1991–92 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

Roster

• Mike Krzyzewski
• Tommy Amaker
• Jay Bilas
• Mike Brey}}

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 and Clay Buckley to graduation along with outgoing transfers Billy McCaffrey and Crawford Palmer, 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

Main article: 1991–92 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Accomplishments

• 2nd straight national championship (1991–1992)
• 3rd straight appearance in national championship game (1990–1992)
• 5th straight appearance in Final Four (1988–1992)
• Held AP No. 1 ranking from start to finish throughout season (18 polls)
• Christian Laettner received several Player of the Year accolades in 1992:
  • NABC Player of the Year
  • AP National Player of the Year
  • Oscar Robertson Trophy
  • Wooden Award
  • Naismith Award
  • Adolph Rupp Trophy
• Christian Laettner was a unanimous First Team All-American selection.
• Christian Laettner became the only player to start in four consecutive Final Fours. He also played in a record-setting 23 games in the NCAA Tournament. (To break this record, one would have to play in four consecutive championship games.)
• Four players received All-ACC honors:
  • Christian Laettner (1st Team)
  • Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley (2nd Team)
  • Thomas Hill (3rd Team)
• Three players from the 1992 squad (Laettner, Hurley, and Grant Hill) had their jerseys retired by Duke.
• Mike Krzyzewski was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year
• Christian Laettner was the only College Basketball Player on the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as The Dream Team.
• Mike Krzyzewski was also on The Dream Team Coaching Staff as an Assistant.

References

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] {{webarchive. link. (2008-06-25)