Duke always has a target on its back, and the fourth-ranked Blue Devils figure it's gotten bigger lately.
That's because they'll make the cross-state trip to Greensboro for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament this week as the defending champion and its No. 1 seed - the first time that's happened since 2006, when J.J. Redick was the star and the leaders of the present-day Blue Devils were still in high school.
``Especially this year, because people are seeing how well we've been doing, (they) want to get us even more because that'll prove something about their team,'' center Brian Zoubek said Tuesday. ``We have to have even more resolve because of that, and recognize that teams are going to be coming after us every single game. We're not going to be able to take a game off and just win. That doesn't happen.''
The Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3) shared the league's regular-season crown with Maryland and won the tiebreaker to claim the top seed. They begin tournament play Friday against the Virginia-Boston College winner.
For Duke's seniors, it's a chance to take the next step forward in careers marked by steady progress in the postseason tournaments.
They arrived in Durham shortly after the Redick-led group had polished off the proud program's run of seven league tournament titles in eight years and wound up taking their lumps while the rest of the frustrated ACC took turns paying them back for the series of past beatings, going one-and-done in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
The following season, they matured enough to win one game in each tournament. Last year, they had No. 2 seeds in both events, winning the ACC event before advancing to the NCAA's second weekend for the first time since '06.
Now comes an even tougher task: repeating.
``I do see (the team's progress) continuing,'' senior Jon Scheyer said. ``Obviously, right now, this team has made steps throughout my career here. For us, we're just a really hungry team right now. You win one championship, you want to win one more, and then you want to win another. So I think, for us, we've been there before and we know what it takes. Going into the ACC tournament, our expectation is to win it, and the same thing with the NCAA tournament.''
After setting a school record by finishing 17-0 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke heads out to what could be considered its home-away-from-home: the Greensboro Coliseum, where the Blue Devils won a pair of ACC titles in the 2000s and last year picked up a pair of NCAA tournament victories.
And while these Blue Devils might not have any experience defending a championship, they sure do know how to win one.
Many of the key contributors are back from the group that took care of Boston College, Maryland and Florida State to earn the program's eighth title in 11 years and first of their careers. Kyle Singler played all 120 minutes of that three-game run, while Scheyer averaged 22 points in claiming tournament MVP honors.
``We have guys that know how to prepare and win three games in a row,'' guard Nolan Smith said. ``Just doing that and reliving what we did last year, getting mentally prepared each game, refocusing after a win and preparing for the next team we have to play is the main thing.''
