Where we were 27 years ago

[mattyoung18]

Sorry starting a new thread feel free to move if necessary.Its been 27 years today since the most clutch/dramatic shot thats ever been made at the end of the the best,highly contested game I have ever seen.And by the best or one of the best NCAA players ever.Go Devils That is Laettner for the Young readers

[CDu]

One never needs to apologize for sending reminders of The Shot.

[NSDukeFan]

Did he have a Zionesque shooting day in that game or has Zion been having a Laettneresque shooting year?

[dukelifer]

Did he have a Zionesque shooting day in that game or has Zion been having a Laettneresque shooting year?

I must quibble here that Zion did not have a Laettneresque shooting day- he missed FT's. Now Goldwire on the same night had a Laettneresque shooting night.

[AustinDevil]

I must quibble here that Zion did not have a Laettneresque shooting day- he missed FT's. Now Goldwire on the same night had a Laettneresque shooting night.

I think the reference was to Zion's stratospheric FG %age this year, versus Laettner's one game. And I'd say the answer, both ways, is "yes."

[JasonEvans]

It is worth noting that Christian hit an otherworldly 55.7% of his 3s as a senior and lest you think it was on low volume, he averaged almost 3 3PTA per game.

[roywhite]

It is worth noting that Christian hit an otherworldly 55.7% of his 3s as a senior and lest you think it was on low volume, he averaged almost 3 3PTA per game.

It was beautiful. With Hurley pushing the ball and athletes like Thomas Hill, Brian Davis, Tony Lang, and Grant Hill running the floor, opposing defenses were stressed to the max. And often Laettner would be the trailer, get the ball at the top of the key, set, and nail the shot. Very, very difficult to defend.

[robed deity]

It is worth noting that Christian hit an otherworldly 55.7% of his 3s as a senior and lest you think it was on low volume, he averaged almost 3 3PTA per game.

Because of this, I remember wondering why he passed up an open 3 in the closing seconds of the UNC game in Chapel Hill.

[mattyoung18]

That 92 team was unreal.I laugh when the documentary about Laettner comes out and there's a quote by the director that Laettner is "arguably" the most clutch college shooter of all time uh what's to argue he had a perfect game.In my mind hes #1 by a significant margin. I'd like to hear other suggestions on who comes in a distant 2nd.My vote would be his teamate Bobby Hurley.That UNLV 3 he hit was just a flat out dagger.Hurley also hit that 3 against Kentucky in OT when we were down 3 with about 3 minutes to play.

[diablesseblu]

That makes me feel old, but it was a great night. And, we actually met some nice KY fans back at the hotel. They sat and talked with us, and graciously shared the champagne we kept buying. I was stunned by that -- still am.

[sagegrouse]

Here is a post I made a few years ago, after discussing the game with Verne Lundquist, who, along with Len Elmore, called the game:

In a recent column that some of you saw and quoted from, Norman Chad listed 23 supposedly true sports facts: “10. If Verne Lundquist lived next door to me, I’d go over to borrow a cup of sugar every other day.”

I don’t live next door to Verne but I do see him often in our small town of Steamboat Springs. As Chad intimated, Verne is a really good guy, totally pleasant and exceptionally well informed on many subjects. A few weeks ago [actually, a few years now], I spoke with Verne Lundquist about “The Shot,” which he called for CBS. Until I saw a recent You Tube clip, I hadn’t even realized that he was the game announcer. I was with another neighbor, former Duke hurler Larry Harrison. “What did you think,” I asked Verne, “when it happened?”

“Well,” he said, “there was total silence [at the mike] for a few minutes and the camera just panned the court and all the celebrations going on. Then Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe came over and asked Len Elmore [Verne’s partner that day – who knew?], ‘Until today I thought the ACC final you played against North Carolina State in 1974 was the best college basketball game I had ever seen. Which game do you think was better?’ Len hesitated for a long minute and finally said, ‘I think this game may have been better.’”

“It was a few minutes later before I could talk to Mike Krzyzewski. One of the things I really admire about Mike (and there are many things I like) is that immediately after the game he went over to talk to the Kentucky radio announcer, Cawood Ledford. Ledford had been there forever and, as the tournament started, had announced that the next Kentucky loss would be his last game. Mike spoke first to Ledford and to the Kentucky fans on the radio network.” K told the Kentucky fans that they had listened to one of the classic basketball games in history.

“When I talked to Mike a few minutes later,” he said, “I knew if I could get the ball to that son-of-a-I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. in the circle, he would make the shot.’ I was asked later why we didn’t mention on the broadcast that Laettner was perfect from the floor and perfect from the line. [He was 10-10 and 10-10.] Well, I didn’t know. I asked my statistician, a guy who had worked with me for years, why he hadn’t told me. He was a bit strange. He said it was in the handwritten notes, which I hadn’t managed to figure out. I believe he ended up getting fired over the incident.”

[diablesseblu]

The next morning, we saw Len and his wife Gail at the train station when we were all waiting to trek back to NYC. They're old friends. Lenny and I had a long talk about the quality/import of the game. It was clearly difficult for him, given the historic game he'd played in, to think it might now be supplanted in the pantheon of greatest college games.

Almost every time I've seen him over the years, we've talked about the Duke-KY game. Pretty sure he's now just grateful to have been there.

[Brian913]

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[Duke79UNLV77]

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Well, I think we have a winner right off the bat! No one else need apply, unless Grant, K, or Laettner posts here.

[roywhite]

At the Spectrum watching, on my birthday.

[Kedsy]

I was there too, though nobody autographed my ticket stubs.

[duketaylor]

I was watching with several friends at Chiocca's, at the corner of Belmont and Kensington, in the museum district in Richmond. We finished the game, tipped our server, after about 9 pitchers of brew and having eaten. I lived across the street, decided to have 2 more, settled, left no tip for them (after a hefty tip earlier), was about to depart when confronted by the server about the 2nd tip. The owner came outside to see what was up. I told him, went back in and slapped a twenty on the bar and left. She was fired soon after. Luckily, I met my wife just a month later. So...I win no prize here, but won a big prize soon thereafter!!!! Lucky me!!!!

[HereBeforeCoachK]

This replay NEVER gets old....it's just so pure, so amazing, so perfect.

I was merely watching at my house, in Cary at the time...with my cousin, who went to UNC but who's dad (obviously my uncle) went to Duke....he actually seemed to like the result...

[BigWayne]

At the Chicago Pizza joint on Buford Highway in Atlanta.

[boligrafous]

I was in a common room on the first floor of the Southgate dorm on east campus. I remember the sinking feeling sitting on the edge of a chair after Kentucky’s lucky shot went in and it sank in that there probably wasn’t enough time left. After Laettner hit his shot there was a minute or so of pandemonium in the common room, yelling, jumping and hugging. Then people started pouring in as they came down the stairs from their dorm rooms where they’d presumably been watching. Next thing I knew we poured out of Southgate and joined people walking fast to West Campus for bonfires and celebrating.