Duke falls at the hands of Maryland as conference play begins

The beginning of conference play is the start of a whole new college basketball season, where rankings mean nothing and records are forgotten. Just ask the Duke Blue Devils about their 87-72 loss to conference foe Maryland Terrapins on Saturday. Being ranked number one not only has no intimidation factor, it often provides more incentive for a rival to knock a team of its throne.

It no longer matters that your team beat a non-conference opponent, because now you are traveling into the den of your most bitter enemy who knows your team as well as anyone. After playing against each other so often, conference foes begin to dislike each other more and more. It is in these great rivalries that a team's pride and school spirit are truly seen. A win means bragging rights for a year, or at least a month until the next meeting.

Duke had been the last undefeated team in Division I with a 12-0 start. Coach K has been juggling his starting lineup all year, trying to find the right mix of freshmen stars and upper classmen experience to anchor his team. Veterans Chris Duhon, Dahntay Jones and Daniel Ewing have been great in providing leadership while this team continues to search for its identity. Duhon, in fact, leads the Blue Devils and the nation in assists at better than eight per game. Jones is the teams leading rebounder and is in the top ten in the ACC in scoring.

On a team with six freshmen, three have made a big difference in the teams first thirteen games. J.J. Reddick, Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams have all shown that they are capable of big performances. J.J. Reddick exploded for 34 points on Wednesday against a skilled Virginia Cavalier team, and is garnering praise for being one of, if not the best, shooter in Duke history.

Both Randolph and Williams have been more inconsistent, but as of late Randolph has been an offensive force and Williams has become a rebound machine. Unfortunately, these freshmen were not prepared for a formidable conference rival when they came to the brand new Comcast Center in College Park, MD.

Maryland showed that they are still the national champions and are still a force to be reckoned with in the ACC by defeating Duke by fifteen points - a large margin in this normally competitive match-up. The Terps pounded the boards and out-rebounded the guard-laden Blue Devils. Attention Duke bigmen: Hit the weightroom!! While Duke has amazing shooters, it needs to develop some low post presence or teams will just continue to abuse its skinny, soft frontcourt.

Maryland dominated the inside game with Ryan Randle and Taj Holden and guards Drew Nichols and Steve Blake playing a near perfect game with their scoring and playmaking ability. These two teams will definitely play one more time at Cameron Indoor Stadium in February and you can be sure both teams will come ready to play once again.

Most college basketball fans knew that Duke was not the real number one at this point in the season. The Arizona Wildcats, the preseason number one team, have been dominant all year with the exception of one fluke loss resulting from Luke Walton's absence. Walton, an All-American point forward, missed several games with a lingering ankle sprain, but he now joins sophomore Salim Stoudamire and senior Jason Gardner in creating a very intimidating offense.

Not only does Arizona seem to be the best team in the nation, there seems to be no real competition for them in the Pac-10. After defeating the over-rated Oregon Ducks on the road without Walton, and after giving UCLA their worst home loss ever at Pauley Pavilion, the Wildcats have clearly distanced themselves from the rest of the pack.

The beginning of conference play also handed losses to other highly ranked teams including UConn (6 ESPN/6AP), Illinois (8 ESPN/8AP) and Notre Dame (9 ESPN/10AP). Conference play has turned Michigan from the laughing stock of college basketball into the king of the Big Ten. After starting 0-6, the Wolverines have won 11 games in a row and now sit atop the conference standings at 4-0. Ultimately, it is these games that separate the contenders from the pretenders and the good teams from the great teams. If you can win in January and February, your team will most likely be headed to March Madness.