Coach K and Christian Laettner transformed Duke from underdog to dynasty | Four Decades In Durham 

Shut up

That’s when I started watching college Basketball. Back in 91

Yeah

Chris, my affinity and fandom for Duke began during the 1981-82 season when I was in fourth grade! The year before their heralded class that made Coach K, so I remember them well bringing in Dawkins, Alarie, Bilas, Henderson and then Amaker the following year! Still emphatically supporting them 40 seasons later at age 50

And can't wait for the Madness to begin next week! Loss to the Tar Holes behind us and as Paolo said, "we're better away from home for some reason"! I think they have a legit shot at the national championship

@@bradlewis6514 Yes those were the beginnings of Duke's greatness with Coach K. Duke had good teams in earlier years as well. In the 1960s their coach was Vic Bubas. He took them to the final four twice. In 1978 under Ks predecessor Bill Foster Duke played for the national title against Kentucky. Duke is not my favorite ACC team but I have enjoyed watching them over the years. They are my dad's favorite team.

I'm in my mid-60s and have been watching college basketball for a long time. Without doubt, Christian Laettner was the best 4-year college basketball player I've ever seen.

@@chrisoakley5830 your Dad has superb taste JS and now our Dukies have a championship to go win Saturday night! Hopefully will bring it home! VA Tech no pushover for sure after they walloped the Tar Holes, so we'll hafta earn a victory

How do you figure they were trash? 3 Final Fours in 4 years. 20+ wins a year, competed for national titles. Ferry was an all time great who laid the foundation for future skilled big men. Do you even watch Duke ball? Get the facts straight sir

@@garywilliams5831 Ok not trash bro lol. Good not great lol

lol def a great team that could not get over the hump@@davidcampbell215

Clown

@@WolverineDevotee hater

@@WolverineDevotee shut up you idiots cry about it😢👎

Agreed, Johnny Dawkins was first coach K superstar…special. If Alarie and Henderson didn’t have such a subpar game against Louisville, they would’ve won 86 championship.

Now that's the truth. That Final 4 team was the last time I pulled for Duke. I was still young enough to have pride in a team from a school in North Carolina being in the National Title Game. Too bad they ended up having one of the most epic choke moments of all time against Louisville and Crum's Bums.

If not for Tom Butters, coach K would have been fired

Even Jay Bilas said it himself on College GameDay, that Johnny Dawkins is where it all begins.

yes, but Laett is the focus here and he helped put the program on the map.

Agreed.

I'll never forget it! I was at my dad's house at 12 years old in Clementon, NJ about 25 minutes away from where it happened. One of the most memorable moments of my life!!!

Remember it! YES and most vividly! Was home visiting family for Easter break during spring semester of college! 20 years old then! I said verbatim to my stepfather in the living room of he and my Mom's house "we need a miracle"! Of course Laettner (clutch as he always was) delivered! '92 Duke not the favorite from my fandom (this year marks 41 full seasons for me as a Dukie - affinity started 1981-82) - but they r the best Duke team ever! My favorite though remains 2001!

I remember Laettner should have been ejected from the game for purposely stomping on a KY player laying on his back on the court. Laettner even admitted he did it and apologized for it years later. No way in the world a foul that flagrant shouldn't have ended in an ejection and with that there would have been no "shot" and likely no title that year either. I think that was the year that I truly transferred all of the hatred I had for North Carolina State to Duke.

I was on a fishing trip at pyramid Lake in Nevada - heard it on the radio

They have a lot of nerve to declare Coach K as the best coach ever...John Wooden without a doubt holds that title to himself. Ten national championships in 12 years, seven of them in a row!

Yes, i thought he looked like someone familiar.. Brick tamland

In an era when the rules favoured UCLA -- first to admit UCLA had a real dynasty but Coach K is really the best coach ever

@@dennisstark8238 so WHY didn’t they favor any other team if the rules affect ucla so much they only one team and ain’t been good since John wooden left and he has multiple rings when other teams where very capable to win. You can’t play college basketball forever only 4 years and Kareem has 3 rings

Wooden also used a booster to pay players and played in a different era where it was easier to dominate. Let us know when he wins titles in multiple decades. Oh wait.

@@docholiday1463 “ain’t been good since wooden left” lmao mkay.

@@bugsyproductions3140 and that exactly what I mean he’s the best coach ever you proved my point

Nah

@@RuffhouseNC coach k lost his first two appearances ;)

My starting lineup PG,Kyrie Irving SG,Jayson Tatum SF,Grant Hill PF,Zion Williamson C,Elton Brand

Laettner is the best player in Duke history. He has to be considered top 5 all time in college history

I’m choosing the best available players

now is that cause Kyrie is a NBA God or those 11 games he played At Duke blew ur socks off??

@@sadatxersism7305 I’m choosing the best available NBA players that played at duke

What sort of cheese would you like with your whine?

LOL

Me too. 30 years later it's still the same as it was back then lol

I've never figured out what was so great about "the shot".. a simple jumper from top of the key? Big deal. A lot of players have hit last-second shots to win a game but people this this one is so incredible.

@@geod3589 It was the culmination of a virtually flawless offensive performance from Laettner. He went 10/10 in FGs and 10/10 from the FT line. His shot was a contested fadeaway. And the pass from Hill had to be absolutely right on the money. Lots of times you see a pass from such a distance intercepted. If he missed that shot his career would've been over....Duke doesn't go on to win the title and he quite possibly doesn't become the only NCAA player to make the historic "Dream Team" in Barcelona. And I say this as someone thar hated Duke with a passion then and now lol.

Dean Smith came to UNC under Frank McGuire while the stench of probation was in the air for recruiting after their 1957 championship. He was the liaison between the NCAA and UNC. He learned how to get around the NCAA rules with every available technicality. He signed the first shoe contract with Converse and if you don't remember the light blue high tops you are to young to know any of this. UNC's own President Friday denounced the the transformation from college student athletes to spoiled, special treatment, professional athletes disguised as students. The Four Corners offense was brilliant but his stall tactics completely changed college basketball. Do you realize UNC played at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the 70's and scored 0 points in the first half? Look it up. At its peak college basketball was about the best players that played together as a team with intelligence. Now its primarily about athletes that hopefully can play together. You can go the local YMCA in any big city and see the same style without a Coach. The 30 second shot clock has now so devalued the defensive strategy that only the style defense that plays almost football is known as a defensive team. Dean's summertime class schedule of lame courses kept his players eligible so that really getting an education was devalued. They got away with it for so long that it took until Roy Williams was there and the African Studies Major were exposed that the entire school was put on Academic Accreditation Probation. The only way they avoided the death penalty was that so many students took the classes after hearing about it that UNC used the defense that it was for everybody and not just student athletes. The win at all cost culture created the largest cheating scandal of all time that came within a hair of critically damaging the entire school. Dean Smith was a good coach who was the Master of exploiting the system and in my mind turned true college basketball into the NBA Minor Leagues. He doesn't deserve to be even mentioned in the breath with Coach K. Every team that wanted to win in the late 60's and 70's had to lower their moral standards to keep up with Dean. Coach K has never done anything but raise the bar. Jealousy is always going to be a part of sports but comments like yours are just based in bias and not facts. You are right about one thing. Most people do hate Duke because they lose to Duke and can't admit that they just got beat by a better team. You can thank Dean for that.

@@bradchurch7703 that was stupid on numerous levels. You know Coach k has recruited more MCDs AA than any other program? You know K paid numerous players including Duhon and Zion? You know numerous players transfered out each year, and numerous ones who stayed hate him? You know K modeled his program after Dean Smith according to K? You know with all that prep talent, he doesn't have 1 top 75 NBA player? In terms of Coach Smith, you are correct that the prior coach hired Coach Smith and that he was later hired as the Head Coach to clean up the program. What you failed to mention is that UNC officials wanted to fire him until 2 years later. There after he dominated and established the model program where 98% graduated and all returned to see him. Players rarely transferred from UNC.They called him a father figure. He successfully integrated the Acc with African Americans starting with Charlie Scott. He had numerous nba all stars, hofs, and 4 top 75 players which shows that he developed his players. We all know that MJ loved UNC so much that he wore Tarheel shorts each game under his nba uniform. Every summer, all his active players returned to play ball with his current group. On the court, Smith was responsible for so many innovations used commonly today, they are too numerous to count. The assist finger point, the huddle at the freethrow line, four corners, inverted offenses, run and jump defense, force baseline defense, secondary fastbreak, changing defenses based upon makes or misses or after timeouts, basketball analytics, plus minus, mental health utilization, etc. as examples were all from Coach Smith. Only thing K brought was the 4 man as a perimeter player which created spacing. Academically, nothing you stated is supported with facts in relation to Coach Smith. In the end, K really is the devil. Coach Smith was a better coach and far better man than that devil.

@@maa7332 Yo have some respect to the man. I was raised in NC and even though I was a Duke fan from the start, I always had mad respect for Dean Smith and Roy Williams too. Those guys with Coach K gave us so much entertainment without them, basketball will probably not be as popular in NC since we don't have a good NBA team. Yeah I know we have Hornets(or Bobcats) but they were never more popular that Duke / UNC. I can agree with parts of your comments but you are too biased and critical on Coach K. Let go of your rivally and hate for a while, I payed my respect when Dean Smith passed away and when Roy retired. They all contributed heavily to the game and the state of NC and Coach K deserves more than this comment on his last games.

@@evanlee8205 K was a terrible person.

That's exactly why is is one of most hated player, ever.