How many Northern Lights winked out? How many tears were shed? How much hope was lost over the Great Land that deep, dark Thanksgiving weekend when Trajan Shaka Langdon -- the Alaskan Assassin -- fell victim to a full-court, backdoor cut by Cincinnati's Melvin Levett, who roared by him and dunked in the closing seconds of the Great Alaska Shootout? Why, that sneak play is older than the ice floes. Surely, Langdon must be haunted by a scenario that cast Levett as a demon raven, the very predator local Native American totems memorialize as a supernatural trickster.

Do or die? Duke died. But afterward, Duke did ... for the rest of the season. Langdon -- named not merely for a Roman emperor but also for a Zulu chieftain -- merged with Brand, Avery, Carrawell, Battier, Maggette and whatever crazies showed up in Cameron to take over the sport. With gleeful savagery, his Blue Devils got better and better and ...

Meanwhile, Utah couldn't beat Utah State. Michigan State stumbled early. Miami lost to Notre Dame! Connecti-quit against Syracuse. Auburn's dunkaholics got detoxed twice by Kentucky, which was embarrassed by Pittsburgh. Cincy lost three straight in C-USA. And, speaking of humiliation: Stanford 45, Oregon State 59.

Now they're all back -- rejuvenated and joined at the hip-hop by Lamar Odom's Rhode Island and Samford Winthrop Kent, which is not the name of an IOC bagman but of three schools that will be enjoying their maiden voyages on the Good Ship Madness. Enjoying, that is, unless they meet Duke, which has a way of humbling folks. Reporter: "Were you as confident as your players?" Carolina coach Bill Guthridge: "No." Reporter: "How good are they?" Maryland's Gary Williams: "I don't care what anybody says. There are NBA teams that couldn't beat Duke."

Williams should know. His Terps have died twice before the rampaging Devils. But put Maryland down for the Final Four anyway. And UConn. And Kentucky. Then forget it. Just hope against hope that, after Duke sweeps this thing to finish 38–1, the Alaskan Assassin can forget his blackout in the land of whiteouts, when a raven's deception cost his team a perfect season.

This article appears in the March 22, 1999 issue of ESPN The Magazine.