Duke Blue Devils Basketball

Adapted from Duke University Archives and Wikipedia.org

In 1906, Wilbur Wade Card, Trinity College's Athletic Director and a member of the Class of 1900, introduced the game of basketball to Trinity. The January 30 issue of The Trinity Chronicle headlined the new sport on its front page. Trinity's first game ended in a loss to Wake Forest, 24-10. The game was played in the Angier B. Duke Gymnasium, later known as The Ark. The Trinity team won its first title in 1920, the state championship, by beating the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (now NC State) 25 to 24. Earlier in the season they had beaten the University of North Carolina 19-18 in the first match-up between the two schools.

Bill Werber, Class of '30, became Duke's first All-American in basketball. The Gothic-style West Campus opened that year, with a new gym, later to be named for Coach Card. The Indoor Stadium opened in 1940. Initially it was referred to as an "Addition" to the gymnasium. Part of its cost was paid for with the proceeds from the Duke football team's appearance in the 1938 Rose Bowl. In 1972 it would be named for Eddie Cameron, head coach from 1929 to 1942.

In 1952, Dick Groat became the first Duke player to be named National Player of the Year. Duke left the Southern Conference to become a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953. The Duke team under Vic Bubas made its first appearance in the Final Four in 1963, losing 74-71 to Loyola in the semifinal. The next year, Bubas' team reached the national title game, losing to the Bruins of UCLA, who claimed 10 titles in the next 12 years.

The basketball program got victory number 1000 in 1974, making Duke the eighth school in NCAA history to reach that figure. In a stunning turnaround, Coach Bill Foster's 1978 Blue Devils, who had gone 2-10 in the ACC the previous year, won the conference tournament and went on to the NCAA championship game, where they fell to Kentucky. Mike Giminski ('80) and Jim Spanarkel ('79) ran the floor.

Coach K has had unprecedented success since obtaining the coaching reign in 1981. His leadership has propelled the Duke Men’s Basketball team into the national spotlight and proved vital as he was selected to coach the United States national basketball team, which includes the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Some of his Duke teams’ accomplishments include: the only team to win three national championships since the NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985; ten Final Fours in the last 20 years as well as five in a row from 1988 to 1992; ACC Tournament Championships five years in a row from 1999 to 2003; twenty 20-win seasons in the past 22 years; number 1 rankings in 13 of the past 20 seasons; nine straight Sweet 16 appearances (ongoing); seven players named Naismith College Player of the Year in the last 20 years; eight National Defensive Players of the Year; twenty AP All-Americans.

Coach K's teams made the Final Four in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2001, and 2004. For a while, some commentators took to calling it "The Duke Invitational." Duke upset the heavily favored UNLV Running Rebels 79-77 in the Final Four in 1991, a rematch of the 1990 final. The team, led by Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, and Thomas Hill went on to defeat Kansas 72-65 to win the university's first NCAA Championship. Ranked #1 all season and favored to repeat as national champions in 1992, Duke took part in what many consider the greatest college basketball game ever. In the Elite Eight, Duke met the Rick Pitino-led Kentucky Wildcats. It appeared Kentucky had sealed the win when guard Sean Woods hit a running shot off the glass in the lane to put Kentucky up by one with 2.1 seconds left on the clock. After a time-out, Duke's Grant Hill threw a full-court pass to Christian Laettner. Laettner took a dribble and nailed a turn-around jumper at the buzzer to send Duke into the Final Four. To Duke faithfuls, this play will forever be known as "The Shot". Duke went on to defeat the Michigan Wolverines 71-51 to claim its second NCAA Championship. Duke defeated Arizona 82-72 to win its third NCAA Championship in 2001. Coach K was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later that year. In 2003, Duke won the ACC tournament for an unprecedented fifth straight year (1999-2003).

Former Duke stars such as Grant Hill, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy, Dahntay Jones, Daniel Ewing, J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Luol Deng and Jason Williams have gone on to play in the NBA after Coach K’s tutelage. Many of Coach K's assistants, such as Mike Brey, Tommy Amaker, Quin Snyder, and Jeff Capel, have become head basketball coaches at major universities.