Duke gets the best point(s). (Insider/College Basketball).(basketball)(Brief Article)

The best point guard in Division I plays for Duke. But you knew that, right? You've seen what Jason Williams can do with a basketball. You've seen him score 34 points against Boston College, nail 15 of 18 free throws against NC State, pass for 11 assists against Clemson. You've seen him direct the Blue Devils to an NCAA championship.

He's great, isn't he?

Yeah, but we're talking about Chris Duhon here.

Williams is the best player in the nation, and he plays point guard for the Blue Devils. But nobody plays the point--running an offense, controlling the ball, delivering passes where teammates prefer them, defending against opposing ballhandlers--better than Duhon.

You haven't had much chance to see that. There was some of it in the championship game against Arizona, when foul trouble limited Williams to 29 minutes and Duhon handled the ball in his absence. But most of us were distracted by Mike Dunleavy's breathless 3-point shooting splurge and Shane Battier's late-game flights above the rim.

The best opportunities to see Duhon run a team were last June in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the USA Basketball trials, which was closed to the public, and in August in the Young Men's World Championship in Japan. Those fortunate enough to catch Duhon's act in those venues saw him instantly acclimate himself to the point guard role and assert command of his team.

He averaged 11.9 points and a team-record 6.8 assists and shot 46.2 percent from the field in leading the U.S. to the gold medal in Japan. Duhon was so impressive that USA Basketball chose him as its male athlete of the year--ahead of the dozen NBA pros who won the gold in the Goodwill Games.