COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Winning Is Fantastic, but in This Case . . .

Is there a mute button in the house?

Without one, we had to endure the Oklahoma burial service performed by ESPN’s hyperactive Dick Vitale during the Sooners’ game against No. 1-ranked Duke earlier this week. At one point, Vitale informed America that Sooner Coach Billy Tubbs ought to warm up the team bus and depart the Cameron Indoor Stadium premises at his earliest convenience.

So, of course, Oklahoma recovered from a 20-point second-half deficit, forced the game into overtime and lost by only two baskets. Afterward, Duke point guard Bobby Hurley, who scored 23 points but missed his share of free throws and committed more than his share of turnovers, acted as though the Sooners, not the Blue Devils, had won the game.

Not to worry, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Contrary to Hurley’s comments, the Blue Devils aren’t considering a move to Division II.

“Bobby does that,” Krzyzewski said. “Bobby is very critical of himself all the time. That’s what makes him Bobby. The thing is, I don’t think he takes that on to the next game.”

Maybe not, but Krzyzewski said Hurley should not be so hard on himself or the rest of Blue Devils.

“Some of that should be kept inside more, especially when you’re a leader,” he said.

Hurley can’t help himself. He saw a vulnerable Duke team Monday night against Oklahoma. He saw a team that didn’t put Oklahoma away when it had the chance, that made mistake after mistake on its home court, that depended too much on Grant Hill.

And now the good news: Duke still won. Krzyzewski, bombarded with “what-went-wrong” questions, simply wanted everyone to remember that little fact.

“I’m pleased with our team,” he said. “A major part of (the struggle) had to do with the fact that Oklahoma did not quit.”

As for the missed free throws, the turnovers, the botched lead, Krzyzewski said he could tolerate the mistakes . . . this time.

Duke--Part II

Krzyzewski, better than anyone, understands the differences between this year’s Duke team and the one that earned a second national championship last spring.

No Christian Laettner. No Brian Davis. Fewer options if Hurley, the heart and soul of the Blue Devils, goes down because of an injury, as he did last year. No dependable three-point shooter, except Hurley. There are soft spots, to be sure.

But have you also noticed that Cherokee Parks, Duke’s first true low post player in years, seems to be enjoying himself a lot more now that the ultra-demanding (and sometimes demeaning) Laettner is in the NBA? And isn’t it about time everyone quit referring to Thomas Hill as underrated. Any more publicity and he’d have his own network TV show.

The simple truth is this: If Hurley and Grant Hill can avoid injuries and if Krzyzewski can avoid giving them too many minutes, the Blue Devils are an easy choice to advance to the Final Four.

“Duke kind of takes on another dimension,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said. “Sometimes you felt they were beatable. Now you wonder if they’re beatable or not. You don’t want to go in there with that feeling.

“I think the mystique is there,” he said. “It’s pretty evident in their early play. It’s going to be there until somebody changes it.”

Don’t shed a tear for fourth-ranked Kansas just yet, but the Jayhawks are having a tough time recovering from forward Ben Davis’ decision to transfer to Florida. Also troublesome is the absence of center Greg Ostertag, who has been sidelined because of a stress fracture near the ankle. Swingman Patrick Richey has also been hurt but is expected to return this week. The result? Kansas is probably the only top 10 team to have fewer rebounds than its opponents. . . . When Kansas State beat Santa Barbara at the Gauchos’ home gym, Colorado Coach Joe Harrington said people in the Midwest had no idea how difficult a victory that was. Harrington, a Big West veteran from his days at Long Beach, said defeating the Gauchos at home is like defeating Duke at Cameron. Uh, Joe--not quite. . . . For the first time in more than a year, Virginia is back in the top 25 rankings.

After season-ending injuries cost his team a starting guard and center, Florida State Coach Pat Kennedy said the Seminoles are “kind of this year’s M*A*S*H unit.” The return of Charlie Ward will help. Ward, a quarterback on the second-ranked football team, should be the starting point guard by Florida State’s Jan. 13 game against Maryland, if not sooner. “It looks like he’s been playing with us for two months,” Kennedy said. Kennedy can smile now, especially since Ward no longer is the target of tacklers. “I was a little more concerned in the Nebraska (Orange Bowl) game than I was in the others,” Kennedy said. Even with Ward in the lineup, Kennedy said Florida State will be hard-pressed to win 20 games this season. “One-night wars, that’s what it’s going to be,” he said. “We’re going to find out what kind of warriors we are.”

Missouri’s Norm Stewart, owner of 600 victories, was asked to what he owes his coaching longevity. “Breathing,” he said. Only North Carolina’s Dean Smith, Texas El Paso’s Don Haskins and James Madison’s Lefty Driesell have more victories among active coaches. . . . Preseason predictions that the Big Ten would be the best in the country have held up. At last look, four of the first nine teams in both polls were from that conference--Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Purdue. The ACC had three--Duke, North Carolina and Georgia Tech. The Pacific 10? Zilch. . . . Kentucky Basketball Mania, Part I: Richie Farmer, one of the few Wildcat scholarship players to stay when NCAA sanctions arrived several years ago, has sold more than 30,000 copies of an autobiography. There is even an edition in which Farmer’s words are in blue print, as if it were the Bible. Kentucky Basketball Mania, Part II: Marta McMackin, secretary of Wildcat Coach Rick Pitino, underwent hypnotic therapy to help her through the recent Louisville game. . . . Hmmmm. In this week’s Associated Press poll, Duke received every first-place vote, except one, which went to Kentucky. Please tell us Corky Simpson doesn’t have a ballot. Simpson, of the Tucson Citizen, is the lone voter to pick Alabama at football season’s beginning and then looked like a genius when the Crimson Tide actually won the national championship. . . . Someone needs to tell the voting coaches of the USA Today/CNN poll that 25th-ranked California lost to Cornell. By double digits.

Memphis State, considered a goner when forward David Vaughn was sidelined because of a season-ending knee injury, is showing signs of life, thanks to the sensational Anfernee Hardaway. But Hardaway can only do so much, a fact of life all too familiar to another Dream Team scrimmage teammate, Tennessee’s Allan Houston. Houston is the focal point of every gimmick defense ever invented and unless Wade Houston--both dad and Volunteer coach--can figure out a way to diversify the Tennessee offense, the team is cooked. The same goes for Memphis State Coach Larry Finch and his Tigers. . . . Seton Hall guard Terry Dehere took a lot of criticism, much of it deserved, for last week’s cheap shot of James Madison guard Kent Culuko. But now comes news that Culuko was instructed by Coach Lefty Driesell to play Dehere, Seton Hall’s best scorer, as physically as possible. Dehere, not known as a temperamental player, retaliated. . . . If it were up to Pitino, Indiana would play Kentucky next season at Rupp Arena and then at the Hoosier Dome every year after that. . . . Seton Hall Coach P.J. Carlesimo, who rarely masks his feelings about any topic, said his team is the biggest top 10 fraud in the nation. “We’re a joke,” he said. The Pirates are 12-1, so lighten up, P.J. . . . Carlesimo isn’t the only coach worried about early-season performances. Said Georgia Tech’s Cremins about the Yellow Jackets’ top 10 ranking: “Personally, I would have to say we don’t deserve the No. 10 ranking. I really think there are 20 teams that can be ranked in the top 10. Right now, there’s no way we’re a top 10 team.”

Unlike last season, when Duke groupies swooned at the sight of Christian Laettner, the No. 1 Blue Devils have found life on the road more peaceful this year. “We’ve been up in New Jersey,” Krzyzewski said. “There was an unbelievable snowstorm. There were a couple of bellhops asking for autographs.” . . . Cincinnati, whose appeal to the NCAA Council to reinstate ineligible center Corie Blount was essentially ignored, has one last hope. A proposal to create a special committee to rule on cases such as Blount’s could be passed at the upcoming NCAA convention in Dallas. The proposal has the reported backing of NCAA executive director Dick Schultz and the Presidents Commission. If approved, the committee would examine a decision that fails to recognize a medical redshirt year given to the 6-10 Blount when he played in junior college. The Bearcats, who are in desperate need of size and experience on the front line, remain optimistic that Blount’s status will be changed. If not, Cincinnati can forget about another return trip to the Final Four. . . . The most meaningless 9-1 record goes to Clemson, which won its first nine games courtesy of Furman, Davidson, Liberty, and Mercer, among others. Wednesday night they were welcomed back to world of Division I basketball by Duke. . . . Oklahoma State, after losing four of its five starters, is a surprising 8-1 and beat some decent teams to get there. . . . Wake Forest (7-1) is off to an encouraging start, but don’t mention it to Coach Dave Odom. “We don’t seem to be playing with that air of confidence that you have to have when entering ACC games,” he said. This should help: guard Randolph Childress is playing as if last year’s knee injury, which forced him to miss the season, never happened. If anything, Odom said the year off gave Childress a chance to add strength and gain an appreciation of what it took to become an accomplished defensive player. “His recovery has been short of amazing to me,” Odom said.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Duke 10-0 2. Kentucky 10-0 3. Michigan 10-1 4. Kansas 10-1 5. North Carolina 10-1 6. Oklahoma 10-2 7. Indiana 12-2 8. Iowa 11-1 9. Seton Hall 12-1 10. Arkansas 10-1

Waiting list: Purdue (9-0), UNLV (6-0), Vanderbilt (11-1), Georgia Tech (8-1), Utah (9-2).