By Lenox Rawlings
SportsLine Regional Columnist

With about a week left in the All-ACC election, an immodest proposal screams for attention.

The idea is radical only in its departure from numbing traditions and mindless infatuation with scoring averages. The idea requires abiding love for defense and for the tangible contributions that some folks still call intangibles because they elude the mathematician's calculator.

The idea: Duke players might deserve all five spots on the All-ACC team.

THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN, of course. Voters for the official team tend to spread the wealth among NCAA contenders and often throw in a couple of high scorers. But that shouldn't nullify the theory or prevent voters from making Duke the first school with three or four players on the All-ACC team.

Center Elton Brand could become a unanimous selection and the league's player of the year. After that, Trajan Langdon's reputation as a two-time selection and his range of skills will overcome doubts about his shooting slumps and his unofficial status as the most expendable Duke starter.

The third-ranking candidate, William Avery, rings up numbers and generates the warp-speed pace that Duke usually prefers.

If you picked by position, which the ACC doesn't, Avery and North Carolina's Ed Cota would run neck and neck at point guard. Cota performs the traditional duties marvelously and, with a weaker supporting cast this season, Cota flashed surprising scoring moves. His occasionally careless ballhandling -- such as against Maryland last Saturday -- also startles fans.

Ademola Okulaja and Cota kept Carolina in the game at Duke. Avery scored 21 points with five assists and one turnover. Cota had seven assists and five turnovers against the aggressive Duke defense, plus five rebounds. He scored 20 points but only four in the final 18 minutes, when cramps and a pulled muscle restricted his mobility and drained the Tar Heels' chances.

AVERY HAS NEVER MET remorse. One of Mike Krzyzewski's most admirable coaching traits is his willingness to take risks and push the envelope of conventional order.

He turns Avery loose although that often contradicts the notion of a quarterback running a textbook offense. Despite his West Point education, Coach K doesn't fear dispensing with structure in favor of daring, uninhibited creativity.

He correctly senses that unrestrained athletes can exceed their temporary boundaries. Avery possesses a rare combination of speed and shooting ability, and he makes things happen. He ranks among the top five ACC players in his impact on a game, especially at the end.

All-star teams usually reward scorers at the expense of defenders, which shows how little some people know.

Shane Battier stands above all ACC defenders, except when he's folding up like an accordion on the floor and drawing another charging foul. That elite defensive status alone qualifies him for All-ACC, particularly in a year of rugby defense.

Trajan Langdon deserves to get the nod for All-ACC. (Allsport)

BATTIER DOES MORE. He steals the ball, rebounds, triggers fast breaks, sets screens and sometimes scores in bunches. Among power forwards, his foremost competitor is Maryland's Terence Morris, a soaring eagle who cuts like a guard and shoots like a small forward. Battier won the season series, however.

In the second game at Duke, Battier dropped four 3-pointers on the sagging Morris and scored a career-high 27 points. He's terrific, especially if you like to win.

Small forward Chris Carrawell will have the hardest time making all-conference because his contributions are the hardest to quantify.

Among all the spirited players on Krzyzewski's team, none can match Carrawell's soul. He talks junk to cocky opponents, shuts down shooters such as Maryland's Steve Francis and often saves the best for last.

More than anyone, Carrawell was responsible for Duke's three biggest victories: at Maryland, at St. John's and Carolina at home. Some cohesive forces are rubber cement, and some are Elmer's elementary school glue. Carrawell is permanent-bond, dries-instantly Super Glue.

DUKE ALSO DESERVES THE mythical Sixth Man Award. That goes to Steve Wojciechowski, whose timely departure allowed Coach K to speed up the game and plug the defensive hole that cost the 1998 Blue Devils against Carolina and Kentucky.

Morris, Cota, Okulaja and Francis join the five Duke starters as formidable candidates. Okulaja is having a classic senior season as a leader, rebounder and 3-point shooter. He's the major reason the Tar Heels avoided a big slide.

Francis drew raves for his early dunking exhibitions against inferior teams, and he capitalized on Carolina's passing follies for 22 points Saturday. But on his second trip around the league, with open-floor dunks in short supply, Francis often has trouble creating jump shots.

No school has ever landed more than two players on the first team. North Carolina probably should have last season, with Cota joining Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter.

N.C. State's 1974 national champions deserved three picks. David Thompson and Monte Towe made the team, but Maryland's Len Elmore beat center Tommy Burleson for the final spot, an oversight that Burleson used as motivational fuel.

HE SCORED 38 POINTS TO Elmore's 18 in the ACC final, often called the league's greatest game. State won 103-100 in overtime and captured the ACC's only tournament bid.

Duke dominated the league in 1966 and escaped Carolina's slowdown 21-20 in the tournament semifinals. Blue Devils Jack Marin and Bob Verga made All-ACC, but Steve Vacendak placed ninth.

A week later, after scoring 18 points against State in the title game, point guard Vacendak was elected player of the year -- the only time the player of the year has been left off the first team.

Unless I miss my guess, Duke will get shortchanged in the voting again this season, which can only lead to more conspiracy theories and unhealthy paranoia.

Lenox Rawlings is a columnist for The Winston Salem Journal.