Duke junior Mike Dunleavy hasn't seen transfer Dahntay Jones play in a regular-season game yet, but swears he has seen Jones before.

Dunleavy is talking about Jones' defensive capability - the long arms, the quick hands, the vertical leap - and, yup, now he remembers where he has seen Jones before. It was in the summers of Dunleavy's not too distant past in Portland, when he used to play pickup games with the NBA's Trail Blazers.

That's when Dunleavy saw Jones. Or a reasonable facsimile.

"He plays defense just like Ruben Patterson," Dunleavy says, referring to the Trail Blazers' 6-foot-5, 224-pound small forward with off-the-charts athletic ability. "That's who he reminds me of. There's no one on the college level who plays defense like Dahntay. He's more of a pro defender, like Patterson."

For now Duke will settle for elite collegiate defense from Jones, who makes his debut tonight against Seton Hall in the Maui Invitational.

Duke teammate Jason Williams is told of Dunleavy's claim, that Jones already plays NBA-ready defense. Williams, the favorite for national player of the year, nods his head.