A day for Duke-bashers?

SAN ANTONIO — Attention, Duke-haters: Take your Blue Devil-bashing and …

Put it on hold. At least for one game. Contrary to popular belief, Duke is not the Evil Empire, the New York Yankees of college basketball.

Darth Vader and George Steinbrenner are not underdogs.

Duke, however, is.

According to the wise guys who provide such information, Connecticut is favored by a couple of points to defeat the Blue Devils tonight in the second NCAA national semifinal at the Alamodome. Generally, the conventional wisdom says UConn is the team to beat for the championship.

“Maybe people won’t cheer against us as much now,” Duke forward Shavlik Randolph said.

He paused for one second before adding, “I don’t think that will happen.”

Probably not. And isn’t it interesting? Duke, which evokes intense dislike largely because the program is so good, is considered by many to be not good enough to beat UConn. Maybe that’s because the Huskies, led by guard Ben Gordon and center Emeka Okafor, Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside, are better. Maybe UConn, the preseason No. 1 pick, is, in fact, the postseason No.1.

The Huskies (31-6) certainly are playing like it. Even with Okafor slowed by a shoulder injury in the regional championship victory over Alabama last week, UConn has sailed unchallenged through the tournament. Here are the victory margins: 16 over ’Bama, 20 over Vanderbilt, 17 over DePaul and 17 over Vermont.

“What they have is a very powerful basketball team,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Said Blue Devils guard J.J. Redick: “They should be the favorite.”

With no disrespect to Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State, who play in the first game tonight, UConn-Duke has a marquee, glamour-game aura about it. And they have a little history. UConn beat Duke in the 1999 NCAA championship game, the first national title for Huskies coach Jim Calhoun.

UConn also won the two prior NCAA meetings. Before that it was all Duke, which won the first four times the teams played in the tournament. Two of them were in overtime, including Christian Laettner’s shot at the buzzer in the 1990 regional finals.

Duke (31-5), of course, remains Duke. Senior point guard Chris Duhon, who has been slowed by bruised ribs, is the quintessential floor leader and is a tenacious defender. He has won 123 games in his career.

“I love Chris,” said Krzyzewski, whose 64 tournament wins trail Dean Smith by one. “We’ll go as far as Chris will take us. So far he’s taken us to San Antonio, so that’s a nice thing to do.”

When he’s on, no shooter is more accurate than Redick. Freshman forward Luol Deng is perhaps the best all-around player here, and guard Daniel Ewing and forward Shelden Williams are capable of big games.

Still, Gordon and Okafor might be the best college players at their positions. Because of his defense and shot-blocking ability, Okafor, a unanimous Associated Press All-American and Big East Player of the Year, has been compared to Bill Russell, no less. And he can score.

With Okafor slowed a bit by first a stress fracture in his back, and then the shoulder injury, Gordon has raised his game a few levels. He set a Big East tournament scoring record with 36 points against Alabama.

“He’s really been a special, special player, playing as well as anyone in the country,” Calhoun said.

But let’s not forget the opening act. There is show-stealing potential here.

“I think the two teams are very evenly-matched,” said Eddie Sutton, who is in his 34th season as a head coach and 14th at Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys (31-3), seeded second in the East Rutherford region, needed a 3-point shot by guard John Lucas with 6.9 seconds left to beat No.1 seed Saint Joseph’s in the regional final. Lucas, son of the former Maryland All-American and a transfer from Baylor, shared Big 12 Player of the Year honors with teammate Tony Allen, a senior guard.

Joey Graham, a 6-7 forward who transferred from Central Florida, has turned into an effective inside player, and Daniel Bobik can knock down the 3-pointer.

“Over the years, you hear about Coach Sutton’s defense,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said, “but the thing I’ve been impressed with is … how well they execute half-court offensively.”

Georgia Tech (27-9), the No.3 seed in the St. Louis regional, has had the most strenuous NCAA journey, winning by five, three and five points and beating Kansas in overtime.

The Yellow Jackets did that without guard B.J. Elder, who sprained his ankle in the first St. Louis game against Nevada. But Georgia Tech gets contributions from several players, and sophomore point guard Jarrett Jack has been terrific. Jack had 29 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals against Kansas.

Now Elder is back and presumably healthy. Luke Schenscher, a 7-1 center, poses match-up problems. But the key to Tech’s success might be the ACC itself.

“That league has really prepared my players for this run,” Hewitt said. “The ACC is clearly the best league in my opinion.”

Hard to argue with that, especially if it’s Duke-Georgia Tech on Monday night.