Which begs the question: Exact
ly who was that in the first half?
It sure didn’t seem like the son
of the Portland Trail Blazers coach
and former Bucks, Lakers and
76ers sharpshooter, who sat sto
ically in the stands wearing a black
turtleneck, maybe wishing he had
n’t made this quick trip to Min
nesota.
In the first half, Dunleavy shot
1 for 6 — an ugly l-for-6 that in
cluded misses that barely drew
iron, as Duke basically aban
doned its outside game and
pounded it inside.
But it’s that old shooter’s axiom
— keep shooting it, baby — that
kept Dunleavy from zoning out too
soon, and helped the Blue Devils
to the championship.
‘T had a long talk with coach
yesterday about staying aggressive,
and I didn’t change my mindset,”
Dunleavy said. “Then I hit one
from pretty deep, and that got me
going.”
Football
continued from page 7
free safety Rasuli Webster did not par
ticipate in the first practice of the year.
Despite all the questions, the
Ducks are looking to one-up last sea
son’s campaign with an even better
2001 effort.
“One game put us from the Rose
Bowl to the Holiday Bowl,” Howry
said. “We wanted to be in the Rose
Bowl. If everyone comes out this
spring and practices hard, I think
we can accomplish that. ”
Bellotti is just as confident as his
players.
“We’ve won eight, nine and 10
over the past three seasons,” Bellotti
said. “Yeah, we’d like to take it the
next step and try to get to the best
bowl game possible. Obviously, it
would be nice to get to the Rose Bowl
this year and represent the Pac-10.”
The 2001 Rose Bowl will deter
mine a national champion because
of a rotating system in the Bowl
Championship Series bowls.
Howry said it’s just a matter of time
before the Ducks return to top form.
“It comes down to gettin’ our
groove back,” Howry said. “We
want to get a lot of the chemistry
back that we had at the end of the
year and get ready for fall.”
The Ducks have 15 spring prac
tices and will conclude the spring
workouts with the Spring Game
April 28 at Hillsboro Stadium near
Portland.
Softball
continued from page 7
home runs (5) and RBIs (24).
The Ducks will be looking for
their first doubleheader sweep all
season. From Portland, Oregon
will hit the road for the Bay Area
for Pacific-10 Conference games
against Stanford and California.
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