The record lies.

The Kansas team that won 35 games this year made only several brief appearances on the Reunion Arena floor Saturday.

In tis place much of the afternoon was a hodge-podge lineup that might have had trouble beating anyone in the Big Eight, let alone a team that has won more college games (37) in one season than anyone since the game was invented.

But darned if that group of imposters didn't almost pull it off.

They played the last two decisive minutes as they had much of the game, without Danny Manning and Greg Dreiling. Both had fouled out after nightmarish games.

They played the last 8:13 without Archie Marshall, whose outstanding game abruptly ended when the sustained ligament damage to his right knee while scoring a layup, the last of his 13 points.

With the game on the line, they played with a reserve center (Chris Piper), two guys under six-foot (Cedric Hunter and Mark Turgeon) and seniors Calvin Thompson and Ron Kellogg. And, holy Jayhawks! They were winning!

KU led 65-61 with four minutes left and still was ahead 67-65 inside two minutes after Thompson coaxed in a heavily-guarded jump shot.

But then Duke -- no imposters here -- took over, as No. 1 teams are supposed to do.

All-American Johnny Dawkins swished a follow shot (would he have gotten the rebound if Manning and Dreiling were still in the game?) to tie it at 67 with 1:49 to play.

After Thompson missed from outside, Duke called time. The Blue Devils got the ball to Mark Alarie for a short jumper, which missed. But freshman Danny Ferry, who would figure in another big play moments later, picked the ball of the floor and stuck it back in.

"He was in the right spot at the right time, said Hunter, who had tipped the rebound. "I couldn't quite get it.It fell on the floor and before I could get to it,he picked it up."

Now it was 69-67 Duke, but 23 seconds remained. Kellogg 11-of-13 from the field at that point, drove down te baseline and put up a shot over Ferry. It missed; Kellogg didn't. He ran into Ferry.

"He just stepped right in front of me,"Kellogg explained. "It could have gone either way. I figured maybe they'd call it on our side."

Referee Paul Galvan called it a charge after te shot, and with 11 seconds left, the two teams walked to the other end of the floor for Ferry's one-and-one.

Ferry also missed, giving the Jayhawks one last chance. Kellogg to it, launched a 22-footer that bounced away. Duke's Tommy Amaker chased down the rebound, was fouled by Hunter and with one second left, hit two meaningless -- except for those interested in the spread -- free throws.

"It was just a bad shot," acknowledged Kellogg, the Jayhawks' scoring leader with 22. "I should have drove a little more. I made some bad decisions there at the end."

That Kansas was in position to still win at the end is a tribute to some good decisions by coach Larry Brown, who, of course, really had no choice.

Manning picked up two fouls in the first seven minutes of the game. Dreiling's second foul came with 10:48 left in the half.Hunter the only player KU has who can guard Dawkins man-to-man, got his third foul one minute later.

So Brown sat Manning and Hunter down, gambled on Dreiling and let Mark Turgeon, who had played only 38 seconds in KU's last game, run the beat-the-clock offense.

"I was just hoping to buy time," explained Brown. "I thought I made a helluva move."

It looked pretty good at halftime. Duke, getting an all-world (15 points) performance from Dawkins, was ahead by only three, 36-33.

"We were leased with the way we ended up the first half," Turgeon said. "We were in serious foul trouble, so we had to go to the zone the rest of the half."

Brown's decision to keep Manning on the bench so long with two fouls was questioned, but it's a move Brown has made numerous times during the season. Usually, Manning comes back strong in the second half.

Not Saturday. Alarie made sure of that, quickly drawing Manning's third and fourth fouls.

But what Alarie did to Manning on the other end of the floor was every bit as impressive. He stopped him, flat stopped him.

Manning, averaging 20 points in the tournament, scored four Saturday, a career low. He shot nine times, making only two.

"I thought Mark Alarie's defense on Manning was magnificent," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He really punished him inside."

Manning rarely touched the ball inside. Neither did Dreiling, who finished his career with a 1-of-7 shooting performance.

Hunter, whose job is to get the ball inside, said Duke defense was the reason he wasn't able to do his job well enough.