He’d like to give Duke his best shot

A man can dream, right?

Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards got to thinking the other day about what he could do against Duke. If that sounds a bit odd, he hasn’t forgotten that Duke’s Coach Mike Krzyzewski cut him from Team USA last summer.

Then, Phoenix Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni, who was one of Coach K’s assistants with the national team, joked about what Arenas would do against Duke.

Instead of talking about it, Arenas did what some athletes do these days. He blogged.

“I thought it was funny because if I have the chance to go back to college, I’ll give up one NBA season to play against Duke,” Arenas wrote in his NBA.com blog. “One college game ... that’s five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game ... at Duke, they got soft rims ... I’d probably score 84 or 85. I wouldn’t pass the ball.

“I wouldn’t even think about passing it. It would be like an NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person.”

What’s next? Kobe Bryant saying he’d probably score 100 against North Carolina?

Add Arenas

Give him this: He doesn’t always hold a grudge. Arenas was not slighted when he was knocked off -- by Peyton Manning -- what had been a planned cover of ESPN magazine.

“You know, I understand. No hard feelings, I like Peyton,” Arenas wrote. “I understand, those are one of the rare moments understand. I can expect that. As long as I’m in the magazine somewhere.”

Trivia time

Where did Arenas’ father, Gilbert Sr., play college football?

P-Jax unplugged

Phil Jackson was a virtual quote machine Wednesday at the Basketball 101 seminar at Staples Center. So, let no good quote go unreported:

* On timeouts in the NBA: “They are between 75 seconds and three minutes, depending on whether the game is on ESPN, TNT or ABC.”

* On the three players who must be double-teamed from the start of a game: “Arenas, [Steve] Nash and [Dwyane] Wade.”

Dollars and scents

If there were any danger of a shortage of David Beckham items ... well, not to worry when the worlds of fashion and fragrance collide with sport.

Now comes word that the Galaxy-bound Beckham and his wife Victoria will be launching his and hers scents in the United States.

The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, quoted a “Hollywood insider” as saying: “There’s an enormous public appetite over here for David and Victoria. Their fragrances are bound to make millions.”

It has been said that the phrase “Hollywood insider” is the most flexible of terms. Could very well be the kid passing out wheat grass from behind the counter at Jamba Juice.

Trivia answer

The University of Miami. He was a walk-on in 1980.

And finally

HBO’s “Inside the NFL” co-host Cris Collinsworth, on the lead-up to the Super Bowl:

“Dan Marino has been good-looking his whole life. That week before the Super Bowl, I was good-looking. I’m not kidding you, everywhere I went, I was a star. That was one of the greatest weeks I ever had in my entire life.”

*

lisa.dillman@latimes.com