2001 Championship Duke-Arizona

[BlueintheFace]

Duke-Arizona is on ESPN Classic right now. It's just reminding me how great a player Battier was. I'm also reminded now how similar Singler's game is to Batttier's. That was a very complete team. They really had a lot of size too- Boozer, Sanders, Battier, James. God I miss being in the Final Four.

[bbar7502]

glad you posted that it was on, just turned it on and watched battier's spectacular block which led to dunleavy's third three in a row... still get goosebumps...

[The1Bluedevil]

Just saw Dunleavy's 9 point sequence and started yelling. God I miss the final four as well.

GO DUKE

[Dukie4Life]

I taped that game (like I do every game...yes I'm that fan. lol) however it never ceases to amaze me how well everyone played together. The leadership of Shane to Mike's shooting performance and Jason William's ball handeling. I also like to remember that Chris Duhon had quite the concussion the day before playing the Twerps of Maryland. As a freshman he really played well and gave great minutes!

Awww memories!

[_Gary]

Watching and listening to the second half of the game again reminds just how bad Packer really was. Well, not bad. Just out and out biased. His comments about fouls on both ends of the floor almost always cast a bad light on Duke and a good light on Arizona. I personally lay a huge part of the Duke hatred blame on him and his call of this game in particular.

But in spite of Packer it's fun revisiting this team. Gosh they were great!


Gary

[sundown]

Watching and listening to the second half of the game again reminds just how bad Packer really was. Well, not bad. Just out and out biased. His comments about fouls on both ends of the floor almost always cast a bad light on Duke and a good light on Arizona. I personally lay a huge part of the Duke hatred blame on him and his call of this game in particular.

But in spite of Packer it's fun revisiting this team. Gosh they were great!


Gary

All Packer did was point out that the neutral fans in the building had turned against Duke because they perceived Duke was getting all the calls. He never said they were right; in fact, after he commented on the fans' perception and reaction and Nantz asked him if he thought they were right, he said, "No, I don't necessarily think that." His comment that there were fouls on both ends of the floor was an expansion on the previous comment. Also, Packer never argued that Jason had fouled on the body-surfing play late in the first half, never argued that Baxter's fifth foul in the Maryland game was a bad call, and said he thought Battier's block that sent Gardner sprawling and led to Dunleavy's third three was a good no-call. I don't get why you blame Packer for Duke hatred.

[davekay1971]

The Tar Heelfanforlife guy is an obvious troll, but his Battier vs. Jordan comments are interesting in one aspect - they bring up in my mind the question of who had the better college career - Battier or Jordan. They both won a national championship, though Jordan did it as a role player (a really really good role player) on an awesome team his freshman year, while Battier did it as the unquestioned leader of an awesome team his senior year. Battier improved dramatically during his career, as did Jordan, but Battier's development was probably more breathtaking.

I don't know...Jordan went on to become such a dominant player in the NBA (yes, even as a Tar Heel he's the best NBA player ever imho) that it sometimes clouds one's ability to objectively judge his college career. All in all I'd say that his college career was a very good one, but one of unrealized potential (that was, of course, later realized in the pros). No one could say Battier's college career left any potential unrealized.

[Johnboy]

The Tar Heelfanforlife guy is an obvious troll, but his Battier vs. Jordan comments are interesting in one aspect - they bring up in my mind the question of who had the better college career - Battier or Jordan. They both won a national championship, though Jordan did it as a role player (a really really good role player) on an awesome team his freshman year, while Battier did it as the unquestioned leader of an awesome team his senior year. Battier improved dramatically during his career, as did Jordan, but Battier's development was probably more breathtaking.

I don't know...Jordan went on to become such a dominant player in the NBA (yes, even as a Tar Heel he's the best NBA player ever imho) that it sometimes clouds one's ability to objectively judge his college career. All in all I'd say that his college career was a very good one, but one of unrealized potential that was, of course, later realized in the pros). No one could say Battier's college career left any potential unrealized.

The Duke player whose college career most resembles Jordan's is Jason Williams. IIRC, they not only had similar numbers, but their final seasons were similar in remarkable ways (e.g., their #1 ranked and considered the prohibitive favorite teams both lost to Indiana in the Sweet 16).

As collegians, Jordan's and Battier's games were so different it's comparing apples and oranges, IMO.

In terms of winning titles at every level, there has been no greater basketball player than Bill Russell.

[NashvilleDevil]

I watched my tape of the '01 title game and of THE GAME this past Saturday. I also forgot how great Battier was not just on the court but his leadership was awesome. Another thing I paid attention to was Packer's commentary since some people have mentioned this game as the beginning of the Duke gets all the calls garbage that has been going on. I know he commented on the officiating but from what I gathered he was saying that the crowd was turning on Duke because they thought they were getting all the calls. Something I am sure Gary mentioned 500 times in his post game press conference after the game on Saturday. I also watched Lute's post game comments and forgot he made a comment that he thought Williams should have fouled out on two occasions. I think Packer was just commenting on what the atmosphere of the arena was after a call and was not saying Duke was getting all the calls.

[3211]

I think I may have blocked the memory of that game out because the court was the most hideous final four court ever conceived. Silly I know.

[dw0827]

My fondest memory of that Final 4 was the semi-final game against Maryland.

I live in the midwest around KU. We were about 15 minutes into the first half and we were losing by a zillion . . . well, about 23 - 25 points . . . and suddenly I start getting calls from friends and acquaintances (all KU fans) just wanting to say hi. Bastards.

Of course we went on to win the game handily.

I made no calls. Didn't say a word to anyone the next day.

Just smiled a lot.

And when I read all the posts about how mean and nasty UNC fans are . . . hey, they got nothing on KU fans.

[The1Bluedevil]

My fondest memory of that Final 4 was the semi-final game against Maryland.

I live in the midwest around KU. We were about 15 minutes into the first half and we were losing by a zillion . . . well, about 23 - 25 points . . . and suddenly I start getting calls from friends and acquaintances (all KU fans) just wanting to say hi. Bastards.

Of course we went on to win the game handily.

I made no calls. Didn't say a word to anyone the next day.

Just smiled a lot.

And when I read all the posts about how mean and nasty UNC fans are . . . hey, they got nothing on KU fans.

I was born and raised 20 minutes from Lawrence and I couldn't agree more. Many of the ku fans I know are simply delusional and very fair weather.

[Son of Mojo]

I need to put that game on dvd sometime soon and watch it again when time permits.

[moonpie23]

in addition to the elation i felt, i also remember how irritated i was during the week following the game. all the talk about how "duke gets the calls" was just plain making me mad...


I'm not sure if it was the 01 title game, or some OTHER game, but Coach K, when asked the question, "you know coach, a lot of people think the refs are on your side. What do you think about that?" he responded, "well, i sure hope so!"


classic...

[davekay1971]

Gawd, Dunleavy's three treys in a row. I remember that moment so clearly. It was the moment that I knew we were actually going to win the game. I was sitting downstairs watching it...alone, since my ex-wife (and DUKE ALUMNA) had gone to bed rather than stay up for it. That was a really awesome team.

BTW...word of advice. If your Duke-alum spouse turns in early rather than staying up with you to watch a championship game, just go ahead and file the divorce papers then...no point waiting another five years to get it done. 'Nuff said.

[Edouble]

Gawd, Dunleavy's three treys in a row. I remember that moment so clearly. It was the moment that I knew we were actually going to win the game. I was sitting downstairs watching it...alone, since my ex-wife (and DUKE ALUMNA) had gone to bed rather than stay up for it. That was a really awesome team.

BTW...word of advice. If your Duke-alum spouse turns in early rather than staying up with you to watch a championship game, just go ahead and file the divorce papers then...no point waiting another five years to get it done. 'Nuff said.

I remember Dunleavy's 3s and my reaction as well--I went bonkers. I do think that his 3 3-pointers in 45 seconds was amazing, but I feel that they are sort of remembered as more important than they were. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but I remember the Cats coming back after those 3s went down, so it was like Dunleavy went on a little 9 point run, then they came right back with a little (8 point?) run and brought the game to within one or two points. I think sometimes the 3s are sometimes spoken of as something that won us the game or put us up for good, which was not the case.

[davekay1971]

You're probably right, and I'm remembering the feeling that those shots gave me better than I'm remembering the back and forth thereafter. Those shots came with a lot of time remaining, so they definitely didn't seal the deal. But they were huge, and made me think "Holy crap, we're going to win this!" It was like the feeling with Hurley's trey (Duke down 5, about 3 minutes to go) against UNLV in 1991 - which changed my frame of mind from "uh oh, I don't know if we can pull this out" to "oh my God, we might actually win this thing!" Those are the college basketball moments that, as a fan, you live for.

[tarheelforlife]

battier is overrated

[Duvall]

battier is overrated

An interesting claim. What's your reasoning?

[tarheelforlife]

well i know alot of duke fans (i live in Raleigh) and one of them is my best friend. we always get into arguments about duke and carolina and he always says that duke has had so many great players. he compared battier with michael jordan and i have heard alot of duke fans say that he is better then any carolina player ever