Coach K brought Duke to Minneapolis looking for his third ring. Arizona and Lute Olson were here after an emotional season. Michigan State was on the trail for a repeat title and Maryland was on a breakthrough season that set the stage for even bigger things to come. Here’s a look back on the paths […]
Duke and UConn spent the entire 1999 college basketball season circling each other and eyeing the other up. One or the other was at the top of the polls every week, and it ended with a much-anticipated Showdown in St. Petersburg, at the 1999 Final Four.
The 1991 Duke Blue Devils were a program that had arrived as a national power under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, but the last line on the resume remained incomplete. Duke reached the Final Four four of the previous five years, but had missed the ring each time, twice in the championship game. The previous year they’d taken the worst beating ever administered in an NCAA final, as UNLV hammered them 103-73.
1991 wasn’t a year where one particular city or region really stood out in terms of sports success. It was a nice year in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins won the first of two straight Stanley Cups and the Pirates reached their second of three consecutive National League Championship Series. Beyond that, 1991 is a year similar to 1982, where we pay tribute to a coach/player who finally got a long-sought championship and silenced critics. In the spring of 1991, Mainstream Media Morons (MMM) were firm in their belief that Duke’s head basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski and Chicago Bulls’ star Michael Jordan were among the group who “couldn’t win the big one.” Coach K and Jordan have now combined for ten championships between them, and they each broke through in 1991.