Here is Texas, the team Duke trounced 97-66 in a matchup of Nos. 1 and 2 in December. And here is LSU, the young, defense-oriented team that knocked Duke out the tournament Thursday by holding the Blue Devils to a season-low 54 points.

Texas and LSU, who represent the high point and low point of Duke's season, will compete for a trip to the Final Four and a chance at the national championship the Blue Devils were favored to win.

Duke's players will watch from Durham. None of them will look on with more emotion than the two All-Americas, J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams. They were a rare senior pair who, for all their shot-making and shot-blocking prowess, could not get where so many brackets had them going.

Ultimately two -- even a great two -- was not enough for Duke. The Blue Devils produced a 32-4 season, finished No. 1 in The Associated Press poll and won the ACC regular-season and tournament championships.

But those were accomplishments built on a narrow foundation -- Williams' steady run of double-doubles and Redick spinning the points meter on his way to becoming the ACC's all-time leading scorer with 2,769 career points.

The rest of Duke consisted of two senior role players, Sean Dockery and Lee Melchionni, and two future stars who had uneven freshman seasons, point guard Greg Paulus and forward Josh McRoberts.

Sophomore DeMarcus Nelson, one of the team's best athletes, missed 12 games due to injury and never quite fit back into the Blue Devils' offense. In three NCAA Tournament games, he scored eight points.

Why did the team that started and finished the regular season ranked No. 1 fail to be among the NCAA Tournament's last eight?

There were several reasons, beginning with an overwhelming defensive effort by LSU. But the ultimate reason was suggested by coach Mike Krzyzewski's answer Wednesday when he was asked to describe the personality of his team.

"I think it's a personality that's still developing," he said, "because we have a lot of young guys who are emerging and have emerged quite a bit in the last month of the season."

When a team has played 35 games and is heading into the tournament's third round, it's too late to have a personality that is still developing.

Redick and Williams led in the statistics, but they weren't always the team's emotional leaders.

Redick was a national sensation unto himself. Williams is a quiet, even shy young man who prefers to be overshadowed by his game.

When it became clear LSU could win Thursday, there was no one to pick up the team. McRoberts had a pair of late dunks that put fire in the Blue Devils, but his pair of late turnovers put it out.

Redick, clearly frustrated by LSU's Garrett Temple and frequent double-teams, seemed to lose confidence in the shooting touch that had carried Duke all season.

"I was expecting him to shoot a little more," Temple said Friday. "It was great for us he didn't take as many shots as I thought he would. I didn't realize he took 18 shots until I saw the score sheet. He passed up a couple of shots that I thought he would take."

When Redick passed, others didn't convert. He had one assist.

"We had some great opportunities, some wide-open looks," Nelson said. "We just didn't capitalize on them."

Other longer-term factors also contributed to the disappointing finish.

Officiating styles were a factor in three of Duke's losses this season.

A team of ACC officials was suspended for mishandling a technical foul call that helped Duke beat Florida State in overtime on Feb. 4. After that incident, and complaints by fans and Boston College coach Al Skinner, officials hit Duke with 30 fouls compared to 18 for FSU in the rematch on March 1. The Seminoles, shooting 40 free throws to Duke's 17, won 79-74 and handed Duke only its second loss of the season.

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