1991–92 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team explained

Year:1991–92
Team:Duke Blue Devils
Sport:basketball
Conference:Atlantic Coast Conference
Short Conf:ACC
Coachrank:1
Aprank:1
Record:34–2
Conf Record:14–2
Head Coach:Mike Krzyzewski (12th season)
Asst Coach1:Pete Gaudet
Asst Coach2:Mike Brey
Asst Coach3:Tommy Amaker
Asst Coach4:Jay Bilas
Arena:Cameron Indoor Stadium
Champion:NCAA tournament National Champions
ACC tournament champions
ACC regular season champions
Tourney:National Championship Game
Tourney Result:
W 71-51 vs. Michigan

The 1991–92 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team was a Division I college basketball team that competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Led by All-American Christian Laettner and Grant Hill, Duke won its 2nd national championship in as many years to become the first repeating team since UCLA's seven-year dynasty from 1967 to 1973. The feat would not be accomplished again in college basketball until the Florida Gators did it in 2007.

Expectations

The Blue Devils started the season as the defending National Champions, and were looking to repeat as National Champions for the first time since UCLA did it in 1973. Losing only Greg Koubek to graduation, Duke retained its core players including Laettner, Bobby Hurley, and Grant Hill and was able to add recruits Cherokee Parks and Erik Meek to its lineup.

Regular season

The Blue Devils started the season ranked No. 1 and won its first 17 games. Their unbeaten streak came to an end when they lost a close contest to North Carolina in the Dean Dome by a score of 75–73. However, Duke would only lose another game (to Wake Forest 72–68) for the rest of the season and finished the season with a 25–2 record and the 10th regular-season championship in school history.

Conference Tournament

Duke entered the ACC tournament as the No. 1 seed. They defeated North Carolina in the ACC title game 94–74 to capture their 9th ACC Tournament Championship in school history. As a result, the Blue Devils received a No. 1 seed in the East Regional of the NCAA tournament.

NCAA tournament

The Blue Devils had little trouble progressing through the first three rounds, but faced the toughest test of the season in the East Regional Final against sixth-ranked and No. 2 seed Kentucky coached by Rick Pitino. In perhaps the greatest college basketball game in history, Christian Laettner hit a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper on a long inbounds pass from Grant Hill, and Duke got a 104–103 overtime win over Kentucky to earn its fifth straight Final Four appearance. Laettner scored 31 points in that game, making all 10 of his field goal attempts (including a three-pointer) and all 10 of his free throws.

After defeating an Indiana team led by Calbert Cheaney, Duke reached the title game for the third consecutive time to face off against Michigan's Fab Five, led by freshmen Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. The Blue Devils ended the Fab Five's dream run in a 71–51 contest to become the first team since UCLA 19 years ago to repeat as National Champions. Bobby Hurley was named NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Schedule

|-!colspan=9 style=| Regular season|-!colspan=8 style=| ACC Tournament|-!colspan=9 style=| NCAA tournament

Rankings

See main article: 1991–92 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.

Accomplishments

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.ncaa.org/library/records/basketball/m_basketball_records_book/2008/2008_m_basketball_records.pdf NCAA.org: 2008 Men's Basketball Records Book