Sure, there was no harm intended, but Trajan Langdon was still hurt.

He had just sat out three straight easy Duke wins -- the last two games of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and the opening round of the NCAA tourney -- with a foot injury when a reporter suggested maybe the services of the team's only senior regular weren't needed for the school's run at a championship.

"Obviously, they didn't need me for the [ACC tournament], but I want to be out there helping," Langdon said. "In terms of us winning without me? I don't want that to be a possibility."

Maybe the Blue Devils can win the NCAA championship without Langdon, just like the Chicago Bulls might have been able to win NBA titles without Dennis Rodman. But, like Rodman with the Bulls, Langdon will enhance Duke's chances of winning the NCAA title simply by being on the floor.

The Alaskan-born, 6-foot-3 shooting guard demonstrated his worth on Sunday when, with Duke struggling in the opening minutes, he scored 11 straight points -- including three three-pointers. His picture-perfect release opened up the floor for the rest of his teammates, allowing Duke to beat Temple for the East Regional title.

"He's as pure a shooter as I've ever seen in college basketball," said 67-year-old Temple coach John Chaney after Langdon almost single-handedly shot down his chances of making the Final Four. "The kid is just that good."

And his shooting will be, to say the least, necessary if the Blue Devils (36-1) want to cap their dream season with the school's first NCAA title since 1992.

But what Langdon, one of two seniors in the regular rotation, offers the team goes beyond his shooting.

"It's obvious that we need him," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Being a fifth-year senior [Langdon missed the 1995-96 season with a stress fracture in his left knee], there's an age difference, but that's never been a problem and he's done an unbelievable job for me.

"There's no question," Krzyzewski added. "On our team, he's the leader."

And his leadership doesn't come in a dominating way. While he averaged 17.4 points per game this season, Langdon did so by taking little more than 11 shots a game. In fact, after taking four shots in the first-half scoring burst that changed Sunday's game against Temple, he took just three shots the rest of the game.

But his presence continued to be felt.

"He doesn't take many shots to score points," Krzyzewski said. "He is an incredibly efficient shooter with a quick release. He's the best shooter that I've ever had."

And Langdon's finally getting a chance to demonstrate those skills on college basketball's biggest stage, something that he didn't expect to take five years.

That's because when he arrived at Duke in 1994, he expected to go to the Final Four every year for a school that made five straight appearances from 1988 to 1992. But reality set in 12 games into the 1994-95 season when back surgery forced Krzyzewski to leave the team. Duke struggled to a 13-18 record that season.

"I learned from my freshman year to never take winning for granted," Langdon said.

Langdon had been a winner throughout his high school career in Anchorage, where he became one of Alaska's most celebrated athletes. He led East Anchorage High to three state championships, and was named state Player of the Year each time.

His athletic career was carefully crafted by his father, Stephen, and mother, Gladys, who put together rigid athletic, academic and eating routines for their son at an early age. By 1990, early in his high school career, Langdon was described by a paper as being the best basketball player ever in the state.

He lived up to the early fanfare and, by his junior year in high school, he was deluged with requests to make speeches to graduating high school classes.

With his calm demeanor and politeness, he had long been a hit with students.

After being among the five finalists for the Naismith Award as the nation's top prep athlete, Langdon came to Duke as a nonscholarship player -- he had already signed a professional baseball contract with the San Diego Padres.

Immediately at Duke, he proved his worth. He scored 11.3 points a game as a freshman, and has improved his average each year since -- successfully overcoming the injury his sophomore season. He holds the school career record for three-pointers made (336) and attempted (788).

The one void in his career is a national championship, and the Blue Devils are favorites to win it all this season.

From the inside strength of bruising center Elton Brand to Langdon's outside shooting to the roles played by William Avery, Shane Battier and Chris Carrawell, Duke has the most cohesive starting five in an era in which programs lose top players to the NBA each year.

"There's a class about that team," Chaney said. "This team is equipped to play at the highest level of basketball right now. And not just physically.

"There's something up here," Chaney said, tapping his head with his finger, "They have wisdom. I think it's difficult to play them and beat them. They execute out of a strong team concept."

A lot of that team concept comes from Langdon, who gathered his teammates together on Sunday to remind them Duke had blown a 17-point second-half lead in last year's regional final against Kentucky.

"He leads us in a lot of different ways," Brand said. "On the floor, it's not just his shooting. He can drive, he can play great defense. The shooting? That's just one aspect of a great player."

A great player who is getting his first chance at a Final Four, and is eager to make the most of the opportunity.

And yes, with Langdon on the floor, Duke's chances of winning are a lot better.

"This has been a long, long time coming," Langdon said of reaching the Final Four. "To have gone through what I have here -- it's been a great career and a lot of fun at Duke, and I can't really put into words what it means to reach the Final Four."

Duke at a glance

Founded: 1838 Location: Durham, N.C.

Nickname: Blue Devils

School colors: Blue and white

Enrollment: 6,367 undergraduates

Famous alumni: Former American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole; CNN anchorwoman Judy Woodruff; the Detroit Pistons' Grant Hill; novelists Anne Tyler, Reynolds Price and William Styron.

Tuition and fees: $23,904 undergraduate

Academic ranking: U.S News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 1999 Annual Guide" ranked Duke No. 6 among national universities, in the same tier as Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Party lines: Duke is not ranked among the party schools, according to Princeton Review's 1999 edition of "The Best 311 Colleges." It is ranked second as a school where "students pack the stadiums."

Last trip to Final Four: 1994

NCAA basketball titles: Two (1991, 1992)

Pub Date: 3/24/99