Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991 TAG: 9104030125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
My, how times have changed.
Just a week ago, Duke was purported to be the next sacrificial lamb for Nevada-Las Vegas, all but annointed for another NCAA championship.
Now two victories and their first college basketball crown behind them, the bridesmaid image forever eliminated, Duke suddenly has another challenge.
Great expectations.
If UNLV couldn't become the first NCAA repeater since N.C. State ended UCLA's seven-year run in 1974, why should Duke be tagged with that responsibility?
But it's there.
The Blue Devils have been the closest thing to a dynasty since John Wooden's Bruins, what with their five Final Fours in six years, including four straight.
Yet, until they led wire-to-wire in a solid 72-65 victory over Kansas only 49 hours after they surprised UNLV, 79-77, Duke had no championship credentials.
Most defending champs start the year as No. 1, even when they don't deserve it. UNLV did, justifiably so, and stayed on top of the polls all the way while going 34-0 before the Final Four.
Duke will begin '91-92 in similar personnel circumstance.
Only forward Greg Koubek, a complementary player, will be lost from Mike Krzyzewski's nine-man rotation.
This was Coach K's youngest team since '83, when Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas and David Henderson were freshmen and the Blue Devils lost to Virginia by 43 points in the ACC Tournament.
Since then, Krzyzewski's recruiting capabilities have kicked in. There has been only one mediocre year - this senior class of Koubek and Clay Buckley.
Christian Laettner has established himself as no worse than the nation's second-best big man.
Hurley, the point guard, achieved instant maturity after being shown a tape by the Duke coaching staff that demonstrated his constant whining. Since then, the tough little sophomore from Jersey City, N.J., has played the way a coach's son should - smart and intense.
Laettner, the junior, was the MVP of the Final Four with 47 points, including 21 of 23 free throws. But the honor could just as easily gone to Hurley, who had 43 assists and nine turnovers in the six NCAA games.
Grant Hill's slam-dunk, off a Hurley pass in the opening minutes Monday, was highlight film material. "I just sat with my mouth open," said broadcaster Quinn Buckner, a former Indiana star. "Hill is going to be a great, great player."
Hill is 6-8 and a freshman. The son of ex-football great Calvin Hill, he was distressed after missing six free throws against Kansas. "It's nice that at 18 he has some things to improve upon," Buckner said.
So there are three stars. And only Laettner will be a senior.
Thomas Hill, unrelated to Grant, is a high-jumping 6-4 guard-forward who can defend and hit the 3-pointer. He will be a junior, as will Bill McCaffrey, the frail-looking jump-shooter who made six straight field goals against Kansas.
Next year's seniors will be Laettner, backup Crawford Palmer, and Brian Davis, a 6-7 leaper who was spectacular in the Final Four.
There also is 6-8 Tony Lang, a precocious talent who didn't develop as fast as Grant Hill. But Krzyzewski's players often make a quantum leap as sophomores, and Lang is capable.
That group alone would rate No. 1. But the incoming recruits include the big guys from California, 6-11 Cherokee Parks and 6-10 Eric Meek. "Parks just dominated the Capital Classic," said a pro scout. "He was just too tough."
Parks, who looks something like Laettner and appears to play like him, will have the perfect opportunity to learn as the freshman understudy and heir apparent.
That would appear to be an embarrassment of riches.
But Krzyzewski warned, "There is no dynasty, and there won't be. If you play in one of the major conferences, it's just so tough."
Privately, the Duke crew had believed they had one major advantage over UNLV - the schedule. The Blue Devils had been tested so many times; the Rebels had no games closer than eight points and almost all were blowouts.
At pressure time Saturday, the guns drawn, it was Vegas that blinked. "They were a great team," Krzyzewski said of UNLV. "But in the ACC or Big East, they wouldn't have been undefeated."
In the wee hours Tuesday, the celebration was continuing in the Duke hotel. One fan, perhaps inspired by firewater, was yelling, "Three-peat, three-peat."
To even be in that position, Duke would have to win again in '92 at Minneapolis.
History is against the Blue Devils. But the odds they will face, considering the available weapons, are no longer than what awaited them here.
by CNB