How important do two of the nation’s top basketball coaches think 6-foot-6 small forward Harrison Barnes is to their programs’ futures? Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams made in-home visits to scout.com’s top-ranked recruit in 2010 class – on the same night.

Vance Downs, Barnes coach at Ames (Iowa) High, said in a phone interview that he was not present during Monday night's visits, but he briefly discussed it with his star player Tuesday morning. "That’s all I know, is that they were both there … and it was a busy night," Downs said.

DURHAM — Junior forward Kyle Singler floated a possibility that seems to make sense for Duke’s unusually configured 2009-10 basketball team.

"What we’ve been talking about... is we might be playing a little more zone this year than in years past,” Singler said during an exclusive interview Thursday. “That might not be the way Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] wants to do it, but with the personnel that we have, we are a big team.”

Add Duke's Mike Krzyzewski to the list of college basketball coaches speaking out this summer against what's become known as the NBA's "one-and-done" rule.

Former Duke basketball player Reggie Love is on President Obama’s staff, but he couldn't sway his bracket. Obama picked North Carolina to win the national title in his bracket for ESPN, with Duke losing in the East Regional final.

"Somebody said we're not in President Obama’s Final Four," Krzyzewski said Wednesday.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski

ATLANTA — Given the relative disappointment for Duke in the past two postseasons, the Blue Devils needed to win Friday in the ACC Tournament.

And they need to beat Maryland today.

Confidence separates teams in March. The Devils didn't have any in 2007, after losing to N.C. State in the first round of the ACC Tournament, or in 2008, after getting bullied out by Clemson in the semifinals.

It will be all or nothing for Duke junior forward Lance Thomas on Sunday at North Carolina.

Thomas, who sprained his left ankle on Wednesday against Florida State, will start and play his regular role if he's deemed healthy enough, coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Friday. Otherwise, he won't play at all.

Krzyzewski said Thomas did a little running during Friday's practice and must be able to practice Saturday in order to play Sunday.

HBO takes a stab at corralling the Duke-North Carolina men's basketball rivalry in a documentary called, "Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. North Carolina." The hour-long show on the greatest rivalry in college sports premieres tonight at 9 p.m.

First, a key statistic from the program: Duke 57, UNC 53.

See Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski talk about Kay Yow's impact on basketball and the fight against cancer. Video by staff photojournalist Chuck Liddy.

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy

Here's what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had to say about Kay Yow:

"Over the years I've had a lot of time to interact with her through The V Foundation. The great thing about her is that she had the courage to fight her battle in public, and as a result she not only fought for herself, but for everybody that has cancer, will have cancer, and for the families who are involved. She created an amazing awareness for that fight and set such a good example, especially in this area with Jimmy (Valvano) as a male and for Kay to do that, I don't think any area of the country has brought an awareness to the fight against cancer like this one. God bless her - she was a terrific lady. A fighter 'til the end."

Normally, the Carolina Hurricanes would be elated to hear Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski mention them during his postgame press conference. A free plug from coach K can't hurt, right?

But when Krzyzewski was comparing his team's inability to score early against N.C. State on Tuesday — in what turned out to be a 73-56 Duke win — to the Hurricanes' perpetual scoring woes, it does test that theory about any publicity being good publicity.