Confusion over Duke-NC State

[battier]

Not to be picky, but there's some confusion on DBR over Duke-State in the mid-1990s. The story reads: "when Duke was in dire straits, in 1995, they opened ACC play with a depleted N.C. State team under a new coach. That team beat Duke, overcoming heavy odds. It was one of Sendek’s finest moments."

If memory serves me correctly, in 1995 the Pete Gaudet-led Duke Blue Devils beat State in the Les Robinson Invitational before losing to Randolph Childress (oops...Wake Forest) in the 1st round. It was 1997 when first-year coach Herb Sendek and C.C. Harrison led State to an upset over the ACC regular season champ Duke.

Tonight, I look for a repeat of the '95 Duke-State matchup, not the '97 version.

[Jumbo]

Not to be picky, but there's some confusion on DBR over Duke-State in the mid-1990s. The story reads: "when Duke was in dire straits, in 1995, they opened ACC play with a depleted N.C. State team under a new coach. That team beat Duke, overcoming heavy odds. It was one of Sendek’s finest moments."

If memory serves me correctly, in 1995 the Pete Gaudet-led Duke Blue Devils beat State in the Les Robinson Invitational before losing to Randolph Childress (oops...Wake Forest) in the 1st round. It was 1997 when first-year coach Herb Sendek and C.C. Harrison led State to an upset over the ACC regular season champ Duke.

Tonight, I look for a repeat of the '95 Duke-State matchup, not the '97 version.

Duke definitely won in 1995. And they were actually up by like 15 of 17 points in the first half against Wake before Randolph Childress went nuts.

[Olympic Fan]

Obviously, what's happened is that the 1995 and 1997 seasons have been confused.

-- In 1995, when Gaudet took over the team, Duke lost twice to State inb the regular season, but bounced back to beat the Pack in the ACC play-in game. Les Robinson was the State coach ... hence, "The Les Robinson Invitational" as the play-in game was know. Duke lost to Wake the next day in the quarterfinals.

-- In 1997, Duke won the ACC regular season title and was the top seed in the tourney. State, in Sendek's first year, was 8th in a 9-team lead. They beat Georgia Tech in the Les Robinson Invitational on Thursday night ... then upset Duke on Friday. They also beat Maryland in the semifinals before losing to UNC in the title game.

THAT was one of Sendek's finest moments.