ATLANTA - He said he never looked at it as a "benchmark game,'' not for his program, not for his players, certainly not for him.

Maybe John Brady was just being humble in victory. It's a good approach when you have another huge game to play in less than 48 hours.

But Brady had every right to shake his fist - or perhaps rip off his shirt and strike a wrestling pose in the locker room - after LSU's 62-54 win over Duke here Thursday night.

This was the Sweet 16, and it was both sweet for LSU and sweet for Brady. If he wanted to look at it that way. But, of course, he doesn't.

Even though he won't admit it, maybe he does.

"LSU has the talent to beat Duke, but likely not the coach"

That was the headline Thursday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was above a column that set up the NCAA tournament regional semifinal game by suggesting that even though he had the better players, Brady would measure up short against Duke's bench wizard, Mike Krzyzewski.

Coach K may not have a typical Duke team - i.e., one stocked with overwhelming talent and experience up and down the roster - but he's still Coach K and this is still Duke.

Coach K has won three NCAA titles. He's been to 10 Final Fours. He's won 68 NCAA tournament games among his 753 overall wins.

Brady has been to zero Final Fours. He's been to one previous Sweet 16 and got upset by Wisconsin in 2000.

"I did look at ESPN,'' said Brady, "and they flashed Mike Krzyzewski's tournament resume against mine.

"It did dwarf mine a little bit, but certainly didn't intimidate me any.''

Neither, apparently, does Coach K's American Express commercial. Brady probably has to flash his driver's license when he uses a credit card.

To the media at least, Brady has always seemed on the defensive side in his nine years at LSU. He replaced the larger-than-life Dale Brown. He grew up in rural Mississippi and his only previous college head coaching post was at little Samford University.

You could almost see him tug at his necktie and complain that he gets no respect.

Which wouldn't be totally off base.

Brady wasn't even a consensus SEC coach of the year this season despite winning the league regular-season title by two games. He had to share the kudos with Tennessee's orange whirlwind, Bruce Pearl.

But all the other SEC teams save Florida have gone home. Brady is still standing with a Final Four berth on the line Saturday.

And he put a notch on his belt, a notch in the shape of a "K".

Brady has won a few marquee X-and-O match-ups.He's beaten Lute Olson and Rick Barnes. He's beaten Eddie Sutton. Still, it wasn't on a stage like this.

And nobody since John Wooden or Dean Smith or Bob Knight in his heyday carries the coaching clout Krzyzewski does.

Maybe Coach K should have coached his guys to box out at the free-throw stripe.

With 21 seconds to play and LSU leading 59-54, free-throw shooter Glen Davis was the only guy in purple at that end of the court. When he missed the second half of a one-and-one, Davis sprung into the lane unimpeded, grabbed the rebound amid four Duke players and got fouled again.

This wasn't 40 minutes of artistic basketball, but Brady showed up with a solid game plan and made some effective adjustments.

The Tigers' sticky defense thwarted Duke All-American J.J. Redick into a paltry 11 points on 3-of-18 shooting. When Duke's only other real weapon, center Shelden Williams was having a big night, Brady made a good call down the stretch.

Whenever Williams touched the ball, LSU jumped into an aggressive double-team on him. Williams scored his last bucket with 9:39 to play.

"He (Brady) coached the same way he always coaches,'' said LSU freshman Tasmin Mitchell. "He wasn't in over his head.

"Coach K just has the credentials, but Coach Brady coached his heart out.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.