Duke isn't new on the scene, not after two Final Four appearances and three consecutive ACC tournament titles. But as the Blue Devils are ESPN.com's preseason pick for No. 1, we're offering a historic primer for fans just getting interested and those needing a brush-up.

	Coach Gail Goestenkors is a four-time ACC Coach of the Year since taking over in 1992.

As Duke is, shall we say, an egghead school, we thought it an intriguing idea to ask three of our favorite authors/poets to help. Alas, they all have passed on to the great hardwood in the sky. Or, you know, whatever it is.

But through an amazing $29.99 U-2-Can-Channel kit from wegotspirits.com ... it appears we've made contact!

To start off, we have my very first beloved author from when I was 7 years old. It is such a honor to welcome Laura Ingalls Wilder!

Laura: Hello.

MV: I love your books. I think I've read "Little House on the Prairie,'' "Farmer Boy'' and "These Happy Golden Years'' all about 70 times each. They're my favorites.

Laura: But you just skimmed "By the Shores of Silver Lake.'' You jumped ahead to "The Long Winter.''

MV: I couldn't take "Silver Lake.'' In the first 14 pages, we found out Mary's gone blind, the family's broke, your "childhood'' is over and then Jack the bulldog dies. I was so depressed; I didn't want it to happen.

Laura: I know the feeling. I was that way when Michael Landon started adding fake members to my family on the TV show. It was like ... Albert? Who?

MV: That's show-biz. So would you mind starting our story about Duke?

Laura: Not at all. Once upon a time, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs. Oops, sorry, that's me. Start again. Once upon a time, a little girl lived in Michigan and thought about basketball all the time.

MV: Coach G, right?

Laura: Yes, Gail Goestenkors grew up to be the coach at Duke. And her first season, 1992-93, it was difficult. Her team started 7-0, then got beat into reality at Washington. Midway through the ACC season, the Devils were winless in the league and Coach G was asking her assistants, "Who's the team everybody in this conference can beat? Surely, we play one team like that.'' Except ... then she realized Duke was that team. But she always believed the Devils were going to get better.

So it was a little like that Christmas Eve in the Kansas territory, when Ma told Mary and me she would put up our stockings, even though we all thought "Santa'' didn't have a prayer of showing up because the creek was so high. And then, Mr. Edwards knocks on the door, and it turns out he met "Santa'' and was delivering our presents.

MV: Not really, though. Duke went 3-13 in the ACC that first year, and then lost by one point to Wake Forest in the league tournament play-in game. It was actually more like if Mr. Edwards had drowned crossing the creek.

Laura: No! Look at the three victories! That was a start. And then the next year, going 7-9 in the ACC. And then, in 1995 ...

Emily Dickinson: That'll do, Half-Pint. I'll take it from here.

MV: Emily! Wow! This is ... I can't believe it's really you!

Emily: You were expecting one of the Bronte sisters?

MV: Ha-ha. That's kind of funny.

Emily: I'm a funny person.

MV: I know, some of your poems -- among those I think I understand -- have a great subtle wit.

Emily: No, I'm VERY funny. I have a whole different side. You know how I had all those poems crammed away everywhere in my room? See, I ran out of space, so I hid a bunch of my really hilarious poems in this bureau in another room. I was considered, you know, kind of a recluse, so nobody paid much attention when I was walking around upstairs.

Anyway, I die, they go digging through my room, start unwadding paper balls, change a lot of pronouns, can't read my writing half the time. But they don't realize what's in the other room. They end up selling the bureau to some illiterate peddler without giving it a good cleaning. He goes through it and has himself a nice bonfire. I'm still mad.

MV: So are you going to write something rollicking and hysterical about Duke then?

Emily: No, no, no. Why blow the rep? I'll quickly make up a vaguely symbolic poem with some strange capitalizations:

Devil, an Eye of the Deacon,
Devil, a thorn of the Heel.
Devil, a Howl in the 'Pack
Devil, a Cavalier kneel.

Devil, a sting of the Jacket,
Devil, a turtle's Lament,
Devil, a Seminole shadow,
Devil, a Tiger is Spent.

MV: That means what, exactly?

Emily: You're such a poser. It's about Duke's ACC ascent, obviously. In 1995, Duke beat defending champ North Carolina on a last-second shot in January. Beat Virginia on a last-second shot in overtime in the ACC tournament semifinals. Went to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in the program's history.

Gertrude Stein: And then the Devils played the Tide. They played the Tide in overtime. They played overtime against the Tide. They played an overtime four times against the Tide. The Tide met the Devils, and the Devils and the Tide played four overtimes. There were four overtimes that the Devils and the Tide played.

Emily: Oh, jeez. I can't believe you channeled her.

MV: I didn't! She snuck in. I don't know how she got here!

Gertrude: It was overtime that was played four times when the Devils and the Tide played. And then they played, the Devils and the Tide, and overtime was played four times. ...

MV: Got it, Gertrude. Alabama 121, Duke 120, four OT. NCAA second round, '95. That was bittersweet for the Devils -- a great game, but they were so upset they didn't pull it off in Tuscaloosa. There are sad moments, of course, on the way up for any program. Growing pains, near misses.

Sylvia Plath: Pain. This is my area.

MV: Thank goodness, it's you. Is Gertrude gone?

Silvia: Yeah, I passed her on the way in. And to think there were times I felt like my stuff was lame.

MV: Your stuff was awesome. Dang it, Sylvia, it would have only gotten better.

Silvia: I figured that out a little too late. Anyway, here is a poem about Duke's sad moments.

A grey fog chokes,
Like a Frisco seal.
Illini wait in a box,
Dagger and ax sharp.
Panzer-pig, Panzer-pig,
bit my pretty blue heart in two.
I am Boiled and Boiled.
The Tiger and the Bear
slash at my skin, and
I'd Sooner die but must
live it again and again.

MV: Uh, yes, ummm ...

Silvia: I have issues.

Laura: And you thought "Silver Lake'' was depressing?

Emily: Gonna make her translate her work, too?

MV: I think I can do it. It's about the NCAA Tournament. Duke was upset by San Francisco in Durham in 1996, second round. The transition of going from underdog to favorite can be tough. Then it was Illinois in that small gym in 1997's second round. Arkansas in the Elite Eight in 1998.

Steph White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs led Purdue in the 1999 NCAA title game. LSU capitalized on a Sweet 16 second-half swoon in 2000. Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles scored 41, though it seemed like more, in the Sweet 16 in 2001. Oklahoma ended the run at the Final Four last season.

Emily: But losing in the NCAA Tournament is not bad. It's really good, in fact. Not something to be bleak about.

Silvia: Oh, woo-hoo. Listen to you, Miss "There is a pain so utter, it swallows substance up.''

Emily: OK, that was a bad day.

Laura: I just want to point out that you didn't mention that before the loss to Purdue in 1999, there was the victory over Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Sylvia, even you can't put a cryptic spin on that.

MV: Let's not tempt her, OK? Laura, you finish our Duke history lesson.

Laura: Beating Tennessee ... it was like when nobody believed I could drive Almanzo's wild horse, Barnum. And I did, I made him walk. Duke steadily has climbed up to the top. It's an inspiration to a lot of teams, because maybe they can do it, too.

MV: If you do it, that must feel terrific.

Laura: You bet. Kind of like sticking it to Nellie Oleson.

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.