1990–91 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

1990–91 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
National Champions, ACC Regular Season Champions
NCAA National Championship Game vs. Kansas, W, 72–65
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
AP	#6
1990–91 record	32–7 (11–3 ACC)
Head coach	Mike Krzyzewski
Assistant coach	Mike Brey
Assistant coach	Tommy Amaker
Assistant coach	Jay Bilas
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium

The 1990–91 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team was a Division I college basketball team that competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team brought to Duke their first national championship when they defeated Kansas 72–65. Duke would win the championship again the following year, making Duke the first team since UCLA in 1973 to win back-to-back titles.

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

No.	Position	Player
3	G	Marty Clark
4	G	Kenny Blakeney
5	G	Bill McCaffrey
11	G	Bobby Hurley
12	F/G	Thomas Hill
21	F	Antonio Lang
22	F	Greg Koubek

No.	Position	Player
23	G/F	Brian Davis
32	F/C	Christian Laettner
33	F/G	Grant Hill
34	C	Crawford Palmer
45	F/C	Clay Buckley
54	F	Christian Ast

Expectations

The Blue Devils had ended the 1990 season with a record-setting 30-point loss to the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in the national championship game (103–73). After losing seniors Phil Henderson, Alaa Abdelnaby, and Robert Brickey to graduation, Duke welcomed a new addition to the team, freshman Grant Hill.

Regular season

With junior Christian Laettner and sophomore Bobby Hurley leading the way, Duke placed third at the Preseason NIT (behind Arizona and Arkansas). The Blue Devils went on to compile a 25–6 regular season record, including a perfect 16–0 mark at home. Scoring victories in both rivalry matches against North Carolina and sporting an 11–3 conference record, Duke also captured their 9th regular-season championship in school history.

Conference Tournament

Duke entered the ACC Tournament as a No. 1 seed, but stumbled in the ACC title game against North Carolina by a score of 96–74, even though the Blue Devils had defeated the Tar Heels twice during the regular season. As a result, North Carolina received the top seed in the East Regional, leaving Duke with a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA tournament

Duke however tore through the Midwest Regional, defeating St. John's to join UNLV, Kansas, and rival North Carolina in the Final Four in Indianapolis. Entering the semifinals against UNLV, the Blue Devils were facing an undefeated and top-ranked Runnin' Rebels squad that boasted a 45-game winning streak and featured National Player of the Year Larry Johnson. In one of the biggest upsets in Final Four history, however, Duke got its revenge from a year ago by a score of 79–77 after Laettner hit two free throws with 12 seconds remaining and UNLV guard Anderson Hunt missed a three-point attempt at the end-of-game buzzer.^[1]^[2]

An all-ACC, Duke vs. UNC title game was averted when Roy Williams coached his Kansas Jayhawks team to victory over his mentor Dean Smith and his Tar Heels squad. In what would become the first of many matchups between Williams (now head coach at North Carolina) and Mike Krzyzewski, Duke finally claimed its first national championship by a score of 72–65. Laettner was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
November 14, 1990*	#6	Marquette Preseason NIT	W 87–74	1–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
November 16, 1990*	#6	Boston College Preseason NIT	W 100–76	2–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
November 21, 1990* , ESPN	#6	vs. #2 Arkansas Preseason NIT	L 88–98	2–1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
November 23, 1990* , ESPN	#6	vs. Notre Dame Preseason NIT	W 85–77	3–1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
November 26, 1990* 7:30 PM	#6	East Carolina	W 125–82	4–1	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 1, 1990* 7:30 PM	#8	Charlotte	W 111–94	5–1	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 5, 1990* 9:00 PM, ESPN	#5	at #6 Georgetown ACC/Big East Challenge	L 74–79	5–2	Capital Center Landover, Maryland
December 8, 1990* 2:00 PM, ABC	#5	Michigan	W 75–68	6–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 19, 1990* 7:30 PM	#9	at Harvard	W 83–66	7–2	Briggs Athletic Center Cambridge, MA
December 22, 1990* 3:45 PM, CBS	#9	at #11 Oklahoma	W 90–85	8–2	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK
December 29, 1990* 7:30 PM	#8	Lehigh	W 97–67	9–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 2, 1991* 7:30 PM	#8	Boston University	W 109–55	10–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 5, 1991 12:30 PM	#8	at #18 Virginia	L 64–81	10–3	University Hall Charlottesville, VA
January 9, 1991 9:00 PM	#14	#24 Georgia Tech	W 98–57	11–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 12, 1991 1:00 PM	#14	at Maryland	W 94–78	12–3	Cole Field House College Park, MD
January 14, 1991 9:00 PM	#14	Wake Forest	W 89–67	13–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 16, 1991* 7:30 PM	#12	at The Citadel	W 83–50	14–3	McAlister Field House Charleston, SC
January 19, 1991 8:00 PM	#12	#5 North Carolina	W 74–60	15–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 23, 1991 7:00 PM	#9	at NC State	L 89–95	15–4	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 26, 1991 4:00 PM	#9	at Clemson	W 99–70	16–4	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
January 30, 1991 9:00 PM	#7	at #23 Georgia Tech	W 77–75	17–4	Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, GA
February 2, 1991* 4:00 PM	#7	at Notre Dame	W 90–77	18–4	Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN
February 7, 1991 9:00 PM	#6	#11 Virginia	W 86–74	19–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 9, 1991 1:00 PM	#6	Maryland	W 101–81	20–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 10, 1991* 2:00 PM	#6	#19 LSU	W 88–70	21–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 13, 1991*	#5	Davidson	W 74–39	22–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 16, 1991 4:00 PM	#5	at Wake Forest	L 77–86	22–5	Lawrence Joel Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
February 20, 1991 9:00 PM	#7	vs. NC State	W 72–65	23–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 24, 1991* 4:00 PM	#7	at #9 Arizona	L 96–103 ^2OT	23–6	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
February 27, 1991 9:00 PM	#8	Clemson	W 79–62	24–6	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
March 3, 1991 2:00 PM	#8	at #4 North Carolina	W 83–77	25–6	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
March 9, 1991	#6	vs. NC State ACC Tournament Semifinals	W 93–72	26–6	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
March 10, 1991 , Raycom (Locally) CBS (Nationally)	#6	vs. #7 North Carolina ACC Tournament Finals	L 74–96	26–7	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
March 14, 1991* , CBS	#6	vs. Louisiana-Monroe NCAA Midwest First Round	W 102–73	27–7	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis, MN
March 16, 1991* , CBS	#6	vs. Iowa NCAA Midwest Second Round	W 85–70	28–7	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis, MN
March 22, 1991* , CBS	#6	vs. Connecticut NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal	W 81–67	29–7	Pontiac Silverdome Pontiac, MI
March 24, 1991* , CBS	#6	vs. #20 St. John's NCAA Midwest Regional Final	W 78–61	30–7	Pontiac Silverdome Pontiac, MI
March 30, 1991* , CBS	#6	vs. #1 UNLV NCAA National Semifinal	W 79–77	31–7	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
April 1, 1991* 21:00, CBS	#6	vs. #12 Kansas NCAA National Championship	W 72–65	32–7	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Accomplishments

1st basketball championship after 4 previous appearances in title game (1964, 1978, 1986, 1990)
2nd straight appearance in national championship game (1990, 1991)
4th straight appearance in Final Four (1988–1991)
Christian Laettner was a consensus All-American Second Team selection.^[3]
Three players received All-ACC honors:
- Christian Laettner (1st Team)
- Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill (3rd Team)
Three players from the 1991 squad (Laettner, Hurley, and Grant Hill) had their jerseys retired by Duke.

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils men's basketball

Venues	The Ark (1906–1923) Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (1924–1930) Card Gymnasium (1930–1939) Cameron Indoor Stadium (1940–present)

Rivalries	North Carolina (Carlyle Cup) Maryland Michigan

Culture & lore	"Blue and White" Cameron Crazies Champions Classic Dixie Classic "Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!" Krzyzewskiville "The Shot" Tobacco Road

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Duke Blue Devils Men's Basketball 1990–91 NCAA Champions

5 Billy McCaffrey 11 Bobby Hurley 12 Thomas Hill 21 Antonio Lang 22 Greg Koubek 23 Brian Davis 32 Christian Laettner (MOP) 33 Grant Hill 34 Crawford Palmer Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski Assistant Coaches Tommy Amaker Jay Bilas Mike Brey

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke

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