Venable carries Tigers with heart, soul

DURHAM, N.C. — Look at Will Venable. He has the body of a young prizefighter — the thick upper arms, the broad shoulders.

Look closer now, at his face. His mug resembles that of a slimmer, younger George Foreman — the droopy eyes, the high, arched eyebrows, the bald pate.

Venable looked like Foreman more than ever Wednesday night as he battled the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium like Foreman battled Muhammad Ali over 30 years ago in Zaire.

From the opening tip, the six-foot, four-inch senior furiously attacked the Blue Devils, landing body blow after body blow. He scored Princeton's first 10 points, keeping even with the entire Duke team for seven minutes, each bucket the result of a fearless drive to the hoop.

Little did he know, he was playing into the Blue Devils' trap. Duke's defensive game plan, legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski admitted afterwards, was to deny Princeton the three-point shot — even if it meant giving up backdoor layups and drives to the basket.

Afterwards, Venable would admit that perhaps his aggressiveness had taken the Tigers out of their offense. In truth, he had no choice, not with his teammates stifled by Duke's press and, perhaps, blinded by ESPN's spotlight.

Still, it was what the Blue Devils wanted, and as quickly as they roped Venable in, they began delivering blows of their own. With the Princeton offense sputtering, Duke went on a 19-2 run, blowing the game open.

But Venable was no dope, not about to be knocked out like Foreman was. So he kept swinging — kept bringing the ball up the court against the relentless Duke press, kept diving to the ground for loose balls, kept attacking the rim.

Each time Venable hurled himself into the air, the Blue Devils battered him the way Bill Laimbeer and the Pistons used to batter Michael Jordan. Time and again, they sent him crashing to the floor, his body landing with a resounding thud each time.

Each time, though, he got up. By mid-bout he looked less like Foreman and more like Jake LaMotta, absorbing punches as well as he threw them.

Early in the second half, he took his nastiest spill of the night. On yet another drive towards the hoop, he got tangled up with two Blue Devils and ended up crashing down onto his back from five feet in the air. For a good five-count, he stayed face-down and motionless on the famed hardwood floor.

Like a good corner-man, best friend and fellow senior co-captain Judson Wallace raced over and pulled him off the mat by his jersey. So Venable stood up, shook off the cobwebs, stayed up and returned to keeping Princeton in the game.

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"I don't think there could be a better competitor in the Ivy League," Krzyzewski said after the game, before correcting himself. "Or in any league. He's a hell of a competitor."

A few minutes later, another assault at the rim — which ended with him on the ground, of course, the victim of a knee to the head — resulted in a goaltending call and a foul that gave the ball back to Princeton. When Wallace hit a hook in the lane to complete the four-point possession, suddenly it was a seven-point game.

But the Tigers never got any closer, wasting two key opportunities when Venable turned it over trying to do just a bit too much. Then again, Duke never knocked him out. Like LaMotta against Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951, he stayed up and took a beating round after round.

His final line for the night — 21 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and seven turnovers — was as imperfect as it was unable to capture the desire and emotion with which he played.

When it was over, head coach Joe Scott '87 made it clear he expects nothing less than such an effort from his senior co-captain. Since he took the job last April, Scott has considered Venable the heart and soul of his team and relentlessly pressured him to live up to that billing. He knows it takes a toll.

"Venable needs some rest," Scott joked, looking like he could use some rest himself. "His coach keeps playing him for 40 minutes."

The referee stopped that LaMotta-Robinson fight in the 13th round, and eventually Scott stopped this one, with 35.7 seconds left and the game out of reach.

And as Venable came out of the game for the first time all night, he didn't hang his head and slowly shuffle off. No, he walked proudly to his seat, his head held high.