Greatest Moment as a Duke Fan

[91.92.01DUKE]

At what moment did you feel the best about Duke Basketball. I assume that '91,
'92, The Shot, and '01, will be mentioned the most frequently.

[moonpie23]

the greatest moment of my duke fan-ship was in 2000, when i got a connection for my son to go back into the dressing room after a CIS game. Coach K spent about 10 minutes with him, signing a poster and kidding around with him while some of the press folks were waiting on him to make some post game comments. After a while i actually felt guilty that he was spending so much time with my son.

then, he took us into the dressing room to meet the players. Shane Battier immediately took a shine to my boy, chatted with him for a while, posed for some pics with Sam sitting on his lap.....then, he got a sharpie and took Sam around to every OTHER player in the locker room, introduced him, and got them to sign Sam's poster..


to me, this is what duke basketball epitomizes....

[wilko]

I remember as a kid in Durham, that my rec league coach got in touch with the then newly hired coach with the funny name.

K was gracious and generous enuff to give tix to a bunch of kids to catch some games. Never gonna forget that.

Also my dad had a store... sometimes the vendors would slip us concession passes to get admitted. We would sneak in with the students. It was Fab!

[Gunnar Kaufman]

The "great" moments have come in victory. The "greatest" moments have come in defeat.

[DevilDan]

Greatest personal moment .... dinner with Coach Vic Bubas, Bill Currie (The Mouth of The South), and 5-6 others, in Durham on the eve of a Saturday night home game vs. Maryland in 1966. I was 18, and thought I was the king of the world.

Greatest fan moments ... the huge 1991 upset win in the National Semifinal over UNLV (after they took it to us in the final the year before), over Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, and Tark the Shark (50.1% of my vote) ... Laettner's shot to beat Kentucky in the Regional Final, in 1992 (49.9% of my vote). What made that so memorable was Caywood Ledford's call of the play. I discovered Ledford (the legendary Kentucky announcer) on NCAA radio at the half, then muted the TV volume the rest of the way.

When Laettner hit the shot, Ledford said, with relative calm, "Goooood -- THAT's WHY THEY'RE #1 ! " Priceless, unforgettable ...

[Edouble]

I've lived through the championships, but the moment that I felt best about Duke basketball was probably the end of the 2000 season, when Carawell walked to the sidelines, crying, as he was taken out of the Florida game.

From all the doubters at the beginning of the season (including that horrible Kurry Kirkpatrick article in ESPN the Magazine) to the development of our young guys, and the leadership of the three older guys, that season made me really proud to be a fan of Duke basketball. After the heartbreak of the 1999 team not winning the whole thing my senior year at Duke (which I still lose sleep over every now and then), I really believed that we could be good the next year. I remembered that Coach K had said that Shane would be one of the best defensive players ever in the ACC, and our young guys seemed really talented. When we lost our first two games that season, everyone said we would have a horrible year, which I remember thinking was ridiculous, as we had lost to two top 10 teams full of veteran players(Stanford and UConn) by just a few points on a neutral court. I knew if the young studs could develop, we could be a force in the conference. I had no idea though, that Cwell would show up and be the ACC POY, and that we would end up 15-1 in the ACC. When he cried though, I felt all that emotion inside of me too. I think he cried because we lost, but also, just because that great season was over. All that had been accomplished, few outside of the Duke camp had ever imaged would come to fruitition. It was a beautiful thing to see so many players, some of whom shouldn't have been called upon to do so that soon, take ownership of the Duke name and the Duke mystique. I also knew, that with young Duhon on the way, and Williams and Battier coming back, that the next year would have a chance to be really magical.

[dukemomLA]

Since my daughter and son-in-law graduated in 2001, I have to rank that championship highest.

But on a personal note, I pass along this story. My husband/Alex's dad, died of a brain tumor just before the start of her senior year.

I wrote to Coach K, explaining that she was a huge Cameron Crazy who had camped for every game, and I'd love to give her a personal autograph from him.

He not only wrote her a wonderful letter, but took the time to call her. Amazing.

[miramar]

The UNLV game for starters, but there was also the time I called my daughter after Dockery's shot (her freshman year). She was so excited that I barely understood a word she was saying, so I just let her talk for a while and then told her to enjoy the evening with her friends and that I would call her back the next day.

The following day I got the scoop on what the defender was yelling at McRoberts during the in bounds (rubbing it in that Duke had lost the game), as well as McRoberts unprintable response before he inbounded the ball, not to mention that the other Virginia Tech players were yelling that McRoberts was left handed so that the defender should overplay on that side, not realizing that he throws with his right. There's nothing like a front row seat at Cameron.

[rthomas]

It's gotta be when I was there watching the games. It doesn't get better than being there.

[godukerocks]

Talking with Coach Danowski recently and meeting the whole team on the bus was my greatest moment as a fan. I've met football and basketball players also, but I don't know, when this happened it was just so unexpected and awesome. I talked with Matt about their drubbing of Virginia in 2004.

[CDu]

1. Seeing the incredible comeback against UNC in Cameron in 1998
2. Watching the amazing comeback against Maryland to stun them at home.
3. Seeing the national championship in 2001 on the big screen in Cameron.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I've been to tons of games at Cameron growing up, plenty of UNC games as well. But after my parents split up, only dad was left with tickets, and mom never went back. I got 2 midcourt tickets for the UNC game from StubHub, and asked my mom if she'd like to go. She lives in Virginia now, but she made the 3 hour trip. It was a great, great game. Duke won. It was Waner's and Harding's last game, and unknown to us at the time, Coach G's as well. Duke has had better victories on the men's side, but that game was special to me. I'll never forget seeing the team's undefeated record flashing on the scoreboard, and watching my mom cheer with everyone else in Cameron to make it as loud as I've ever heard it. That was my moment.

[duke2x]

1. Seeing the incredible comeback against UNC in Cameron in 1998
3. Seeing the national championship in 2001 on the big screen in Cameron. Change #3 to "in Minneapolis" for my list, and you've covered most of it. The '03 UNC football game was another one in addition to the thorough soaking I got at the '02 ECU game.

[Lavabe]

I was doing my dissertation field work in the middle of rainy season 1991, living in a tent, listening to the BBC World Service shortwave radio, trying desperately to get the result of the game. FWIW, Armed Forces Radio was impossible to pick up on shortwave, so I couldn't listen to the game.

I caught the announcement on the shortwave, got out of my tent (it was dawn), and let out the loudest yell of my life.

A few days later, I saw some local folks on their way from the nearest village, some 8 km away. They asked if I heard a strange noise the other morning. It sounded like "YEAH!!" "WOO!":cool:

About 6 weeks later, my wife was able to get me the tape of the Final Four games, and I was able to see it at a tea shop in the nearest city.

Being back in '92 to share the UK game with my wife was great, but I often think of '91, and hearing the news in the rain forest.

9F Cheers,
Lavabe

[blazindw]

1. 2001 Championship my freshman year.
1a. The night I became HLM.

[Grey Devil]

Being a freshman at the three overtime victory over favored Carolina in the Indoor Stadium..... GTHC! GTHC!

Locked in for life as a Duke fan.

Grey Devil

[Cali-Duke]

My first game in CIS...

We destroyed Maryland AND I got to meet Magic Johnson (my favorite player growing up in LA). He was there to give the team a prep talk during halftime. When he came out, he signed my JJ jersey.

Good way to start off my Duke basketball experience.

[cbfx3]

It would have to be.. the shot. I was in a room full of UNC and NCSU fans who were trying to convince me it was over... I told them it will be over when the clock says 0. (I nearly busted my head through the ceiling when it went in)

[Edouble]

I'm a little confused about the theme of this thread. Is it:

A) Greatest Moment as a Duke Fan

or

B) Moment that you felt best about being a Duke Fan

Both are mentioned in the first post, but to me, are very different. I went ahead and answered with "B" in mind (as did others), but it seems like some people also answered with "A" in mind. To me, "A" involves the great wins, championships, upsets in which Duke came out on top, while "B" involves things like Loul Deng winning his recent Humanity award, or as a few others have mentioned, a Duke player or coach taking time out for a young fan or a personal moment/thank you. I was wondering if anyone else was thinking about this disctinction.

[AtlBluRew]

1980, UNC at Duke, on Dean Smith's 50th birthday. UNC up by two with, I think, less than 3 seconds. Duke (Emma or Engelland) inbounds the ball to Gene Banks, at the top of the key, and he hits a jumper over Sam Perkins' outstretched (and very long!) arms to send the game into OT. When the ball left Banks' fingertips, it seemed that time slowed down and all of Cameron silently watched every rotation of the ball on the way to the hoop. When it went in, there was a delayed reaction by the crowd as it took a moment to realize what happened. Duke won in OT.

[Edouble]

1980, UNC at Duke, on Dean Smith's 50th birthday. UNC up by two with, I think, less than 3 seconds. Duke (Emma or Engelland) inbounds the ball to Gene Banks, at the top of the key, and he hits a jumper over Sam Perkins' outstretched (and very long!) arms to send the game into OT. When the ball left Banks' fingertips, it seemed that time slowed down and all of Cameron silently watched every rotation of the ball on the way to the hoop. When it went in, there was a delayed reaction by the crowd as it took a moment to realize what happened. Duke won in OT.

Reminds me of '98 in CIS when we came back on senior day to beat UNC in Gut's first season, as this too occurred on Dean's birthday. Although the game I'm mentioning wouldn't count, anyone have Dean's all time record vs. Duke on his birthday? I seem to remember reading a piece on ACC coach's records on their birthdays at some point on DBR.