COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : MEN’S EAST REGIONAL : Kentucky Seniors Don’t Want Repeat of First Game

Richie Farmer, his Manchester, Ky., accent as thick as a bowl of grits, tried hard to describe his first game at Kentucky. For history’s sake, the opponent was the 1988 Duke Blue Devils. . . . The final score was 80-55, in favor of Duke. . . . The memory was lasting.

“We really got the fire beat out of us,” said Farmer, a freshman at the time. “It was kind of a bad way to get broken into college basketball.”

Since then, Farmer has seen Duke advance to the Final Four in each of the last four seasons while Kentucky, mired in scandal, controversy and NCAA probation, could only watch from afar. Now, four long and strange seasons later, Farmer and the Wildcats get another chance at Duke, this time in tonight’s East Regional final at the Spectrum.

For the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils, it is a chance to add a fifth consecutive Final Four visit.

Only John Wooden’s UCLA teams have more consecutive appearances, nine, stretched to 10 by Gene Bartow’s 1975-76 Bruins.

For No. 2-seeded Kentucky, which is making its first recognized postseason appearance since 1987--because of NCAA sanctions, the Wildcats’ three games in the 1988 tournament were stricken from the books--it is an opportunity to re-establish itself as a pre-eminent program. Not since 1984 have the Wildcats, who dominated college basketball for years, been to the Final Four.

The symmetry of the situation hasn’t been lost on Farmer, or on teammate John Pelphrey, who also made his debut in that 1988 Tip-Off Classic against the Blue Devils. They would prefer that their Kentucky legacy didn’t begin and end with losses to Duke.

If Kentucky’s emergence is to continue and Duke’s streak is to end, the Wildcats (29-6) will need to do exactly what they have done during their 1992 tournament victories over Old Dominion, Iowa State and Massachusetts: Get the ball to power forward Jamal Mashburn, whom Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski called “one of the top 10 players in the United States;” press until the other team drops, and make three-point shots. And even then, at least against Duke, there is no guarantee that will be enough.

“I’m not sure we have advantages over Duke,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said.

Mashburn, a sophomore, has established himself as one of the nation’s premier inside players. Against Massachusetts in the East Regional semifinal, he was nearly unstoppable, scoring 30 points and converting 11 of 15 shots. For the season, he is averaging 21.1 points and making 56.3% of his shots.

As for Pitino’s signature pressure defense, the Blue Devils (31-2) can expect three versions. Against Iowa’s press earlier in the tournament, Duke looked both good and bad against the constant pressure.

“We can run up and down,” Pitino said of the possibility of an up-tempo game, “but our press has to be a factor.”

If it isn’t, Duke, an excellent open-court and fast-break team, probably will win with ease. The only other thing to prevent a Duke victory, should Mashburn be neutralized and the press minimized, is Kentucky’s fondness for the three-point shot. The Wildcats have attempted 866 three-point shots and made an impressive 35%. Get on a hot long-distance shooting streak against Duke and who knows what could happen?

“In one game, the better team doesn’t always win,” Pitino said.

Duke knows about such things. At last year’s Final Four, the Blue Devils defeated mighty Nevada Las Vegas. And in NCAA championship games past, Villanova beat Georgetown, North Carolina State beat Houston and Kansas beat Oklahoma. It is this theme of upsets that Pitino keeps repeating to himself and his team.

But the Blue Devils are well aware of what’s at stake. They enter tonight’s game with even less emotional baggage than a game earlier, when they beat Seton Hall Thursday night. Distracted by the assignment of covering his younger brother, Bobby Hurley had a mediocre performance, at best. He had seven assists, but six turnovers. He also made two of seven shots and missed both of his free throws.

“I’m really looking forward to playing against a team where I don’t have any friends,” he said.

And while Duke’s Christian Laettner will have to contend with Mashburn, so, too, will Mashburn have to deal with the multitalented Blue Devil center.

Also, Laettner won’t have 7-foot-2, 290-pound Luther Wright of Seton Hall leaning on him, as he had Thursday night. Instead, there will be Kentucky’s 6-8, 220-pound Gimel Martinez in the middle.

Wildcat players such as Farmer didn’t seem too concerned about such matchups. After surviving four stormy seasons, he said he was simply happy for a second chance. At Duke. At anybody.

“I really don’t think anybody expected us to get this far,” Farmer said.

Including himself.