By BRYAN STRICKLAND
bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM -- On the eve of Saturday night's regular season finale against North Carolina, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski met with junior Kyle Singler to talk Xs and Os.
The often soft-spoken Singler had something to say as well.
"He says, 'Coach can I show you something?' " Krzyzewski said. "I thought he was going to show me how to get him open better or something like that."
Instead, Singler pulled out a poster he had designed, a logo honoring the Blue Devils' first 17-0 record at Cameron Indoor Stadium -- a logo that required a victory over the Tar Heels to maintain any of its meaning.
Later Friday at a team meeting, Singler shared it with his teammates. And after the Blue Devils' 82-50 drubbing of the Tar Heels, they shared it with their co-conspirators at Cameron, sporting T-shirts featuring the logo during senior speeches to the crazy crowd.
"I just wanted to do something for the guys," said Singler, who scored 25 points in the victory. "I actually showed it to them before the game. It was just something to focus on.
"It wasn't any extra pressure or anything; I just wanted to them focus on this game."
It was kind of like art class for the Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3 ACC) before, during and after the game. Senior Lance Thomas designed the graphics that flashed on the scoreboard as each senior was introduced in pre-game ceremonies. After the game, Thomas held high Singler's poster, after which the entire team got involved in a project involving scissors -- cutting down the net.
The team's decision to cut down the net after a regular season game was unprecedented, but so was what this team accomplished -- not in the history of the school, but in their personal history. The victory gave Duke a share of the ACC regular season title with Maryland, something the Blue Devils last did in 2006.
"You live through your players," Krzyzewski said. "People say, 'Well, what do you still have left to accomplish?' It's not about me accomplishing; it's about me living it through them.
"How cool has it been to be with Jon Scheyer, Lance and Brian [Zoubek] for these four years and to see them win the regular season? They have something that will be there forever."
Duke's most impressive artistry came during the game itself, when the Blue Devils drew circles around the Tar Heels (16-15, 5-11). Leading 53-26 at halftime, Duke scored more points in the first half than UNC scored the entire game, with the Tar Heels lucky to finish with more field goals (16) than turnovers (15).
It was UNC coach Roy Williams' most lopsided loss at his alma mater, the third time this season that a new low has been established.
"You never go into a game thinking you're going to blow somebody out by 30 or whatever it was," said Scheyer, who scored 20 points in his Cameron curtain call. "But once we get a lead like that, we really want to have a killer instinct and really put them away, and I thought we never let off the gas."
The Blue Devils did back off over the final few minutes, but only in order to give their seniors a proper sendoff. Thomas went out on his own terms, fouling out at the 6:21 mark. Krzyzewski took Zoubek out with 3:20 left, and finally he removed Scheyer and inserted senior Jordan Davidson at the 2:36 mark.
Krzyzewski greeted each departing senior with a big hug and was overcome by an uncontrollable smile as Scheyer made his way to the bench.
"There's no better feeling than this," Thomas said. "It hit me, but I'm not looking at it was something sad. The way we took care of business, I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life."
