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View Full Version : A Cut Above: 100 Seasons of Duke Basketball - A Fresh Look



gw67
01-25-2011, 08:37 AM
Family and friends often suggest that I am “late to the dance” or “behind the curve” when it comes to social trends, books, movies, etc., so it is no surprise that I am a few years late seeing the subject DVD. A friend who graduated from Duke in the early 80’s loaned me the DVD a few days ago and last night I had the opportunity to view it. As a Duke fan for just shy of 50 years, I had high expectations and they were exceeded by the quality of the production that takes the viewer from the early 1900’s to 2005. I’m sure that this was discussed in detail by posters on the this site after the DVD was released but I will add my thoughts and suggest that any Duke student, alum or just plain fan who hasn’t seen the DVD make arrangements to do so. The parts of the DVD that I really enjoyed were as follows:

• The early beginnings through the pre-war, war and post-war times. I knew very little of this history and the old photos and film were fascinating.
• Seeing Groat play.. I never got to see him play but he was an exceptional player in his day.
• Narratives by former coaches and players. Favorites included Coaches Bubas and Foster, and players Heyman, Mullins, Verga, Vacendak, Marin, Gminski and Battier. There were a number of others including an acknowledgement by Waters that his approach was a bad fit for the times.
• Film of not only the first three championship teams but others that came so close.
• Seeing Dawkins play again. He certainly is in the discussion as the greatest Duke player of all time.
• Seeing Armstrong go down. I forgot that his career overlapped that of Spanarkel and Gminski.
• Several highlights including “The Shot”, the play by JWill in the magical comeback at Maryland, the great play by Battier to carry the team to a national championship, and the several tough losses in the Final Four. My favorite was the footage against Tarkanian and UNLV. The comeback against the undefeated and overwhelming favorite was the most satisfying victory for me.

There are numerous additional parts of the DVD that are of interest. It brought back many a fond memory of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s for me. If it hadn’t been so late when it finished, I would have pulled out a Cat Stevens record and listed to it.

I note that the photo on the Front Page was an early Duke team with Bill Werber (sp?). He told a funny story of a game against UNC where he had the tall center in the middle of the photo duck and he through the ball and plunked the North Carolina center who was less aggressive for the remainder of the game.

gw67