DUKE'S WILLIAMS FEELS HEAT

Jason Williams declined to talk. His final airball shot in overtime spoke for him. He tried to do too much Thursday night. But who could blame him? Duke's freshman point guard was put in an improbable position. Unlike Stanford, which had the luxury of rotating Mike McDonald and Julius Barnes, Williams essentially had to go alone in Duke's 80-79 loss to the Cardinal. Williams didn't have a backup and played 36 of a possible 45 minutes. When the high school player of the year was out of the game, the Blue Devils were big, but lost as Chris Carrawell, Nate James, Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy Jr. played catch around the perimeter. When he was in the game, Williams was at times sensational in his penetration and creativity but too often was too aggressive. He would over-penetrate and make a decision to dish too late into the lane. He finished with six turnovers and only three assists to go along with a 3-of-15 shooting night. "It's not high school," Carrawell said a few feet away from a tearful Williams. "In high school you can juke and do your thing, but here you've got to know when to do that, to pull up and to drive and dish. But he'll get it. He's so valuable to us. I don't want to be the point. I want to score." Williams' energy was tapped in the overtime when his hands went down on defense. McDonald noticed and ripped off two 3-pointers and blistered a pass by Williams for a layup. McDonald was able to get by Williams on every possession in overtime. "It was his first college game and he was going to be tired through nerves," McDonald said. "He didn't have a sub like me and this is a tough game to do that in. He'll need a lot more (rest) as the year goes on." -- Andy Katz

Iowa hierarchy surrounded him -- an athletics director on one side, a trusted friend and booster on the other. But they couldn't keep up. Alford was already in full trot, creating a wake of sports-coated Hawkeyes behind him.

"How's that for a start, boss!" Alford said as he breezed past Iowa athletics director Bob Bowlsby.

Bowlsby didn't say a word. He knew what the rest of the nation recognized in Iowa's stunning 70-68 victory over defending national champion and No. 1 Connecticut: Alford can coach.

Despite saying that the Hawkeyes were ill-prepared for this game, this early in the season, Iowa looked like it was in February form in Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Connecticut looked like it was, well, not even ready for an intrasquad scrimmage. But, even with their lackluster effort, the Huskies drew No. 10 Duke in a consolation game rematch of the '99 NCAA championship game after the Blue Devils lost to No. 13 Stanford 80-79 in overtime.

"This was great for our confidence," Alford said. "And now I think they'll see that we can be a pretty good team in the Big Ten."

Huskies' coach Jim Calhoun gave the obligatory credit to Iowa and Alford, but he harped on the Huskies' selfish play (four assists in the first half and 10 overall) and 18 turnovers (14 in the first half).

But Alford had a hand in Connecticut's rare erratic play. Alford had his team play aggressive, instead of playing passive halfcourt man-to-man like he did at Southwest Missouri State a year ago. The Hawkeyes trapped the Huskies in the halfcourt and mixed up some 1-2-2 zone to force them into poor decisions with the ball (12 steals), quick shots and a propensity to give up the easy basket at the other end.

But this wasn't Tom Davis' Iowa team.

Dean Oliver, the Hawkeyes' best talent, quickest player and only true playmaker, sat for 12 minutes with foul trouble. Without him, no-names like Kyle Galloway (a hunched over redhead who sports muttonchops), beefy Jacob Jaacks and slight Ryan Luehrsmann had no problems frustrating the Huskies.

	Steve Alford couldn't have asked for a better way to start his career at Iowa.

"We had to be aggressive and set the tempo," Jaacks said of the Hawkeyes' early 16-4 lead and 36-21 halftime edge. "They've got everybody. We've got a bunch of nobodies."

Yet Alford didn't hesitate to test Khalid El-Amin's penetration to his left or challenge freshmen Marcus Cox or Tony Robertson when they handled the ball. Alford wanted the Huskies' big men to put the ball on the floor. He gambled and won what could become one of the most important games of his burgeoning career. The idea was to cut off the Huskies' transition, keep them from taking second shots, limit the 3-pointer and keep being aggressive.

The approach worked. El-Amin, who played despite a published report earlier in the day that linked him to using a booster's car in exchange for tickets, avoided turnovers. But Kevin Freeman, playing the wing instead of freshman Doug Wrenn (who had one turnover in his only minute), had four and guards Tony Robertson, Albert Mouring and Marcus Cox had a combined six turnovers.

"Steve lied when he said he was putting in the man-to-man system at Iowa," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "I'll never forgive him! They outplayed us offensively and defensively."