Gene Wojciechowski - The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball

The Last Great Game

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014,
USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland,
25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd,
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi110 017, India Penguin Group
(NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd,
24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Copyright 2012 by Gene Wojciechowski
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or
encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase
only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada

Photographs on pages iv and v Chuck Liddy/The Herald Sun 1992

EISBN: 9781101559703

Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

BOOK DESIGN BY AMANDA DEWEY

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

In Memory of Gina

Mike Krzyzewski (kneeling) and his staff of
(from left) Chuck Swenson, Tom Rogers, Pete
Gaudet, and Bob Bender in the mid-1980s.
If some powerful Duke boosters had had their
way, Krzyzewski would have been fired
in 1983.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

Tom Butters: the man
who hired the little-known
Krzyzewskiand stuck by him.

Courtesy Duke University
Athletic Association

Jay Bilas was part of the 1982 Duke
recruiting class that transformed Krzyzewskis
program from ACC afterthought to national
powerhouse.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

The most humbling and humiliating
experience of Bobby Hurleys Duke
career: UNLV 103, Duke 73, in the 1990
NCAA Final Four championship.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

After stunning unbeaten UNLV in the 1991
NCAA Final Four semis, the Blue Devils
give Duke and Krzyzewski their first-ever
basketball national championship.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

His own Duke teammates nicknamed him
Asshole, but Christian Laettner never apologized
for his methods or his results: four consecutive
Final Fours and two consecutive national titles.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

Brian Davis had to beg Duke to sign him
out of high school. He used the slight as
constant motivation. And no one understood
Laettner better than The Mayor.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

If Krzyzewski could have come back in
another life as a point guard, it would have
been as Bobby Hurley. He marveled at the
way Hurley played the game.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

Thomas Hill (left) quickly earned the
admiration of the hard-to-please Laettner. Said
Laettner: Hed rip the skin off your teeth.

Courtesy Duke University Athletic Association

Grant Hill and the rest of the Duke players
underestimated just how good John Pelphrey
and the other Wildcats were.

Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated/ Getty Images

Pound for pound, Deron Feldhaus might
have been the toughest Wildcat. Here he
battles Grant Hill.

John Biever/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

As Kentucky made its second-half comeback against Laettner and Duke,
the Wildcats bench erupted in emotion.

John Biever/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images