Duke knew losing Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy a year early to the NBA draft was a distinct possibility -- in the spring of 2001.

Stanford had an idea a year ago that both Curtis Borchardt and Casey Jacobsen could bolt but there was little they could do.

	Mike Dunleavy will be missed but there are plenty of players at Duke ready to take his spot.

And, as history has proven of late, it's a lot easier for Duke to replace stars with future studs than Stanford, considering the pool of players is smaller for arguably the tougher academic school.

That's why the Blue Devils won't take too much of a hit next season and are a legitimate contender to win the ACC and be back to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

It's also why Stanford will face a rare role of late under Mike Montgomery, playing without a proven star in the Pac-10. The Cardinal still have a shot to crack the top five in the league but it won't be as much of a certainty as Duke in the ACC.

The Blue Devils simply have three potential stars returning in point guard Chris Duhon (8.9 ppg, 5.9 apg), wing Daniel Ewing (6.5 ppg, 45.7 3s) and forward Dahntay Jones (11.2 ppg). Duhon starred when he was the leader of the U.S. Young Men's gold-medal winning team last summer. He'll have that role again for the Blue Devils next season. Ewing was a star in the making as he came off the bench to provide plenty of scoring pop, especially on 3s and mid-range jumpers. Jones is one of the better defenders and can rebound well for someone who is an undersized power forward.

But the reason Duke is better prepared for losing Williams, Boozer and Dunleavy has as much to do with their recruiting. The Blue Devils went out and grabbed one of the best recruiting classes in the country a year ago. Coming to Durham to shore up the holes inside are Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Michael Thompson -- three players who could all push aside returnees Casey Sanders and Nick Horvath if they play up to their potential. J.J. Redick and Sean Dockery give the Blue Devils two more guards -- a shooter in Redick and a playmaker in Dockery -- to give Duke even more balance.

"The majority of our guys will be players who aren't proven or done it at the highest level in college," Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski said. "But that's when guys in your program step up and do things that they hadn't before. We know what Chris (Duhon) is capable of doing and Daniel Ewing showed flashes of being a terrific player last season, but we will expand Dahntay Jones' role."

That means more touches for Jones at different points on the floor. Ewing needs to be more assertive offensively and the freshmen forwards will have to be able to finish around the basket.

Duke will lack experience inside, a deep 3-ball threat and a player who will take over the game. But they've at least got choices.

"Our freshmen have to answer the bell but they've got the talent to do it and they were recruited to play right away," Wojciechowski said. "So they will."

And therein is the difference between Duke and Stanford.

"When you saw Chris Duhon in high school, you could tell he was a great player and would have the opportunity to go in the league," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said.

He was smooth and polished. The guys (Duke) recruits know.

"We haven't had that," Montgomery said. "Curtis was 180 pounds when he came here. To say that in three years, he would break his foot twice, and become 245 pounds and be a lottery pick is a stretch. But we've got to be honest if we want to recruit that level of player (like Duke) that they could be gone and so we have to support ourselves better."

The Cardinal filled needs with their recruiting class in getting a shooter in Dan Grunfeld (son of Bucks' GM Ernie Grunfeld), a point in Jason Haas and a potential long-term replacement for the 7-foot Borchardt in 6-10 Matt Haryasz. But asking them to step in and be impact newcomers would be too much to ask.

The Cardinal will rely on a collection of role players and one potential star in rising sophomore slasher Josh Childress. Childress (7.8 ppg) is a natural scorer but he's not that aggressive, something that Montgomery said has to change. Combo guard Julius Barnes, exceptional on the break but not as consistent as a standstill shooter like Jacobsen, will have to become a leader as the only senior -- it's a role Jacobsen said he believes Barnes (10.9 ppg.) would relish. Justin Davis (4.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg), who has been plagued with injuries throughout his career, has to be on the court, score and rebound as the go-to power forward. If not, then Teyo Johnson (5.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg), who will get some time on the perimeter, needs to take over the position. Borchardt's replacements will likely be a tandem of 6-10 Rob Little (2.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg) and 6-9 Joe Kirchofer (2.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg).

Chris Hernandez (3.0 ppg, 1.6 apg) will share the point with Barnes while Matt Lotich (30 percent on 3s) and Nick Robinson (40 percent on 3s) will split time at shooting guard when Barnes is on the ball.

See, we told you, no household names.

"We'll lack a star, the type of marquee player that we've had," Montgomery said. "But when I got word that (Jacobsen and Borchardt were staying in the draft) I got excited. It's scary because you're taking away constants on our team. But we'll start doing things that we haven't done before. How do we steal a game here or there because we simply can't walk on the floor and be stronger and better. So, maybe we'll be smarter. It will be a challenge."

Montgomery wants six post players, so he'll have to settle for four now that Borchardt is gone. And what they won't have is a player like Jacobsen who can drop in 49 on someone.

To combat that the Cardinal will have to get tougher and to do that the team made a commitment to stay through the summer. That means lifting, working out together and playing in some Bay Area leagues that could toughen up the Cardinal.

"We felt one of our problems in the games we lost to USC (Pac-10 tourney) and Kansas (NCAAs) was that we were beaten and taken out of our game physically," Montgomery said. "Our guys said, 'let's stay together in the summer, establish a core and get this team back to where it needs to be.'"

Stanford will take a hit, but how much depends on the search for that breakout star. It could be Childress but if it's not then this collection of role players will need to back each other up on the boards, on the help side defensively and, certainly, when there are open shots someone will need to make.

Aloha, AAU teams
A rule that prevents high school players from playing for a summer league team who are outside a 100-mile radius of the team's location, or from another state, could prevent one coach's son from getting more than one exposure this summer.

The rule has to be honored by teams, or the NCAA won't certify those tournaments they play in, preventing college coaches from attending. Hawaii assistant coach Bob Nash can watch his son, Bob, play every game at home with the Hawaii Raiders. But the rest of the college coaches will only get a chance to see him at the Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas and at the ABCD invitation-only individual camp in New Jersey.

Nash Jr., a 6-6 forward from Honolulu's Iolani High, was playing with EBO of Fresno, Calif., before the rule was enforced. Had this rule been in place in previous years, Alaska's Carlos Boozer wouldn't have been able to play for EBO and Hawaiian Julian Sensley wouldn't have played for L.A. Rockfish.

"Hawaii teams can't afford to go to more than one tournament, and in the 30 years I've been here, very few college coaches come to Hawaii to recruit," Nash Sr. said. "It's a stupid rule. He'll only get one team exposure. It borders on the same restrictions that the NCAA put on college coaches saying they could only earn X number of dollars."

The organizers of the Eastern Invitational and Five Star Basketball Camp are trying to get a federal judge in Philadelphia to grant an injunction to lift this rule before the summer evaluation begins July 8.

Pepperdine should be fine
Pepperdine sophomore forward Glen McGowan (9.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg) withdrew from the NBA draft, but he and starting point guard Devin Montgomery (11.7 ppg, 3.8 apg) have academic work to do this summer to be eligible in the fall. Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal is confident that both will be eligible when the season starts.

The Waves must have Montgomery, more so than McGowan, to give Gonzaga a run next season. Meanwhile, Westphal saw no harm in McGowan throwing his name out into the draft process for a month, even though he never got invited to Chicago for the pre-draft camp.

"I never thought he was in danger of leaving," Westphal said.

For the Waves to be in contention for another NCAA at-large berth, if they can't win the WCC, they had to have a strong non-conference schedule. Wins over UCLA and USC on the road gave them the needed power rating points and overall credibility to earn an at-large berth last season. Westphal said neither team would play the Waves next season on the road or on a neutral court, and certainly weren't going to come to Malibu.

The Waves do have some potential power-rating games against Oregon and Utah at home (returns of road games last season), and in tournaments against New Mexico and Stanford, assuming they get to the final against the host school. And, of course, the Waves have two games against Gonzaga in the regular season, plus a possible third meeting with the Bulldogs in the WCC tournament in San Diego.

"It really helped us to play that kind of schedule last season so we want to keep doing it," Westphal said.

Zags too big for Bracket Buster?
Gonzaga is balking at playing in the Bracket Busters event, a potential made-for-TV series of games that will pit potential mid-major (the Bulldogs hate that term) teams against one another Feb. 22 to help power rating points. The Bulldogs don't like to think of themselves as bracket busters, rather as a team that has made a run to the Elite Eight and has three Sweet 16 appearances in the past four years.

There are discussions for a 20-, 18-, or 16-team event -- with all but one game being set during the season once the best matchups are determined. The plan was to have Gonzaga play Fresno State or Hawaii at home in the only pre-determined matchup. But do that game, the Bulldogs would have to dump their Tulsa home game Jan. 7. Tulsa wasn't able to swing a road trip to Spokane on Feb. 22.

Gonzaga's non-conference schedule is nearly set with the Maui Invitational, Stanford in the Pete Newell Classic in Oakland, the Tulsa game, Georgia in Atlanta, and a home game against Saint Joseph's -- in addition to the regional games against Washington and Washington State. But

As far as the Bracket Buster matchups, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech have been promised home games, while Fresno State and Hawaii would be on the road. The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to be on the road the following week, so they'll have to stay on the mainland for two successive weeks. Ball State and Bowling Green were the two road teams out of the MAC, while Kent State and Marshall were promised home games.

Potential MAC champ Ohio isn't in the event because the Bobcats are playing host to Virginia, possibly on ESPN, two days earlier and couldn't make the even work to its advantage. As a result, Ohio still needs a game and is willing to go anywhere.

The rest of the field isn't set. But Creighton, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa were expected out of the Missouri Valley, the Sun Belt's Western Kentucky was on the list as were the Horizon League's Butler and Detroit.

Weekly Chatter