The ones that I'll remember.
SIU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwLlOafV3hg
82-50:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCi6NnGd7aQ
History is great. And they all mean a lot and I love them all. And I'm an old timer and Phil Henderson's dunk was huge. But there were a couple dunks by Nolan Smith that were freaking amazing and I can't put my finger on the you tubes, that series of tubes that makes the inter nets, but Smitty rivals all the ones mentioned.
~rthomas
The ones that I'll remember.
SIU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwLlOafV3hg
82-50:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCi6NnGd7aQ
Context: The Duke-Gtown '89 game was a 1 vs. 2 matchup, so it wasn't like the Hoyas were all that big a favorite. Also, although 'Zo was a heralded recruit who had had a great freshman season, he was still a freshman and hadn't yet fully established his reputation as a great defensive player. Charles Smith was the leader of that Hoyas team, which closed to within two points after PH's slam. 'Zo only played 11 minutes in the second half of that game, though he did block 4 shots in his 26 total minutes.
I remember that game more for Laettner's superb performance than any other individual's play. That tournament was where many of us who didn't follow all of Duke's games at the time first got a glimpse of how much potential he had. His stats were better than Danny Ferry's in that game, even though Ferry was the big name at the time.
I agree with jimsumner about Dahntay's showboating.
And, as for Shane's blocks, wow, there are so many to choose from!
Quel est si drole de la paix, de l'amour, et de la comprehension?
Another great one that isn't remembered as much as the pushups dunk against UVA (and is apparently harder to find video of) is the Dahntay dunk in the Maui invitational where he literally jumped completely over the defender to dunk the ball. Dahntay could get up there.
Yes and no.
You are right that Georgetown-Duke was a 1-2 ... but in the 1991 NCAA semifinals Duke over Vegas was a 2 ovr a 1 ... was that a huge upset?
Now, I don't mean to suggest that Duke over Georgetown in 1989 was that magnitude, but it was significant. Georgetown came out of the Big East Tournament that year annointed as a the pretournament favorite -- even though the Hoyas were ranked No. 2 to Arizona. But Georgetown was still the betting favorite and were viewed as a monstrous team.
How monstrous?
Well, look at the action of the NCAA selection committee. Duke and North Carolina were both given No. 2 seeds by the committee, but North Carolina, coming off a narrow victory over Duke in the ACC tournament was clearly regarded as the strongest No. 2 on the s-curve. At the time, balancing the field was the most important consideraing for the committee (geographic considerations played no role in that era). Dean Smith, who was angry the year before when Duke got to play in Chapel Hill in the NCAA Tournament (at the time teams could play on their home courts -- and usually did; but Duke had beaten UNC three times in '88 and was given the choice location), expected to get the spot in the East Regional in Greensboro when UNC beat Duke in Atlanta.
But Georgetown -- the strongest No. 1 -- was in the East and the committee didn't want to put its strongest No. 1 and its strongest No. 2 in the same region. So they moved UNC to the South (where they won two games in Atlanta and lost a Sweet 16 game to third-seeded Michigan (which eventually won the title). Duke was bracketed with Georgetown and allowed to start with two games in Greensboro, then move on to the Meadowlands. As it turned out, Duke had a fairly easy path to the regional championship game, getting unranked Minnesota in the Sweet 16. Duke beat the Gophers on the same night UNC lost to Michigan in Lexington. Afterwards, Dean uttered his famous complaint, "I'd rather have played Minnesota" -- revealing just how much the placement bothered him (which he privately blamed on Tom Butters, wo was on the selection committee).
My point is that while nobody would call Duke over Georgetown a monumental upset -- especially in hindsight when we see what Laettner and company would accomplish -- it was perceived as a major upset at the tim. You can't recapture it now, but that Georgetown team was thought to be a juggernaut.
Here's a link to the Dawkins dunk in the 2010 ACC championship game that I referenced earlier (you have to scroll through a little bit). While at first glance maybe not as spectacular as some of the others mentioned, given the circumstances of where Andre's game was at the time -- he had almost completely disappeared to the bench by that point in the season, and had not scored a single basket in three games, with only 19 points over the previous 11-game stretch -- the out-of-nowhere jam helped propel the Blue Devils to an ACC title. The energy in the building just completely changed from that point forward. I have chills still.
http://www.dukeblueplanet.com/retro-duke.asp
Looking back through the Duke Blue Planet archives, which you can find in the link above, there is an entire world of Duke dunks about which I had completely forgotten. Take, for example, Gerald Henderson's spinning, one-handed slam overtop Illinois' Rodney Alexander in Maui. Incredible mid-air exploits by the man known simply as "G."
I don't think that quite gets it right. The '89 team had a lot of talent on it, with multiple NBA players, including Ferry, Laettner and Abdelnaby (did I miss anyone else?). The team had been a preseason #1, but had faltered due to issues with chemistry and inconsistency; they had problems at point guard with Quin Snyder, and also had teamwork and chemistry issues. The result was that Duke lost a number of games during the regular season, and slipped into the bottom of the top 10.My point is that while nobody would call Duke over Georgetown a monumental upset -- especially in hindsight when we see what Laettner and company would accomplish -- it was perceived as a major upset at the time. You can't recapture it now, but that Georgetown team was thought to be a juggernaut.
That Georgetown team had both Dikembe and Alonzo on it, probably the best inside defensive college front line in history, but Duke's frontcourt D
was pretty decent too, and the rest of the team was clearly better; I mean, Georgetown did not have one player on the team, including their guards,
who could throw the ball in the ocean. They were a horrible shooting team, and Duke wasn't. Duke forced them to come out and guard Ferry and the
rest of the team, which left the back door open for Laettner who repeatedly burned them. Overall, given the way the teams matched up, it wasn't really that much of an upset.
The Henderson slam was memorable because it was so outrageous, and Alonzo, even though only a freshman (and not that bulked up yet, either)
was already establishing a reputation as a pretty scary shotblocker. To believe that a skinny guard like Henderson could deliver a facial to someone
like Alonzo was simply incredible. That's why I ranked it ahead of Gene's dunk, even Gene's was more spectacular.
That's closer to the way I remember it. I was just becoming a Duke fan at the time but was already a big Gtown fan, having gone to school there and living in DC. I followed that team very closely, and they just weren't close to the great Hoya teams of the Ewing years with great college players like Sleepy Floyd, Reggie Williams, David Wingate and Gene Smith, still the best defensive guard I have ever seen.
Mark Tillmon and Jaren Jackson on the '89 team actually could shoot OK, and Charles Smith was Big East POY and, I think, second-team all-American. But Tillmon and Jackson weren't great ball-handlers or defenders. Mourning was on his way to becoming one of the best college defenders ever, but was still a freshman at a time when most good players still stayed four years. Mourning-Mutombo would become a fierce front line, but Deke was strictly a bench player at the time and Thompson hadn't yet figured out that he should actually play them together.
Duke was the better team IMO - remember, Gtown needed a miracle last-second shot just to get past Princeton in the first round that tournament.
That doesn't take anything away from Henderson's dunk over a much bigger and stronger player, and I can certainly understand why Duke fans consider it among the all-times. But, to be honest, as well as I remember that game watching as a Hoya fan, I don't even remember the dunk. It wasn't that big a deal from my side. I do remember Laettner and Ferry in that game all too well. ;(
I rooted hard for Duke in that Final Four and have ever since, though it's pure hell whenever my two favorite teams play each other. I know I'm going to feel bad no matter who wins.
Quel est si drole de la paix, de l'amour, et de la comprehension?
Didn't think this was worth a separate thread, but the caption on the front page picture seems to be wrong. Pretty sure that's Dahntay against Ball State in Maui, and not against UVA.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
It was against Ball State at the Maui Invitational in the 2001-2002 season. He jumped from way outside the lane, and it was called a charge. Coach K spent the next 2 minutes telling the ref that it wasn't because Tay jumped over the dude.
The Push Ups dunk was great too, K yanked his backside out of the game right after he hit that free throw though. Personally, I would have let it roll.