COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Duke Has a Devil of a Victory : Midwest Regional: After St. John’s is vanquished, 78-61, a Final Four rematch with Nevada Las Vegas is next.

Reduced to a Nevada Las Vegas lounge act a year ago, Duke will attempt to upstage UNLV in next Saturday’s rematch of college basketball’s 1990 national championship game, where, Coach Mike Krzyzewski says, “Hopefully, we’ll come closer than 30 points.”

Either a pillar of consistency or a glutton for punishment, Duke is among the NCAA tournament’s Final Four for the fourth consecutive year--and fifth of the last six--by virtue of Sunday’s 78-61 beating of St. John’s. The Blue Devils took their four Midwest Regional games by 29, 15, 14 and 17 points.

But Duke has never won the national championship and seems unlikely to do so next weekend at Indianapolis against the same Las Vegas rat pack that made a stand-up comedy routine of last year’s championship game at Denver, 103-73.

Any hope?

Some:

--”Duke is better than last year, both offensively and defensively,” St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said. “But UNLV, that’s another story.”

--”This year, we’ve got a week to get ready,” said Duke guard Bobby Hurley, elected outstanding player of the regional after Sunday’s 20 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

--”It’s a different Bobby Hurley this year,” Duke center Christian Laettner said. “I’m sure he’s going to have a big game.”

The hardly burly Hurley is a shrimpy 6-footer who was ill during last year’s UNLV game and scored two points. The sophomore was a terror Sunday, though, leading his team in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played and helping rattle St. John’s into a seriously ugly 26 turnovers.

Carnesecca’s worst fear, that he would have to into his inferior bench, was realized when 6-11 center Robert Werdann pulled a calf muscle--restricting him to 12 minutes--and playmaking guard Jason Buchanan got into immediate foul trouble. Werdann, who had 21 points Friday against Ohio State, scored four against Duke.

Not a lot went right for St. John’s (23-9). Leading scorer Malik Sealy was hounded by Duke guard Thomas Hill, whose strategy was: “Don’t let him get those easy baseline buckets.” Sealy didn’t. He scored 19 points but shot quite poorly.

The Blue Devil defense was demonic.

“They always seemed to have more than one man guarding you,” said exasperated St. John’s forward Billy Singleton, who single-handedly committed eight turnovers. “They gang-defense you.”

Yet, they don’t foul.

Duke shot 28 free throws, St. John’s six.

“But I can’t even blame the referees for this,” Carnesecca said. “The officials were a hell of a lot better than we were.”

An unexpectedly large Silverdome crowd of 25,634 for two East Coast opponents saw a game that was over almost as quickly as it began. If Duke was not in control at halftime, 40-27, it was after opening the second half with a 10-2 run.

Eight minutes into the game, the 6-11, 250-pound Werdann limped to the sidelines and gave the Redmen’s trainer a red-in-the-face look.

“I just popped it,” he said.

The same calf muscle that went zing on Werdann at the Big East Conference tournament betrayed him this time. And there was double trouble for St. John’s when Hurley got Buchanan, a flawless ballhandler, to charge him for his third foul 17 seconds later.

The two starters sat, leaving Carnesecca relying on a bench that had donated five points to Friday’s game.

“St. John’s with Buchanan and Werdann is certainly a more formidable opponent,” Krzyzewski said.

With his teammates absent, Sealy forced shots. He made eight of 19, and his only three-pointer of the night, just beating the halftime horn, did nothing more than cut Duke’s lead from 16 points to 13.

Hill put the clamp on him.

“He bumped me every way I went,” Sealy said.

But Hurley was the man of the hour, even though Laettner free-throwed his way to 19 points and Grant Hill (12) was his usual steady self. Hurley did the kind of shooting--four three-point baskets--that Duke will desperately need to stand any chance against UNLV.

Hurley is encouraged by the preparation time he will have. Last time, Duke had little time to rehearse for a Monday date with Vegas after a 97-83 victory over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

“I was so sick last year, I was almost useless,” Hurley said.

Krzyzewski considers Hurley to be twice the player he was when he was healthy last year, and when a questioner suggested Sunday that he had had his share of ups and downs this year, the coach took exception, saying he couldn’t remember Hurley “having any downs.”

Carnesecca, too, was emphatic when asked what he thought of Hurley.

“A killer,” he said.

And Duke itself?

“Hey, it’s not by accident that Duke is in the Final Four again,” Carnesecca said. “It’s not by chance. It’s by skill, it’s by hard work and it’s by excellent leadership. Five out of six years. Wow.”

Midwest Notes

The Blue Devils (30-7) broke the 30-victory barrier for the second time. They were 37-3 in 1985-86. . . . Duke seniors Greg Koubek and Clay Buckley are four for four for Final Fours. . . . About Bobby Hurley’s seven rebounds: “That’s more than he had in January,” Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. . . . Although Christian Laettner speaks four languages, Krzyzewski refused to let Laettner answer a question about UNLV’s Larry Johnson, saying: “He doesn’t watch films of Larry Johnson. Give the guy a break. I’m not trying to be a jerk about it. We’ll answer questions about Larry Johnson in Indianapolis.” Yo, coach: Laettner has heard of Johnson, you know, having played him in a national championship game. . . . Sites for 1992 regional finals: The Spectrum, Philadelphia (East); Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. (Southeast); Kemper Arena, Kansas City (Midwest); University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (West). Final Four: The Metrodome, Minneapolis.