Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990 TAG: 9004040022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: DENVER LENGTH: Medium
Even though Nevada-Las Vegas, in as devastating a performance as has ever been witnessed in an NCAA Tournament final, made a mockery of its opponent, the Blue Devils aren't the Denver Broncos.
Denver is 0-4 in Super Bowls and a record-setting loser.
Duke is now 0-8 in Final Fours, including 0-4 in championship games, and the victim of the three highest-scoring title contests, including the 103-73 savaging Monday. For that, reasonable thinkers should agree, the Blue Devils deserve congratulations.
This is not the pro game. Faces change every year. The Duke team that made it to Denver in no way resembled the Duke team that played in Seattle in '89, or the Blue Devils who were eliminated in Kansas City, Mo., in '88.
And they clearly weren't in the same class as the '86 entry in Dallas, which probably was the No. 1 team in the land, but which had worn down enough physically to lose at the finish to Louisville.
Conversation in the wee hours Tuesday, long after UNLV had won the championship its fans, in particular, wanted so desperately, dwelled either on how good the Rebels were, or how Duke possibly could have made it here.
The answer to the first question is: very, very good, and probably better next year with the expected recruitment of 7-foot junior college center Elmore Spencer, a controversial former Georgia player who fits the UNLV outlaw image.
In Duke's case, the conclusion was virtually unanimous. Mike Krzyzewski, who will coach the U.S. team in the World Championships this summer, turned in perhaps the best of his many fine coaching performances.
If Coach K isn't the best coach in the land, he's in everybody's top five.
The fact that the Blue Devils have made the Final Four in four of the last five years - only Kansas, among the other 292 schools, did it twice in that span - is a testament to Krzyzewski's coaching ability.
If he continues his NCAA wizardry - at 21-7 lifetime, he has the best percentage among active coaches - eventually Duke will break through.
The weaknesses of this Blue Devils team were exposed twice by an otherwise ordinary North Carolina squad, which was too big and strong for Duke, and which neutralized freshman Bobby Hurley.
It is as easy to forget that Hurley was a rookie as it is to recall that he didn't hit a field goal in the last three NCAA games.
Hurley had a fine freshman year until he was physically manhandled at the end. He'll get better - and he'll have to, because Duke loses three senior starters who were much more consistent than anticipated.
Unlike those Broncos, next season Duke will have a far different look. The only senior will be Greg Koubek, who simply isn't a big-league talent. He will constitute Coach K's weakest senior class, and thus there should be a slippage from this year's 29-9 record.
But we have thought that many times before, and Krzyzewski always has produced a big winner.
"We didn't have a clue what to do out there," sophomore Christian Laettner said after Monday's debacle. "When I came to the bench, I was always hoping coach could pull off another miracle."
Obviously, it didn't happen. The miracle was that Duke got so far in the first place, with late rallies against St. John's, Connecticut and Arkansas. The latter two teams possessed far superior athletic ability.
In past years, the Blue Devils have cried after NCAA losses. Not so this time. Getting the opportunity to give a Broncos imitation was remarkable in itself.
by CNB