Duke has been a powerful program for so long that many people either don’t know or can’t believe that it wasn’t always like that for the Blue Devils.
The Vic Bubas era was glamorous but relatively brief and the early ‘70’s were a disaster. Bill Foster brought some hope back and got Duke to the national championship game in 1978 and the Elite Eight in 1980 but fled after that, unable to withstand the pressure in Durham.
Advertisement
Mike Krzyzewski came in as a complete unknown in 1980, so much so that the Duke Chronicle’s headline about his hire was “This Is Not A Joke.”
Coach K got off to a bumpy start but by his fourth season, he had a solid group of players and never looked back.
In the early years, Coach Ahab – er, Coach K – was chasing the great white whale of UNC, led by the brilliant Dean Smith and in 1984, UNC beat Duke in Durham and then in Chapel Hill.
To make matters more difficult, the Tar Heels had Michael Jordan. He was not yet the MJ we would come to know in the NBA, but he was still brilliantly talented and psychotically competitive.
Advertisement
UNC, in other words, was a load. And it took a while for Duke to believe it could beat the Tar Heels. Duke beat UNC in the final home game for Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard in Coach K’s first season, but it didn’t happen again until the 1984 ACC Tournament semifinals.
Jordan and UNC had beat Duke 78-73 in Cameron on January 21st and again in Chapel Hill, 96-83 on March 3rd.
Carolina came into the ACC Tournament ranked #1 and looked set for win #3 over the Blue Devils.
Only Duke didn’t let that happen.
The Blue Devils pushed the Heels hard and in the closing seconds was up 77-75. With :03 left, the Blue Devils got the ball in to sophomore Johnny Dawkins, who was fouled. He missed the front end and the Heels took a long, desperation shot that wasn’t anywhere near the basket.
Advertisement
Duke would lose to Len Bias and Maryland in the tournament finals the following night, but they had already served notice: this was a program on the rise.
Just for a perspective on time, three years after Duke’s win over UNC, a child would be born in Chicago and 35 years later, Jon Scheyer would take over as Duke’s head coach.
Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line
