March 30, 1991: The Last Time Duke's Basketball Team Was an Underdog

Christian Laettner (left) and Grant Hill

March 30, 1991: The basketball team of Duke University defeats the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the defending National Champions, 79-77, in the Semifinal of the NCAA Tournament.

It is now hard to imagine Duke being an underdog, but, at the time, it was UNLV who were the big bad villains of college basketball.

UNLV were coached by Jerry Tarkanian, a.k.a. "Tark the Shark," known for his bald head and nervously chewing on a white towel while sitting on the sideline. With a starting lineup that included future NBA stars Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon, all of whom would return for a senior year, they went 34-5. In the Final, at the McNichols Arena in Denver, they beat Duke, 103-73.

Under coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke had lost to Louisville in the 1986 Final. In 1990-91, with stars like Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill, they got back to the Final Four, going 29-7. But UNLV took a 45-game winning streak, still the longest in college basketball since UCLA's record of 88 straight ended in 1974, into the Final Four at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

This time, Duke took a 13-5 lead. UNLV adjusted, but not much, and only led 43-41 at halftime. With less than 4 minutes to go, Anthony fouled out of the game. With 2:31 left, UNLV led 76-71. But the Blue Devils fought back, tied the game at 77-77, and Laettner was fouled on an offensive rebound with 12.7 seconds to play. He sank both free throws, and Duke led, 79-77.

UNLV had one more chance. Johnson considered shooting over Laettner, but thought better of it. He passed to Anderson Hunt, who tried a 3-pointer over Hurley and Laettner, to win it. He missed, and Duke had pulled off the upset. They went on to beat Kansas in the Finals, 72-65. 

The following season, UNLV were rocked by scandal, and Tarkanian was forced to resign. They've only advanced as far in the NCAA Tournament as the Sweet Sixteen once since. In contrast, Duke made it back-to-back titles in 1992, beating Michigan in the Final. They would win 5 National Championships under "Coach K," who retired having won more games than any other collegiate coach.

As time went by, as such teams often do, Duke went from being a plucky underdog, admired by the rest of the country, to being a bunch of arrogant bastards, making the rest of the country sick of them. Until 1991, only fans of the other Atlantic Coast Conference teams, especially their nearby arch-rivals, the University of North Carolina, were aware of Duke fans' behavior in the stands at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, reminiscent of English soccer hooligans.

But, like the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Dallas Cowboys, the New England Patriots, and the University of Notre Dame's football team, the rest of the country eventually got tired of their act, hating both Duke and the "Cameron Crazies" intensely, developing an "Anybody But Duke" mentality.

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March 30, 1991 was a Saturday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat their neighbors, the New Jersey Nets, 130-117 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Houston Rockets, 114-82 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 130-116 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 121-91 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 115-102 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 8 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 6-5 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat their Provincial rivals, the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Buffalo Sabres and the Hartford Whalers played to a tie, 5-5 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center).

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, intra-State rivals, played to a tie, 4-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

And in English soccer, Arsenal inched closer to winning the Football League title, by beating Derby County, 2-0, at The Baseball Ground in Derby, in the East Midlands. Derbyshire was one of the few places in England where baseball ever caught on, but the name of the stadium remained long after the sport was given up on, much like New York's Polo Grounds. Alan Smith scored both goals for the Gunners.