Loual Deng, is already a star in the US.

Quote: Freshman Deng turns into Duke's impact player ATLANTA -- Duke had just watched the tape of its 2001 Elite Eight victory over USC, so it was fresh in Chris Duhon's mind when he summoned Luol Deng for a discussion at halftime of Sunday's game against Xavier. Duhon was concerned about the freshman, who he could tell was nervous and playing tentatively, having shot just 1-of-6 as the Blue Devils fell behind 30-28 at the break. Duhon knew the Blue Devils weren't going to beat the Musketeers without a better performance from Deng, just as they needed every one of the then-freshman Duhon's 13 points that day against the Trojans. "That [my performance against USC] was just what I was doing all year, and he [Deng] is way better than me," said Duhon. "I told him to relax, be himself." Needless to say, the pep talk worked. The Blue Devils wound up beating Xavier 66-63, thanks in large part to Deng's second-half performance: 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and two assists. Most notable was a stretch of three plays in which he helped swing the game from 56-53 Xavier to 61-56 Duke, hitting the game-tying 3-pointer, outreaching Xavier's Justin Doellman for an offensive rebound and kicking it to J.J. Redick for the go-ahead trey, than soaring to the basket to follow up a Duhon missed lay-up. That tip-in, which coach Mike Krzyzewski described as "Battier-like" and Duhon called "one of the greatest plays we've had all year," finally broke the resilient Musketeers' backs. "We needed something extraordinary from our guys [after halftime]," said Krzyzewski. "Luol gave us that. Just that one spurt was the difference in the game." "He was a man tonight," exclaimed Redick. Never was that more apparent than at halftime, when a tearful Deng stood up before his teammates and urged them to "play outside of ourselves" in the second half. "In my time as coach, whenever I've seen a kid do that, whether it be Johnny Dawkins, Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley or Christian Laettner, they usually end up doing something really exceptional in that half," said Krzyzewski. "For a freshman to do that had an impact on our team." That he's a freshman is perhaps the only thing keeping Deng from being his team's leader full-time. Clearly, he's the best talent on Duke's roster, perhaps the only player one can be certain will have a place at the next level, but for the most part he takes a backseat in the locker room to the more experienced Duhon or the more brash Redick. If the Blue Devils plan to cut down the nets in San Antonio, however, they'll need Deng to reprise his starring role. He is the closest thing Duke has to a Carmelo Anthony or Juan Dixon, the go-to guy who puts his team on his shoulders and carries them to the title. It's ironic, then, that Duke's road to the trophy starts with Connecticut, for whom his brother Ajou was a redshirt freshman when the Huskies beat the Blue Devils for the 1999 national title. "I was watching the game [in England] and that's really where it all started," Deng said of his journey to America to play high school and now college basketball. "I wanted to be in that situation." Deng may be the one advantage Duke has against his brother's former team. Big man Shelden Williams isn't likely to outplay Connecticut All-American Emeka Okafor. Whether or not top defender Duhon draws star Huskies shooter Ben Gordon, Connecticut can come right back with Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown. But Deng, as opponents have found out all season, presents a different sort of matchup problem. Is he a wing player? A power forward? "He is a very unique player," said Krzyzewski