Jon Scheyer didn't admit it at the time, but now he acknowledges that he hit the so-called "freshman wall" late last season.

"At the time, I never felt like it at any point in the season, but looking back, I think there were certain points where I felt really worn down and I needed to rejuvenate myself," Scheyer said.

The toll of a long college season, not to mention playing 33.7 minutes per game, caught up to Scheyer, who shot 12-for-34 (35 percent) in Duke's final two regular-season games and ACC and NCAA tournament games — all losses.

But with No. 6 Duke (25-3, 12-2 ACC) in a similar position, with two regular-season games remaining, Scheyer isn't worried about any players wearing down, including Duke's three freshmen.

"I think the way we set our season up from the beginning of the year, from the summer all the way to now, I think, has been so we're real energized at this point in the season," Scheyer said.

"Throughout the year, we haven't had real long practices, we're not worn down like that at all, so I don't think that'll be an issue this year."

And the Devils have great depth. Senior DeMarcus Nelson leads the team in minutes played, averaging 31 a game. Everyone else in Duke's rotation plays less than 30 minutes, including do-it-all freshman Kyle Singler.

While his inaugural season in the ACC has been extremely physical, causing him to incur a whopping 30 stitches — most of them to his face — Singler is confident that the 28.7 minutes per game he's averaged won't negatively affect him in the upcoming weeks.

"I feel good right now," Singler said. "The coaches … have done a good job of keeping us fresh. Same with our conditioning coach (Williams Stephens).

"I feel strong physically and mentally. Those two aspects are very important going into the postseason of our season."

Also promising for Duke is that of the players who contributed big minutes last season, no one has taken on more minutes this year. Nelson's minutes have dipped from 31.9 to 31.0, Scheyer's from 33.7 to 28.1 and junior Greg Paulus' from 32.4 to 27.0. This is the result of being on a team that — when healthy — plays 10 guys at least 9 minutes a game.

But the Blue Devils try to run as much as possible when on the court, so being in great shape is essential to being effective in the Devils' system. That's why Duke's players have put in a number of hours doing conditioning drills, making sure a 40-minute track meet won't have them screaming "uncle."

The Devils will run sprints and perform defensive slides as a team and then break off to jog on the treadmill. Running, running, running — it's been the key conditioning word.

"We just do everything, whether it's extra sprints on the court, treadmill, defensive slides — you know, making sure your legs are ready to stay in the (defensive) stance," Lance Thomas said, "because a lot of us stay in the stance the whole game."

The Devils, however, have strived to find a balance as well. As important as conditioning drills have been, they've been careful not to overwork themselves with the season's most exhausting — and important — stretch coming up.

Practices that lasted 3 hours earlier in the season have been cut to an hour and a half, and focus simply on completing one task before quickly proceeding to the next.

"Practices have been faster, going from drill to drill, just so we keep our endurance and our shape," freshman Nolan Smith said.

"We're definitely very fresh going down the stretch."

Smith, for one, jumps on the treadmill after each home game for 10 or 15 minutes to run until he feels dead tired, but there are no required tiring drills at this point in the season. Everything is done with efficiency in mind.

"We're fine, we're not rundown at all," Thomas said. "We're just in really good condition — everybody.

"A guy like Brian (Zoubek) could probably outrun some of the wing athletes in this league. He's in really good shape, so we're just going to continue doing what we're doing."

While the 7-foot-1 Zoubek might not be as nimble as Thomas describes him, N.C. State won't argue that the Devils don't have fresh legs here in March. In Duke's 87-86 come-from-behind victory Saturday, the Devils made five 3-pointers in the final 7:15, and Nelson — a sub-60 percent free-throw shooter — swished his final four attempts from the line.

The Wolfpack, on the other hand, missed three of its final six free throw attempts.

The Devils say conditioning has been a big emphasis all season, and now they're confident that no freshman walls will be hit and no fatigue issues will bother them when the games matter most.

"It'll definitely benefit us," Smith said. "We're in great shape still and hopefully teams are getting worn down and not working as hard to stay in shape — thinking just games is enough.

"Coach has really emphasized to us that staying in shape is the key to running teams and continuing to play our (brand of) basketball."

Singler added: "For us, we've done a great job of still being in great shape but at the same time getting our rest, because that's important — you don't want to get run down."