I will never forget watching this game live. Duke was strangling the life out of UConn until Okafor said, it seemed, "I am the best player on this floor and nobody is stopping me henceforth," essentially putting the team on his back very late in the game. Duke too ratcheted up their intensity but could not quote stop UConn becoming inspired by Emeka's flexing his alpha-ness.
Such a sweet result. The officiating in this game was horrendous. The officials took Uconn's best player out of the game on some very questionable calls in the first five minutes and over-officiated the whole game. And Duke still lost.
The officiating was horrendous for both teams. Even Calhoun said that it would have been nice to see what would have happened if they had been allowed to play.
Duke fans complaining about bad officiating in this game. Have they ever watched highlights on this website of how many clips they have of Duke non-calls. Its like Burt Reynolds saying mustaches are stupid. Not a UConn fan but this comeback was sweet!
Absolutely. I was at both games in San Antonio. Nothing like dook fans bragging on the way to the game then crying on the Riverwalk afterwards. When they were talking trash to me because I rocked my Heels gear I said, “when your squad loses don’t start throwing your dook gear in the Riverwalk”.
It has been argued that the 1999 and 2004 Duke Blue Devils were the two best talented teams that they ever had... And you can blame the UConn Huskies for preventing both of those teams from winning it all... lol.
Coach K spends more time coaching the refs than he does his team. His team was dazed and confused the last 3 mins and he blames the refs. Uconn was the better team by a long shot.
Gotta say, that no call on the Redick play was the right one. They stripped him clean and he then went flying into Okafor's arms. Not a foul. I'm sure it looked like that from the Duke bench, but not a foul.
interesting connections if this game... *Deng (Duke) and Gordon (UConn) were drafted by the same team in the NBA, the Bulls. *Charlie Villenueva was teammates with Deng in High School.
Luol Deng’s brother played for UConn. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated over a year before joining the team and is one of the most over-hyped prospects in basketball history.
Im not a UCONN fan however I was so glad that they beat the Dukies. Plus any Duke fan/player/ Coach K complaining about calls better seriously check themselves, they get enough calls than the average team.
The line on this game was 2 and duke hit a 3 at the buzzer to cover lol. The bookies always win. I remember i had the over, the over was 145 in this game
This was the championship game in 04. Not when UConn beat GT in the Championship game. I find it funny how Coach K barely said congratulations to Calhoun. You can tell he is just sore loser after that game and hates Calhoun bc he always beats him.
Krzyzewski was complaining because he knew the officials could be worked and it might have worked out for him. Both coaches knew the officials were letting the coaches control them and whoever was loudest would get the calls.
What a reach. Duke didn't win shit in '90, and in '91 UConn an 11 seed, wasn't expected to win it all. They weren't even expected to get out of the 1st round. Not only that, those were s16 and e8 games that you're trying to compare to a Final and Semi-Final. Whatever makes ya feel better though...
+busdriver4687 Wow.. Dook fans crying about officiating.... now I've heard it all.. you must've not seen the 1st half when the refs basically took Okafor out of the game completely.
The officials took both teams out of the game in the first half. The officials were so bad for both teams that the officiating supervisor went into the locker room to chew them out. Both Calhoun and Krzyzewski blamed the refs after this, and they were both right.
I love when you make a comment against duke and the fans come back saying "hater" and you just need 8 numbers, 1999 and 2004....No, I do not hate duke...from a Uconn fan.
i think you mean almost cost UConn the game given that they were behind most of the game thanx to Okafor being forced to the bench as a result of all the ticky-tack fouls called on him in the first half. Duke took some bad shots in that last 3 minutes while at the same time UConn made almost every basket and most of their free-throws.
It clearly is a foul. It doesn't matter that it is stripped before JJ is hacked. He's attacking the basket, and you can't slap across someone's body even if the ball was stripped a a millisecond or two before. It's kind of like when a shooter goes up to shoot. Even if you hit him after the shot is away, it is still a foul.
Anthony Johnston I don't see a foul there. Generally when officials see the ball go straight down & hit the floor, it's a sign of a clean strip. If the ball goes up in the air or sideways, refs almost always call a foul. In this case it was slapped down. Maybe Anderson touched his arm but late in a game like that it would've been a weak.
Nobody benifited more from the recuiting process than coach K and here he is trying to recruit the refs, when he is crying fowl i can only think of what a bird he is.
This is the game they show when they are training new college basketball referees to show them how not to officiate a game. Seriously, this is a fact. The refs were that bad, and Duke got absolutely hosed.
I love how Duke fans are always crying about the way games are called....claiming that so many foul calls are missed or called wrong. HEY! Guess what? It's like that for EVERY team in college B-Ball!! EVERY team gets some their way, and some not!!!!
@busdriver4687 Hahahaha. Gotta love it when Duke fans of ALL PEOPLE complain about officiating. I hate to break this news to you, pal, but this game wouldn't have even been CLOSE if the refs didn't make all those phantom foul calls on Okafor in the first half.
you cant say anything because the video is the proof. duke missed STUPID shot selection on wide open looks at the end when the refs finally swallowed the whistles (after all 3 duke bigs fouled out.) owned.
I'm sorry but people who complain about calls...Duke took 4 really AWFUL shots on 4 straight possessions. Maybe Redick was fouled. Who knows? But those shots killed duke that day.
@RYMAC21STRIP wrong. uconn won. game over. period. duke lost. fair and square. end of discussion. aaaaaaaaaaaaand uconn will win it again in 2011 this monday night.
The two sides of Coach K. The basketball grand master who calmly weaves together the massive egos of the NBA to bring home the gold, and the whiny, entitled Ratface who blames the refs for losing when in fact they took his opposition's star center (Okafor) out of the game for most of the first half with garbage fouls.
Laettner hit a shot to beat #1 seeded UConn at the buzzer in the 1990 Regional Final... And Duke subsequently knocked out UConn in the 1991 Sweet 16. But, you probably don't remember those games.
