A Duke team that gets no love...

[Mac9192]

We all talk about the Duke teams that come close, like the great 99 team, or the others that fell short. There's one though that I was talking to a friend of mine the other day that seems to not get much publicity, the 89 Ferry, Snider team that lost in final 4 to Seton Hall. Laettner was a freshman. I believe that team would have played Glenn Rice and Michigan had Robert Brickey not been undercut on that fast break late in first half. Duke was beating them like a rented drum until he was fouled. He didn't return. It seemed to deflate Duke, and unfortunately Andrew Gaze killed them in second half. Brickey was an absolute athletic freak. The guy could jump out of a gym. He jumped center at a whopping 6-5. Local guy too, Fayetville. I remember he was State high jump champ and they asked him how high he jumped and he said 'only had to jump 6-9 to win.'

 

[dukiejay]

That was actually the 1988-89 team. But I remember that game like it was yesterday. My cousin was a freshman at Duke that year and was in Seattle for the Final Four. The weekend before we won the regional by beating Minnesota and #1 seed Georgetown....who had two big guys named Mutumbo and Mourning manning the paint. Laettner took it to Mourning that game....that was unofficially Laettner's coming out party.

Back to the Seton Hall game....we jumped out to something like a 26-8 lead and it looked like we'd blow their doors off. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. As you said, Andrew Gaze (an Australian with graying hair already) went off and the rest was history. They ended up beating us 95-78.

That was the year Michigan's coach, name escapes me at the moment, resigned just before the tournament and Steve Fisher took over. He took them on an incredible run and was carried by Glen Rice. Rice averaged over 30ppg in the tournament....and I think it's a record that still stands.

That was also our third trip to the Final Four in four seasons, and second year in a row. We would also make the Final Four the next three years after that. The 1986 through 1994 stretch was incredible for Duke fans going to seven Final Four's in nine seasons.

 

[germantondevil]

That was a heck of a team. Danny Ferry was the man and a lot of people remember "the shot" by Laettner but he also hit a game winning shot against U Conn that year if memory serves me right to propel Duke into the FF that year.. To old to remember anymore. But I believe it was 89-90 season.

 

[germantondevil]

That was actually the 1988-89 team. But I remember that game like it was yesterday. My cousin was a freshman at Duke that year and was in Seattle for the Final Four. The weekend before we won the regional by beating Minnesota and #1 seed Georgetown....who had two big guys named Mutumbo and Mourning manning the paint. Laettner took it to Mourning that game....that was unofficially Laettner's coming out party.

Back to the Seton Hall game....we jumped out to something like a 26-8 lead and it looked like we'd blow their doors off. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. As you said, Andrew Gaze (an Australian with graying hair already) went off and the rest was history. They ended up beating us 95-78.

That was the year Michigan's coach, name escapes me at the moment, resigned just before the tournament and Steve Fisher took over. He took them on an incredible run and was carried by Glen Rice. Rice averaged over 30ppg in the tournament....and I think it's a record that still stands.

That was also our third trip to the Final Four in four seasons, and second year in a row. We would also make the Final Four the next three years after that. The 1986 through 1994 stretch was incredible for Duke fans going to seven Final Four's in nine seasons.

I still have my tee shirt that I bought at CIS that states just that 7 out of 9 (FFs) and the dream continues and it has the FF caption of each venue on the shirt.

 

[dukiejay]

That was a heck of a team. Danny Ferry was the man and a lot of people remember "the shot" by Laettner but he also hit a game winning shot against U Conn that year if memory serves me right to propel Duke into the FF that year.. To old to remember anymore. But I believe it was 89-90 season.

Yeah, the shot against UConn came the following season to send us to the Final Four.

 

[Mac9192]

That was actually the 1988-89 team. But I remember that game like it was yesterday. My cousin was a freshman at Duke that year and was in Seattle for the Final Four. The weekend before we won the regional by beating Minnesota and #1 seed Georgetown....who had two big guys named Mutumbo and Mourning manning the paint. Laettner took it to Mourning that game....that was unofficially Laettner's coming out party.

Back to the Seton Hall game....we jumped out to something like a 26-8 lead and it looked like we'd blow their doors off. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. As you said, Andrew Gaze (an Australian with graying hair already) went off and the rest was history. They ended up beating us 95-78.

That was the year Michigan's coach, name escapes me at the moment, resigned just before the tournament and Steve Fisher took over. He took them on an incredible run and was carried by Glen Rice. Rice averaged over 30ppg in the tournament....and I think it's a record that still stands.

That was also our third trip to the Final Four in four seasons, and second year in a row. We would also make the Final Four the next three years after that. The 1986 through 1994 stretch was incredible for Duke fans going to seven Final Four's in nine seasons.

Yeah that Georgetown game was something else for Laettner. The best memory of that game was skinny Phil Henderson dunking all over Mourning. Wow!!!

 

[QC Dukie]

Yeah that Georgetown game was something else for Laettner. The best memory of that game was skinny Phil Henderson dunking all over Mourning. Wow!!!

I still have the newspaper pic of that. Henderson came down the lane and tomahawk dunked on mourning.

 

[Stevo-910]

1998 when duke lost to Kentucky. up almost 20 in the 1st half. up 10 at halftime. makes it worse was at the neighbors house who were huge Kentucky fans. man that 2nd half wasnt fun.

 

[dukiejay]

1998 when duke lost to Kentucky. up almost 20 in the 1st half. up 10 at halftime. makes it worse was at the neighbors house who were huge Kentucky fans. man that 2nd half wasnt fun.

We were up like 17 with nine minutes left, weren't we? That was a devastating loss.

 

[Stevo-910]

We were up like 17 with nine minutes left, weren't we? That was a devastating loss.

if we were makes it that much worse. i just remember i was 15 and that 1st being happy and going home devastated.

 

[Stevo-910]

2004 also losing to uconn. should have beat uconn and went on and blew out Georgia tech and that redheaded 7footer.

 

[Mac9192]

2004 also losing to uconn. should have beat uconn and went on and blew out Georgia tech and that redheaded 7footer.

If I'm not mistaken Duke was up double digits with 3 minutes to go. Duke's main 2 bigs, Williams and Randolph fouled out, leaving "All Airport" Nick Horvath to battle Okafor last few minutes as well. Very bad loss.

 

[RanDEVILman]

1998 was the first true heartbreak I had as a Duke fan. I was a fan for the thin years 95-97, but that 98 team seemed like they could've won it all, especially since they were kicking UKs tail and 7
UK ended up winning it all

 

[LouisiAaron]

If I'm not mistaken Duke was up double digits with 3 minutes to go. Duke's main 2 bigs, Williams and Randolph fouled out, leaving "All Airport" Nick Horvath to battle Okafor last few minutes as well. Very bad loss.

That game made me so mad. They cheated so bad that game with the foul calls. The loss to Indiana is the one that pissed me off the most in 2002 I believe. Those missed free throws were just ridiculous. Since that day I've dislike Indiana with a passion.

 

[dukedevilz]

We had a lot of tough losses during the Battier-Duhon years - golden years, despite just one title. The year we won the title, in 2001, was the only year Battier and Duhon played together. All of the most painful tournament losses for me came during the 7-year stretch of 1998-2004 - Kentucky in 98, UConn in 99/04, and Indiana in 02. Those were four very, very hard losses to take. 3 of those 4 losses were to the eventual national champs. We easily could have won any of those years...

But I'd like to focus on a forgotten team. My favorite non-Final Four team, 2000. Carrawell was the ACC POY. Battier was the National Defensive Player of the Year. Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy were all dynamic freshman. But we had a couple things that made us stumble a bit. First, we had next to no depth. Only 6 guys averaged more than 10 minutes per game. So when Dunleavy came down with mono in late Februrary, we started to feel it a little bit. He came back in the ACC Tourney, and he actually played pretty well. But, he stunk it up in the NCAA's. He wasn't the same player. Also, in the Florida game Boozer was hampered with foul troubles. I think he played 4 or 5 minutes in the second half; Matt Christensen played more in the second half than Boozer did. That should tell you something. It wasn't an all-time great team, but it was a very special season and a very special group of players. They achieved a lot when much wasn't expected them following the mass exodus of the loaded 99 team.

 

[hart2chesson]

That was the year Michigan's coach, name escapes me at the moment, resigned just before the tournament and Steve Fisher took over.

Bill Frieder.Michigan AD and former football coach Bo Shembechler moved Fisher as you noted into the position as HC.

OFC

 

[SwatX1]

That 88' Team was the first team for me as a Duke fan. That's the year I started watching them

 

[skysdad]

The 1978 team was the one that I hurt for. We had a great chance for our 1st but ran into a hot Jack Givens that we just couldn't do anything with. OFC