Grant Hill Retires

[Des Esseintes]

Thank you for the link/article. What a wonderful representative for Duke Basketball. After reading this article, Grant Hill just moved to the top of my favorite Blue Devils. He was already number two behind Christian Laettner. The part of the article that caught my eye was from his high school coach. He said Grant left his bag in his office so the coach could put Grant's recruitment letters in it. Grant didn't want to make his teammates jealous. I agree with his coach you don't see that humility in most of today's players coming out of high school. I wish Grant Hill the best in life and I'm sure we'll see more success from this great Duke Blue Devil. GoGrant and GoDuke!

Time period has little to do with it. Grant's humility was as special and rare at the time as it would be today.

[Class of '94]

Ten point lead with seven minutes left.

Tie game and shutdown defense with a few seconds left, until a fumbled ball led Lang to divert his attention for 1/10 second from Scotty Thurman.

Tired, shmired -- we shoulda won the game!!!!

I hear you my friend. My friends and I at the time thought Duke was going to pull it out and get a 3rd national championship in 4 years. We were talking about how we could be the class that came to Duke as freshmen with the team winning the first NC for the school, and possibly graduating with Duke winning a NC for the school (to add to the NC the team won when we were in our 2nd year at Duke); but it wasn't meant to be.

I seem to remember that the team (Duke) made some untimely turnovers that hurt us as well. I think both Chris Collins and Jeff Capel made some bad turnovers in that game; and I thought Grant did as well (which I believe were more fatigue related). That being said and as you pointed out, we certainly had our chances to win that game.

[royalblue]

The only reason that the 94 final is not a real candidate for most painful Duke loss is that Hill took that team on a deep run for the ages. IMO no other player in Duke history could have led and run that team any better than Grant Hill did that year.
That game could have been the cherry on top for 7 of 9 FF's and is one of a group of final games that could have really changed how we look at dominant runs.
A few that come to mind in the last 40 years
UCLA 74 Walton could have won all 3 of his chances and had the greatest argument for college GOAT
Georgetown so close in 82 and 85 would have been 3 of 4 and made the argument for Ewing
Duke 94 Hill's finish and could have been a few good years of Cameron chants of K's got 3 Deans got 2
UK 97 very very close to 3 in a row.
Writing this down may have moved it right along side 99 and 04 for feeling the pain

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't mind the '94 loss. I didn't expect a deep run at all that year, and with each game simply became more excited and loved the moment, much like our year in 2010. Once we get to the final game, unless we get blown out (damn you, UNLV!), I don't even feel bad about those. At that point, we've done what only one other team in the country has been able to do. Win or lose, it will still be the last game.
So for us to play so close in a game I didn't expect to see us in, I woke up still happy the next morning. And Grant Hill was still a champion, twice over.

[Class of '94]

I don't mind the '94 loss. I didn't expect a deep run at all that year, and with each game simply became more excited and loved the moment, much like our year in 2010. Once we get to the final game, unless we get blown out (damn you, UNLV!), I don't even feel bad about those. At that point, we've done what only one other team in the country has been able to do. Win or lose, it will still be the last game.
So for us to play so close in a game I didn't expect to see us in, I woke up still happy the next morning. And Grant Hill was still a champion, twice over.

I know a lot of people think of Christian and Shane as being all-time great leaders and captains at Duke; but I'm not sure Grant gets enough credit nowadays as having been a great leader and captain at Duke. He should imo be right up their alongside Christian, Bobby, Shane and the other all-time great leaders in Duke basketball history under K for what he did in 94. I remember reading an article in the Chronicle at the end of the 94 season in which the writer (I can't remember who after this many years) made the same claim that Grant was a great leader and should go down in Duke history as being one of the greatest captains ever in Duke men's basketball program. know these are bold statements considering all the great leaders Duke has had; but if you were around to witness that 93-94 season like I was and saw firsthand what Grant did for that time, both as a leader and a player, I think one would agree as well. That team certainly had flaws but Grant, with the help of Tony and Marty, covered all of the flaws up.

[Rich]

I hear you my friend. My friends and I at the time thought Duke was going to pull it out and get a 3rd national championship in 4 years. We were talking about how we could be the class that came to Duke as freshmen with the team winning the first NC for the school, and possibly graduating with Duke winning a NC for the school (to add to the NC the team won when we were in our 2nd year at Duke); but it wasn't meant to be.

I seem to remember that the team (Duke) made some untimely turnovers that hurt us as well. I think both Chris Collins and Jeff Capel made some bad turnovers in that game; and I thought Grant did as well (which I believe were more fatigue related). That being said and as you pointed out, we certainly had our chances to win that game.

I also wish that Grant took the last shot. If I remember correctly, we had time to get him the ball when Chris Collins jacked up a long three. It was Grant's game to win or lose.

[Dukeford]

and I think part of the reason Duke lost was Grant was at least somewhat fatigued in the championship against Arkansas after releasing so much energy in the semi-final game.

If I recall correctly, Grant also took a hard fall early in the championship game.
He was under the basket and got pushed while in the air, and landed hard an his tailbone. For a couple of moments I thought he might be out for the game. But he managed to shake it off.
Does anyone else recall that?

[BobbyFan]

I seem to remember that the team (Duke) made some untimely turnovers that hurt us as well. I think both Chris Collins and Jeff Capel made some bad turnovers in that game; and I thought Grant did as well (which I believe were more fatigue related). That being said and as you pointed out, we certainly had our chances to win that game.

Grant actually had 9 turnovers. I agree some of it was fatigue. He landed on and hurt his back early in the game, and although he came back in, I've always wondered if that affected him. K also had him defend Corliss Williamson on occasion during the game (and he fared pretty well, IIRC, although I have no intention of confirming that by ever watching the game again), in addition to all his other responsibilities. Basically, whatever weakness the 94 team had in a particular game, Grant was expected to fill the hole. And he did because he was that dynamic.