ABC Sports - Player Spotlight: Mike Dunleavy


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Friday, December 13, 2002
Player Spotlight: Mike Dunleavy
By Marc Connolly
ABC Sports Online

MIKE DUNLEAVY

School: Duke
Year: Junior
Position: F/G
Ht/Wt: 6-9, 220
Hometown: Lake Oswego, Ore.

Yr	G	PPG	FG Pct	3 Pt. FG Pct	FT Pct	RPG	Asst	Stl
2002	16	17.8	49.5	36.1	67.2	7.2	31	36

Not many teams can lose a Shane Battier and come back stronger the following year. It's hard to believe, but that's the case for the Duke Blue Devils this season. Much of that has to do with the continued ascension of Jason Williams to full-on superstar status and the addition of Rutgers transfer Dahntay Jones. Yet, no one player has transformed himself the way Mike Dunleavy has over the past year.

Coming off a game where he scored 19 second-half points (21 overall) in an exhibition of inside-outside play against Maryland, the junior out of Lake Oswego, Ore., is just starting to get recognized as one of the true elite players in the land. A co-captain along with Williams, Dunleavy will once again create matchup problems all over the court for the No. 13 Wake Forest Demon Deacons when they travel across the state to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a Saturday afternoon contest (ABC, 1 p.m. ET) against the No. 1 Dukies.

Anyone who sees time for the Blue Devils is practically a household name for college basketball fans, so Dunleavy has been no stranger since he arrived in Durham as a highly-recruited prep All-American in 1999 with the famous name (his dad was the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers at the time) and a vicious three-point shot. As a sixth man as a freshman and as a full-time starter for last year's national champs, Dunleavy became known for his ability to score in bunches, play tenacious D and display lights-out marksmanship from behind the arc. He was at his best in the NCAA Final against Arizona when 18 of his team-high 21 points came in the second half, which included three treys in a 45-second span.

Though that gave Blue Devil faithful a glimpse of how Dunleavy could put the team on his back once Battier was off in the NBA, no one could have expected to see such a new-look version of the 21-year-old this year. After putting on 20 pounds of muscle and growing to what has been reported to be a height of 6-foot-10, Dunleavy now presents even more problems for the opposition. His height and expanded body would make it difficult for any guard or swingman to guard him regardless, but the fact that he has further developed his low-post skills -- his drop step to his left is deadly -- makes it an impossible feat.

The problem is -- he's too quick for a regular No. 4 to cover. If he's getting outmuscled inside, he can roam outside the three-point line and drain a three, as he's done 39 times (36.1 percent) already this year. When Carlos Boozer and Jones need help inside, Dunleavy is also able to wreak havoc with his quick hands in the lane and clean up around the boards, as he's averaged 7.2 rebounds per game (second on the team to Boozer.) More than likely, forward Josh Howard will be assigned to Dunleavy on Saturday. Howard has been has been Wake's hottest player for the past month and leads the ACC in offensive rebounds. He's a better all-around athlete than Dunleavy, but he'll also give up 3-4 inches in the post.

As recent foes have learned, that's something Mike Dunleavy will continue to exploit with his new frame and array of moves.

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Bracket fever

Breakdown: Wake Forest-Duke

Duke's Mike Dunleavy knocks down the turnaround jumper.
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Duke's Mike Dunleavy cleans up Carlos Boozer's miss with a one-hand follow slam.
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