COLUMBIA, S.C. _ It was easy to question, at the half, exactly why Duke was the favorite to win the national championship. The Blue Devils couldn't shoot straight, couldn't rebound, Cam Reddish couldn't make a shot and Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett were both being outscored by a sub-6-foot guard named Vinnie Shahid.
Four minutes later, the full force of the Duke machine had been thoroughly unleashed, Williamson in particular on a short run of possessions that included a steal that ended in a layup but not before he nearly fell to the floor while dribbling behind his back and a furious dunk from high above the rim ... of his own missed free throw.
So after 20 minutes in which Duke looked anything like the team that roared through the ACC tournament in Charlotte, the Blue Devils once again looked like the all-conquering juggernaut they were expected to be from the start.
That's fine against North Dakota State, which suffered through an off night from the outside at the worst possible time in an 85-62 Duke win, but the Blue Devils are going to have to be better off the hop against Central Florida or VCU, or really anyone else in the next five games if that's indeed how far they get.
With Virginia fending off Gardner-Webb earlier Friday _ trailing at halftime and facing the specter of another disaster before pulling away _ Duke faced an equally nervy challenge from the Bison, which on Wednesday night denied Durham the Duke-N.C. Central showdown it both dreaded and desired.
The first half was, for Duke, a mess. Things got off to a bad start when Duke believed player introductions would start at the 4:00 mark on the pregame clock when they were actually scheduled for 0:00 on the countdown, four minutes before tipoff. The Blue Devils stood at their bench watching the Bison shoot layups for 2{ minutes while a host of staffers congregated at the scorers' table trying to sort out the miscommunication.
"We were told intros at four minutes," Duke coach Mike Krzyewski told L.J. Wright, the NCAA executive on site, after he shook the hands of the North Dakota State coaches. He did not appear to be particularly thrilled with the situation.
Nor would he be with the next 20 minutes. Williamson had a dominant opening 34 seconds, winning the tip, driving inside for a layup at one end and swatting away a shot at the other. But the game settled into a slow-paced rhythm that was more to North Dakota State's liking and the Blue Devils never found any kind of fluidity on offense.
Reddish was a mess, missing all five of his first-half shots, including a couple layups. CBS did not dedicate a camera and replay machine to Shahid, but he outscored all of Duke's stars with 15 first-half points, dancing and darting through the Duke defense.
That changed quickly in the second half. Duke outscored North Dakota State 25-6 in the first seven minutes as the shots started falling in the second half, and the dunks started thundering, and the people who came to see the show got what they paid to see: Williamson posting up for a dunk, Barrett with a reverse jam on a break, Williamson trailing behind and jumping simultaneously with him as the two are wont to do.
Even Reddish got going, and the bench was thoroughly cleared with 4{ minutes to go after both Williamson and Barrett hit the 25-point mark.
Duke has had some slow starts lately _ against North Carolina in the ACC tournament most notably _ but the momentum that the Blue Devils can gather when things start going well is simply smothering.
This is only supposed to be the beginning for Duke. The Blue Devils may have been a little late getting started again Friday, but did they ever finish.
