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AtlBluRew
02-28-2011, 08:21 AM
Thanks for posting that, and thanks to Kenny Dennard for putting it on YouTube. That moment is one of my favorite college memories. Funny how fast it all happens in the video, but my memory of it is in slow motion. It was a great day, a great way to send off seniors Banks and Dennard, and a great way to celebrate Dean Smith's 50th birthday.

GTHC!!!

dukelifer
02-28-2011, 08:26 AM
Thanks for posting that, and thanks to Kenny Dennard for putting it on YouTube. That moment is one of my favorite college memories. Funny how fast it all happens in the video, but my memory of it is in slow motion. It was a great day, a great way to send off seniors Banks and Dennard, and a great way to celebrate Dean Smith's 50th birthday.

GTHC!!!

Well the rainbow shot definitely made it seem slow. It was my favorite live Cameron memory as well.

hq2
02-28-2011, 10:28 AM
"Here once the embattled (Blue Devil) stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world."

A memory never forgotten!

aheel4ever
02-28-2011, 12:14 PM
I remember that game quite well, or at least I think I do. If memory serves me correctly, several other things happened that day that made one believe it was just a game that Duke was supposed to win:
- UNC had gained its 2 point lead on FT's by Sam Perkins with just a couple of seconds left. Perkins was fouled on an attempted layup that was quite makeable despite the foul, but just rolled off the rim. If that shot goes, and Perkins completes the +1, the game is over (no 3 point shot in '81).
- As great as Banks was, he wasn't a great perimeter shooter, but he sure nailed the shot on the video.
- In the OT, UNC had a 1 point lead, and Banks was fouled with just seconds to go. He missed the front end of the 1+1. The miss caromed deep off the back rim, and Al Wood was in perfect position to get the rebound. But, Wood mishandled the rebound, and the ball went right to Banks, who took it in for the winning basket (I'm pretty fuzzy on that part, but believe I'm correct).

At least, that's how I remember it.

Devil in the Blue Dress
02-28-2011, 12:41 PM
The pre-game activities were as fine as any Senior Day before or since. I remember Gene passing out roses to the crowd. The atmosphere was electric even before the tip-off!

arbee
02-28-2011, 01:45 PM
Also one of my finest memories, in my senior year. But something has me confused. It's been 30 years since that game, and if we alternate years with carolina in playing the last game of the season at home, then how is this year's last game (an even 30 years later) not also at home? When did the alternating years get mixed up?

aimo
02-28-2011, 01:55 PM
I was eleven years old. I fell through my seat twice, first when he hit that shot and second when he hit the winning shot. That was back when they still did the spotlight intros. Gene standing there, with his armful of roses, was pure class.

Thanks Kenny!

Kedsy
02-28-2011, 02:05 PM
Funny how fast it all happens in the video, but my memory of it is in slow motion.

It seemed like it was in slow motion for me, too. I also remember storming the court for the first and only time while I was at Duke.


Also one of my finest memories, in my senior year. But something has me confused. It's been 30 years since that game, and if we alternate years with carolina in playing the last game of the season at home, then how is this year's last game (an even 30 years later) not also at home? When did the alternating years get mixed up?

I believe the alternating got mixed up when they opened the Dean Dome in 1986. The first Duke/UNC game had been at UNC in 1985, but they wanted to open the new arena with Duke, so they repeated the order from the year before.

Nugget
02-28-2011, 02:13 PM
Also one of my finest memories, in my senior year. But something has me confused. It's been 30 years since that game, and if we alternate years with carolina in playing the last game of the season at home, then how is this year's last game (an even 30 years later) not also at home? When did the alternating years get mixed up?

We played Carolina at home to end the season in both 1985 and 1986, and have had home games against Carolina to end the season every even-numbered year since.

Oddly, we did not finish the season at Carolina in 1987 (playing Clemson at home, after playing at Carolina in the second to last game), but have finished at Carolina in every odd-numbered year since then.

sandinmyshoes
02-28-2011, 02:32 PM
I well remember that game. It was the longest and shortest second of my life! Thankfully it was at home so that the clock doesn't start until Banks was touching the floor. Had we been on the road the clock operator would probably have started it just before it even touched his hand.

I think about that game now when people are judging coaches. Coach K was a young coach then. A lot of us Duke fans were more than a little uncertain about this guy at the time. When Gene hits that shot, we feel a little better about him.

Then, years later (I think there was even an article about it on DBR earlier this season) we find out that Kenny and Gene basically ignored the play called by Coach K! It's amazing to think how thin a margin there can be between success and failure, not just in a single game but for a season. Who knows if Coach K would have survived had we lost that game?

Oh, he wouldn't have been fired that year or the next, Butter's was too sure of what he saw in his young coach (thankfully). But would there have been some lingering uncertainty that might have tainted things just enough to make what was to be a tough enough season or two following unbearable to the fans and the big money donors?

It was just one game and one play, but in someways it was one of the most key plays and games of Coach's early career at Duke, in my opinion.

House G
02-28-2011, 05:16 PM
Lol. I thought the exact same thing--Bob Gunton was in the stands that day? One of the great movies of all time!

hq2
02-28-2011, 05:33 PM
Of all the Duke Carolina games played in Cameron, only the '98 comeback game and the Fred Lind triple OT game have had that kind of emotional intensity. But if you could choose just one moment in all the history of the Duke Carolina rivalry, for me, that would be it.

wsb3
02-28-2011, 07:56 PM
I think it was a Dennard interview in the past year I heard where he did indeed say they changed the play, or rather coming out of the timeout Gene grabbed him and said something to the effect of "Get me the ball."

I went to the NIT game that year when Gene broke his wrist. They were selling posters of the Duke-UNC game that had a picture of Gene and the caption "Gene says good-bye."

I found a guy online with Duke games on DVD that date back that far but unfortunately he did not have that one. I would love to sit back and watch that game.

NashvilleDevil
02-28-2011, 10:26 PM
Is there a reason the headline about Gene Banks's shot says, Tinkerbell Us showed how to play?

ikiru36
02-28-2011, 11:36 PM
Is there a reason the headline about Gene Banks's shot says, Tinkerbell Us showed how to play?

If you're referring to the "us showed" I think it's simply a typo (or a bizarre invocation of Yoda-speak). If you're referring to "Tinkerbell", that was Gene Banks nickname. Bad*** nickname really, in a Lynn Swann, ballet made me a great football player, kind of way!

I know it's hard to make out but my Avatar is a pic of Banks being carried on the shoulders of the crowd that night. That game is my first direct memory as a Duke Fan. I'll always remember the cover of the Herald-Sun the next day, full-cover of the same photo with the simple word "Amen!" printed at the bottom. That's how I remember it anyways.

Go Duke!!!!!!!!!!! Go Blue Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!