Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991 TAG: 9104010019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
It was Stacey Augmon, the Nevada-Las Vegas senior, against Duke's Grant Hill, the rookie.
"I knew he was the best defensive player in the nation," Hill said Sunday. "All I wanted to do was not turn the ball over."
Sounds simple, but it was far more than that.
Hill, who brings to Duke a slashing, driving game that has heretofore been absent, penetrated the middle and threw a perfect bounce pass to a cutting Brian Davis.
Davis made the layup and was fouled. Meanwhile, Augmon had flattened Hill.
Lying on his back, Hill saw the ball go in the basket, heard the whistle, and looked at the Duke bench. Shaking off the pain, he grinned at coach Mike Krzyzewski.
How much faith does the coach have in the young man? Seconds later, with the score tied at 77 and Christian Laettner going to the free-throw line to shoot two, the Blue Devils plotted their defensive strategy.
All Hill had to do was play defense against Larry Johnson, the national player of the year.
By then, Hill had made his presence known. He had been guarded by Johnson at the start. He immediately drove for a layup. "That gave me confidence," Hill said. "It showed them we weren't scared of them."
In the final sequence, Johnson brought the ball down the court, an odd occurrence, with Hill tracking him all the way.
"I got picked at midcourt by George Ackles," Hill said. "I'm just glad he didn't shoot the 3-pointer."
But Laettner had picked up Johnson, who froze. With the clock running out, a wild shot by Anderson Hunt missed and Grant Hill, an 18-year-old Virginian, was going to the national championship game.
That Hill got some help was not surprising. He's had it all the way.
Certainly, Hill has the proper genes. His father, Calvin Hill, was a pro football star, mostly with the Dallas Cowboys, and now is an executive with the Baltimore Orioles.
But in the Hill family, there is a balancing act between athletics and academics. Calvin is a Yale man; mother Janet went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. And, "I always knew I had to make A's and B's or I wouldn't get to play," Grant said.
That would seem to indicate a Duke-Hill marriage was inevitable, but nothing would be further from the truth.
"To tell you the truth, I was a big-time [North] Carolina fan when I was growing up. So was my dad," Hill said. "It's kind of ironic that I'm at Duke. I'd always dreamed about going to Carolina. I had seen them on TV so much. I remembered the shot Michael Jordan made to win the national championship."
In the Hill family, things are done for a reason. So while Grant favored Carolina, he didn't discard an opportunity to visit Duke.
"After I visited Duke, I knew where I was going to school," Hill said. "It wasn't like it was the greatest visit of my life. But I liked the small campus. I got to talk to the teachers.
"I can't see why any student-athlete who visits Duke wouldn't want to go there. I knew immediately, this was for Grant Hill."
His parents did not get involved in the decision. "They let me do it on my own," he said.
That is the way the Hills do it. Maturity is a self-made. But there is a family closeness that has benefited Grant.
"I talk to one of my parents every night," Hill said. But not always about athletics.
There are conversations with Calvin Hill about the games men play and the attitude needed to play them.
"Dad and I used to talk before my high school games," Grant said. "Not as much now about basketball. But he talked to me about being mentally prepared, about knowing what to expect."
As a teen-ager at South Lakes High in the Washington suburb, Hill described himself as laid-back. He still leaves that impression. He speaks quietly but assuredly.
Hill considers himself a typical Dookie, which means he's much more than just basketball. "I have a lot of interests," he said. "I play the piano; I like to play tennis."
He is precise, a confident speaker, knowledgeable beyond his years.
But there was a moment this season when basketball was a pain.
Duke had just lost at Virginia by 17 points, and Krzyzewski was steaming. He had told the media his team wasn't tough enough.
So after the long, quiet bus ride home, the Blue Devils went straight to a Saturday night practice. Early on, Hill drove the baseline, caught an elbow from freshman Tony Lang and was headed to the hospital with a broken nose.
A few weeks later, having returned to action, Hill suffered a painful hip pointer that slowed him again.
"People think because we go to Duke, get good grades, that we might be a little soft," Hill said.
Instead, it is ferocious defense that fires the Duke attack, that has sent the Blue Devils to five Final Fours in six years.
There is no backing down. And certainly not against UNLV.
Hill said he wasn't awed by the chance to play against Johnson, a 250-pounder. There was no consideration by Krzyzewski that Hill might be overmatched.
"We talked about it all week," Hill said. "We had played a tough schedule; we'd been in a lot of close games. We knew that UNLV had been winning almost every game by 20 or 30 points.
"Coach told us that would be our advantage, if we could get to the final minute close, they'd fold."
So there was no fear in Grant Hill when he made that perfect pass to Davis; he knew what to do against Johnson.
It was the Rebels who blinked. The gunslingers couldn't draw fast enough.
Hill used the phrase "student-athlete" several times, and in his case, at his school, it applies.
But he would be offended if somehow that implied there wasn't a mental toughness.
Grant Hill was asked what he said as the team huddled with less than 13 seconds to play, with the biggest upset of the season on the line, with the Hoosier Dome crackling with tension.
He answered: "I thought Thomas [Hill, no relation] took the last shot a little early. I kidded him. I said, `Thomas, you shot too soon.' "
Thomas Hill's shot had missed, but Laettner had rebounded and been fouled.
Did it ever concern Grant Hill that Laettner might miss? "Never," he said. "Christian is a tough guy. He lives for that kind of chance."
Like Laettner and sad-eyed Bobby Hurley, the point guard, toughness isn't skin deep.
"Our goal wasn't to beat Vegas; it was to win the national championship," Hill said.
And Grant Hill is a very goal-oriented person.
by CNB