"Gone in 54 Seconds," January 27, 2001

[Reilly]

Does anyone have a photo of the UVa student holding his "Gone in 54 seconds" sign when Maryland came into U-Hall after that? Certainly a classic ACC moment -- crystallizes for me what the old ACC is/was -- how everybody's aware of how to get under everybody else's skin.

Don't see much of Juan Dixon during that last minute, not sure why. Boxscore shows Blake with 5 fouls and 29 minutes of playing time so he had already fouled out?

Ten NBA players on the court that night (Battier, Dunleavy, Williams, Boozer, Duhon ... Blake, Dixon, Baxter, Terrence Morris, Chris Wilcox).

Nice shot at the first timeout in the clip, with Johnny D, JWill, and Battier shoulder to shoulder: three NCAA players of the year. Johnny D looks more sinister with a mustache.

Such an intense game: Gary Williams is sweating.

It was the night before the Baltimore Ravens played the NYGiants in Tampa in the Super Bowl. if I recall correctly, news accounts talked about Williams being at the Super Bowl (Steve Bisciotti, then minority owner, now majority owner of the Ravens, is a friend and big Terps fan), and Williams was morosely attending all the SBowl festivities, understandably unable to shake the previous night.

[weezie]

Funny to hear Mike Patrick before the last 100lbs he loaded on.

[wilson]

Funny to hear Mike Patrick before the last 100lbs he loaded on.

Not to mention the other 220 lbs. of dead weight he typically travels with these days...

[weezie]

Not to mention the other 220 lbs. of dead weight he typically travels with these days...

LOL, indeed! Just what I needed to pick up my day

[Orange&BlackSheep]

I went to watch it with my brother (Trinity '96) and his 6-7 month pregnant wife (Trinity '97) at his house. Glum turned to glee and much jumping around and whooping it up happened. Later that evening, my sister-in-law started having contractions and there was real fear of pre-term labor. Nothing happened that night other than that win (thankfully), and a healthy little girl was born in late April (Trinity '23).

Sadly for my sister-in-law, my brother established the no more Duke games edict so she was not able to enjoy the NC

[DukeGirl4ever]

Not to mention the other 220 lbs. of dead weight he typically travels with these days...

I just had to add this, but wasn't sure which thread - this or the Elmore thread.

I watched the "Gone in 54 seconds" clip and I noticed some other Duke miracle clips along the side, so I decided to watch a few. I watched the Duke-Clemson clip where McClure hit the shot at the buzzer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BfSc...eature=related

Of course Elmore is announcing...and he is such a Debbie Downer. At first he questions the amount of time that was put back on the clock, and then Patrick starts going crazy when Dave makes the shot and there's Grumpy Len going, "No, no, I don't know."

[killerleft]

I just had to add this, but wasn't sure which thread - this or the Elmore thread.

I watched the "Gone in 54 seconds" clip and I noticed some other Duke miracle clips along the side, so I decided to watch a few. I watched the Duke-Clemson clip where McClure hit the shot at the buzzer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BfSc...eature=related

Of course Elmore is announcing...and he is such a Debbie Downer. At first he questions the amount of time that was put back on the clock, and then Patrick starts going crazy when Dave makes the shot and there's Grumpy Len going, "No, no, I don't know."

The clock operator pretty much sucked at the end of the game. First off, the clock should have been reset to 5.8 or so instead of 5.0 after the Clemson lay-up. Then, the operator failed to start the clock on time after the giveaway by McBob. Then he tries to make up for that by letting the clock run down to 1.8.

If I saw it correctly, it appears that Duke should have had about 4.2 seconds to run the last play. The Clemson shot to tie took less than 2 seconds.

So I can't fault Len Legend for saying, "No, no, I don't know". Nobody knew 1) exactly how much time should have been on the clock for our last play, and 2) only after a replay in slow motion can you really tell for sure that David McClure did really beat the buzzer.

In essence, the clock operator is responsible for all the confusion, not Len Elmore.

That's what I saw, at least. Sorry to mess up the metanarrative.

[Danke Shane]

I miss me some Brad Daugherty providing the commentary...

[Reilly]

Daugherty, Kenny Smith, and (to a bit lesser degree) Jamison = only three non-annoying Heels, in my book ... .

[hurleyfor3]

Daugherty, Kenny Smith, and (to a bit lesser degree) Jamison = only three non-annoying Heels, in my book ... .

Kenny Smith is non-annoying? Is that because you find him unintentionally funny?

Re the 2001 game in Cole, people seem to forget the deficit was actually twelve points with just over a minute remaining. I recall the Maryland fans doing the "Overrated" cheer or something similar at that point. Oops.

[epoulsen]

I remember watching this game at a local bar in Raleigh with my Uncle and all of his UNC friends, who were just drunk/giddy with excitement. I remember J Will dropping a duece, and then grabbing the steal and dropping the three and I looked over at my uncle and with defeated look he sighed, looked down at his burboun, leaned back in his barstool and said simply... "Duke's gowna wi-uhn". Aside from our national titles I don't think I was ever so proud of our Devils. GREAT memory.

[burnspbesq]

Hard to think of a game where it looked so lopsided against us, but we won.

Women @UConn in 2004. Down 20 in the second half. Won at the buzzer on a three by Jess Foley.

[DukeGirl4ever]

Nice to see PTI acknowledge the Miracle Minute today!

[1 24 90]

ESPN Classic is showing this game on February 1 from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m.

[CharlestonDevil]

Boxscore shows Blake with 5 fouls and 29 minutes of playing time so he had already fouled out?

Yep. And literally seconds after he went out of the game J Will went on his tear. Blake is the only player I ever remember that just really had Jason's number. In "Five Point Play" JWill is quoted as saying "The Maryland fans started chanting 'overrated!'. I hate that chant." Too bad 1 minute of a hot Jason Williams is greater than 39 minutes of Steve Blake defense!

Funny story, I was a sophmore in high school when this game happened. I watched it with my dad at home. Athough I am the more devoted Blue Devil dad got so frustrated that towards the end of the game he stood up out of the recliner and and huffed "I'm going to the store." 30 seconds later Steve Blake fouls out. 54 seconds and 1 overtime after that we've got a W. A HUGE W.

Dad came home from the store and I was still jumping up and down in excitement (and utter disbelief). He hasn't missed an ending since.

[moonpie23]

i had to leave to go see a band that night and turned it off with about 1:30 left....too me maybe 10 minutes to get to the gig and the TV was on....i looked up and thought "what is this? a replay? wait...that's OVER TIME!!! NO FREAKING WAY"...

had to watch the highlights later...

[HCheek37]

It seems like teams down 10 or 12 with a minute or two left at throwing in the white towel. I see lackluster pressing, players looking to pad stats, and coaches calling off the dogs. I am sure we'll see another comeback like Duke's someday but right now games like this are far too often conceded by the team down 10 or so. Anyone else agree??

[wsb3]

It is not as if I have not turned the TV off early when the game seemed out of reach. My sole reason that I did not was it appeared to be the end of an incredible 22 game ACC Road Streak. It was my way to pay homage to a fantastic feat.

Midway through OT I called my sister suspecting correctly that she had pulled the plug. "Turn the game back on I shouted into her voice mail."

She calls me back a minute later. "What in the world happened?"

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

It's still amazing to me that we played MD four times that season and each game was a classic.

[wilson]

It's still amazing to me that we played MD four times that season and each game was a classic.

Good call. And perhaps even more improbably, the only one we lost was in Cameron, on Senior Night. Odd, indeed.