ATLANTA REGIONAL Davis and LSU have challenge

They take on No. 1 seed Duke tonight in a regional semifinal.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Glen Davis peered tentatively around the curtain, as if he was shy about appearing on the national stage.
Then he opened his mouth.
LSU's behemoth of a center is rarin' to get it on with top-seeded Duke at the NCAA's Atlanta Regional, where he'll get a chance to prove he's one of the best players in the country and a worthy successor to another mountain of a man who once wore the purple and gold.
From the Big Aristotle to the Big Baby.
"I want to have my own stamp of immortality," Davis said. "Every guy strives for immortality, wants to live forever."
In shadow of Shaq
Well, that one may be a little tough to pull off. But he's certainly done enough to escape the shadow of Shaquille O'Neal, who patrolled the middle for the Tigers in the early 1990s.
Already, Davis has taken LSU farther than Shaq ever did. In three straight NCAA appearances, O'Neal's teams never made it past the second round. Big Baby -- a once-derisive moniker that Davis acquired while playing football as a youngster -- will lead the fourth-seeded Tigers (25-8) into the regional semifinals tonight against the Blue Devils (32-3).
So, enough with that talk about being "Baby Shaq," a natural offshoot of a nickname that Davis landed after bringing his 6-foot-9, 310-pound frame to Baton Rouge.
"I hear it everywhere I go," Davis said. "I should have worn my shirt. It says, 'I am not Shaq.' "
If he can stand one more comparison, Davis has put up some Shaq-like numbers this season, especially down the stretch.
Been force in tournament
Davis has scored more than 20 points in six of his last nine games. He started the NCAAs with a 22-point, 13-rebound, six-block performance against Iona, then scored 21 in a second-round victory over Texas A & amp;M. He'll have to be equally dominating if the Tigers are going to pull off an upset of the Blue Devils.
"He basically carried us on his shoulders," teammate Darrel Mitchell said.
Duke has a few special guys of its own, led by J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams.
Leading Blue Devils
Redick leads the Blue Devils with 27.2 points per game despite all sorts of defenses designed to keep the ball out of his hands.
Williams is a 6-9, 250-pound defensive demon who also happens to be a pretty good offensive player, averaging 18.7 points per game.
"He's an incredible player," Williams said of Davis. "Somebody that size, who moves as well as he does, it's just amazing to watch. I know it's going to be a very physical game in the low post throughout the whole course of the game. I know we both are prepared for that, and hopefully we'll play the game without any injuries going on."