INSIDE: 2001 Final Four Preview
The Chronicle
Final matchup determines rivals’ four-tune By KEVIN LEES
Duke-Maryland rivalry becomes basketball’s best
The Chronicle
It is the Final Four all right.
The final of four Duke-Maryland
games this season. After three of the most thrilling games of the regular season for both Duke (33-4) and Maryland (25-10), the two teams have the chance to define themselves in a much bigger way now—and they have to get past each other to do it. “That’s what makes this more magical,” forward Byron Mouton said. “This one is for all the bragging rights. No one will remember the first three games. This is the one that really matters.” The Final Four is uncharted territory for Maryland, as neither Gary Williams nor anyone else from College Park has ever made it this far. It is also rarely explored territory for the ACC. While two teams have simultaneously made it to the Final Four before, only once have ACC teams ever squared off in the Final Four, and Duke has never faced an ACC rival in the national semifinals. Needless to say, both teams might be getting sick of one another, but along with that comes a certain respect. “I think the common [variable] throughout is you’re always going to face a great team,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who enters his ninth Final Four and is 6-2 all-time in the national semifinal game. “At times, it’s difficult to sell your kids on how good another team is. Our kids always know. They have the highest respect for Maryland.” SeeFOUR on page 22 �
By BRODY GREENWALD The Chronicle
People have called the Duke-North Carolina rivalry the greatest in sports. Maryland thinks it has discovered one that is even better: Duke-Maryland. For years, there was no Duke-Maryland rivalry, despite the fact that the Terrapins treated their two annual matchups with Duke as the most important on their slate. The rivalry was non-existent, for one school at least, because the Blue Devils dominated year in and year out,
posting a one-sided 23-4 record against Maryland beginning in February of 1988. In fact, after his first 10 seasons as the Terrapins’ coach, Gary Williams had yet to bring home a victory following a trip to Cameron In-
PRATIK PATEL/THE CHRONICLE
MARYLAND’S LONNY BAXTER has been the key to Maryland’s success in the tournament and played a critical role in the Terrapins’ win over Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium Feb. 27.
door Stadium. Then came Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000—Williams’ first career victory in Cameron, and Duke’s first home loss to anyone in 46 home games. A rivalry was beginning to brew, but to many people across the nation and even in the ACC, it was still sitting on the backburner. Sec RIVALS on page 23
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Keohane updates movement on diversity progress By DREW KLEIN The Chronicle
After more than 30 years and black students’ repeated large-scale protests for improved treatment, has anything
really changed? Quite a lot, according to a report re-
leased yesterday by President Nan Keohane focusing on the progress made on black students’ demands in several protests between 1969 to 1997. Black student leaders had not yet read the report last night, but they pushed the University to tackle all the old demands, not just some of them. The report is the direct result of a demand made by the Duke Student Movement to the administration last week and discusses each of 13 demands made by protesters in 1997. According to the report, significant progress has been made toward meeting almost every demand, particularly in areas such as financial aid, funding for black student organizations and black faculty and student recruitment. The report does acknowledge, however, that in these and other areas, more efforts are necessary.
“The statistics we have provided show that the University has made progress in all areas,” states the report, “although the progress has been uneven and in some areas disappointingly slow.” The 24-page document notes that certain demands, such as the creation of a black student dormitory or a black student union, have deliberately been sidestepped, as University leadership wanted to avoid dividing students. Although the tone ofthe report was optimistic across the board, some issues were singled out as more relevant in today’s environment. “By 1997,” it states, “[Duke’s] focus had narrowed to a few major issues. These include the recruitment and retention of black faculty, students and administrators; improvement of the climate for minority students and faculty members on campus; and support
for black student organizations.” Some black student leaders feel the narrowing of focus is undesirable. “I would not want to settle on just one thing,” said senior Denis Antoine, president of the Black Student Alliance.
Duke’s black presence Black flrsl-vear students
students Number of
500
Admits
400 300
Matriculants
200 100
fK*/ff f f 1997
1998
1999
1993
1997
2000
f f
2000
•
See RESPONSE on page 10 !�
BRIAN MORRAY/THE CHRONICLE