TOP TWENTY GAMES OF THE 1990s

My top ten Blue Devils of the decade will be posted tomorrow.

Top Twenty Duke Basketball Games Of The 1990's: 

20. Duke 72, Kansas 65. 4/1/91. Duke's first national championship was in itself an OK game, but the moment itself is worthy of inclusion. Includes one of the most memorable dunks in history, Grant Hill's flying save and dunk of a wild Hurley pass. Duke opened up a 15 point lead in the second half thanks to Billy McCaffrey, but Kansas made it interesting up til the end, when a breakaway Brian Davis dunk sealed the outcome. 

19. Duke 84, DePaul 83 (OT). 12/4/99. It was recent, but it was way up there. DePaul and Quentin Richardson twice take 12 point leads, but a painfully young Duke team fights back with career reserve Nate James leading the way. Frosh Nick Horvath wins the game in OT with a banked-in three pointer, while Chris Carrawell plays sticky defense on Richardson on the final possession. 

18. Duke 77, LSU 67. 2/8/92. #1 Duke had just lost their first game of the season, a brutal grudge match to UNC. Point guard supreme Bobby Hurley broke his foot during that contest, leaving the ball-handling duties to sophomore Grant Hill. Shaquille o'Neal and the LSU fans were out for blood, with the latter screaming homophobic epithets at Laettner before, during and after the game. Duke went to a short game with lots of jumpers at the top of the key from Hill. Shaq missed a bunch of free throws, Laettner hit a couple of late threes, and Duke held onto their #1 ranking.

17. Duke 85, NC State 82 (OT). 1/24/90. An excellent State team (with Rodney "Cool Whip" Monroe, Chris Corchiani, Chucky Brown et al.) truly had Duke on the ropes until Alaa Abdelnaby saved them in overtime. 

16. Duke 65, Iowa 56. 1/16/93. A brutal showdown with a physical team, reffed by Big Ten officials. It meant anything goes in this game. A lot of pushing, shoving, technicals and bad feelings left Duke on top, with two spectacular plays: an amazing block from behind by Cherokee Parks, and the 2nd best dunk of the decade: a wind up baseline blast by Tony Lang over shotblocking machine Acie Earl. Duke would lose the next night to Virginia at home, ending K's scheduling back-to-back games. 

15. Duke 72, Florida State 66 (OT). 12/5/96. The Seminoles were wiping the floor with the listless Blue Devils, but Duke eventually fought back behind Greg Newton and Carmen Wallace. FSU had the ball with a few seconds left, the score tied. Randell Jackson shot and missed, but LaMarr Greer rebounded. The ball hung on the rim for moment and then fell off, forcing overtime. Duke was up 1 in OT when Trajan Langdon hit a bit three pointer, and then Carmen Wallace blocked a subsequent three point attempt, got the rebound, and hit two foul shots that sealed the game. It was Duke's 1500th win, and Coach K asked the crowd to cheer one more time to celebrate the grand old lady, Cameron Indoor Stadium. After the game, Carmen said that one of the Cameron gremlins knocked Greer's shot off the rim!

14. Duke 89, UNC 77. 3/8/92. UNC had upset Duke earlier in the year and talked much smack about it, and while Duke had already wrapped up the regular season title, they were looking for revenge. What resulted was a classic duel between the Heels' Hubert Davis and Duke's Christian Laettner, with both earning well-deserved applause at the end. Eric Montross took Grant Hill on a piggyback ride as the Devils took control down the stretch. 

13. Duke 95, Arizona 87. 11/26/97. The defending national champion and #1 ranked Wildcats met the young but talented Devils in the finals of the Maui Classic. Duke took a huge early lead behind some scorching three point shooting from Will Avery and Roshown McLeod and intense defense from Wojo. Zona All-America point guard Mike Bibby had serious foul trouble and wasn't a factor even when he was in. The Devils held off a spirited comeback and announced their return as a dominant national power. 

12. Duke 81, Indiana 78. 3/4/92. Bobby Knight's best IU team since the '87 champs took a big early lead as an exhausted Christian Laettner was completely shut down by a swarming defense. The Devils were stymied early by foul trouble before figuring out that any foray into the lane would result in a charge--a lesson the Hoosiers never learned. Bobby Hurley saved the day with a barrage of three pointers and Duke held off a near-miraculous comeback after half the Hoosiers fouled out. 

11. Duke 77, Maryland 75. 2/28/96. Had to get a game in from what is known as the Bridge Team, the squad that came before Duke started piling up great recruits in the late 90's and right after the debacle of '95. Having lost most of its inside game and half the team to injury, Duke leaned heavily on Ricky Price, Wojo and Jeff Capel. Duke was fighting for an NCAA bid after starting 0-3 in the ACC. Maryland had a 1 point lead with seconds left. Wojo had the ball and started to lose it, but somehow shovelled it over to Price. With time running down, Rick put up one of those rainbow jumpers of his that sank softly into the basket. Duke made the tourney and Rick hit the biggest shot of his career. 

10. Duke 92, St. John's 88 (OT). 1/24/99. One of the few competitive games the '99 team had, as a fired-up St. John's club had a couple of players with career performances. Bootsy Thornton dropped 40 on Duke as Elton Brand, Nate James, and Will Avery fouled out. Ron Artest made some absurd shots to send it into overtime for the Red Storm, but Chris Carrawell and Shane Battier took over in OT. C'well had a memorable drive and jam and played point while Battier took several charges as Duke survived this emotional contest.

9. Duke 79, Michigan 68. 12/5/92. Michigan's Fab Five was ranked #1 and made all sorts of promises about dancing on Duke's floor when they beat them. Juwan Howard said he "pitied" Duke for what the Wolverines were going to do to them. The Cameron Crazies put on one of their greatest performances, as they helped distract noted trash talkers Chris Webber and Jalen Rose while Bobby Hurley dissected the Michigan defense. Thomas Hill and Cherokee Parks also came up big. Best chant: "Five freshmen, no title!"

8. Duke 88, LSU 70. 2/10/91. Shaquille o'Neal was threatening to tear down the baskets in Cameron, but Christian Laettner taught him a lesson he'd never forget. Foul trouble for Shaq made this one a joke in the second half as Duke played absolutely flawless basketball. Highlight: Laettner taking a rebound, dribbling coast-to-coast, and then scoring. "One-two-three-four: Shaq can't play this game no more!" 

7. UNC 102, Duke 100 (2OT). 2/2/95. Much has been said about this game, but I will only add that it contained three of the greatest plays I've ever seen: Stackhouse's mind-boggling windmill over Parks and Meek; the Capel 40 foot jumper to send the game to a second overtime; and Parks blocking a DUNK attempt by Stackhouse. A game of runs that had UNC overwhelming Duke early and the Devils bouncing back to take a 10 point lead with only 5 minutes left, before the overtimes. 

6. Duke 80, UNC 73. 1/29/97. Duke had lost a distressing seven straight to their archrivals and were in danger of graduating a senior class that had never beaten Carolina. Trajan Langdon erased that prospect with a barrage of threes including a big one with only a minute left that put Duke up by 5. One of the loudest games in Cameron history.

5. Duke 77, UNC 75. 2/28/98. Perhaps the most dramatic comeback in Cameron history. Duke had been whipped in an earlier confrontation with UNC, but a win would give them 15 league wins and assure first place. It didn't look like this was going to happen as UNC dunked all over a flat Duke team, inspiring Antawn Jamison to scream "We are kicking y'all's ASSES!" Elton Brand had just come back a game earlier from a serious foot injury and went to work with Duke down by 17. He was a juggernaut down low, scoring again and again, fouling out hated Heel Makhtar Ndiaye. Duke went up by two with seconds left. Ed Cota drew a foul for UNC, but missed both as Cameron was absolutely deafening. Brendan Haywood picked up the rebound and Brand alertly fouled him. The frosh missed both, Duke tapped the ball out, and Wojo ran straight into Coach K's arms as he picked up his 500th victory. The team and the crowd were as one all the way through.

4. Duke 79, UConn 78 (OT). 3/24/90. Another year, another #1 seed for Duke to knock off. This time it was the mighty Huskies, who turned in an incredible year but had to rely on a miracle shot to get past Clemson. Duke scrapped and clawed their way to stay close until Laettner pulled off the famous "special" play--where he inbounded the ball, passed it to Brian Davis who then passed it back to him, took a couple of dribbles and sank the game winner as time expired. 

3. Duke 69, Purdue 60. 3/26/94. Duke took on the Player of the Year in Glenn Robinson and #1 seed Purdue. With great defense by Tony Lang and an inspired performance from frosh Jeff Capel (who had an unforgettable behind the back pass while standing on the baseline to Lang), the Big Dog was sent to the pound, held to only 13 points. 

2. Duke 104, Kentucky 103 (OT). 3/28/92.

1. Duke 79, UNLV 77. 3/30/91. 

I think you've all heard about these two games. I pick the Vegas rematch over the Kentucky game because the Vegas game was much better played and had more drama throughout than the Kentucky game. The latter contest had Duke in the lead for much of the time and then featured a lot of a sloppy play until the last five minutes and the overtime, which featured one astonishing possession after another for both teams. UNLV's frontcourt was locked up but their backcourt of Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt put on an amazing performance. Christian Laettner was the hero of both games, outscoring the entire UNLV frontcourt and going 10-10 from the field and 10-10 from the line in the game with the Wildcats. Bobby Hurley hit big shots in both: the three with 2 minutes left against Vegas that drew Duke to within 2, and a three in overtime after Kentucky had opened with a three of their own. Both games were extremely draining: Duke struggled to beat a weaker Kansas time in the finals and looked exhausted in beating Indiana and trailing Michigan at the half. Both are two of the greatest games of the century, a testament to how important Duke has become in the basketball landscape.

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu