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Tournament Notebook

Blue Devils seem to suffer from St. Petersburg jinx

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Posted: Tuesday March 30, 1999 01:44 AM

Coach Krzyzewski didn't point a finger at anyone after the Blue Devils' cakewalk turned into a surprise party for the Huskies. AP

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Duke's quest for a third national title under Mike Krzyzewski ended for the second straight season in St. Petersburg.

The Blue Devils blew a 17-point lead in losing to eventual national champion Kentucky 86-84 in the South Regional final at Tropicana Field a year ago.

Monday night's 77-74 loss to Connecticut also denied Krzyzewski's bid to move past North Carolina's Dean Smith into a second-place tie for most Final Four wins.

UCLA's John Wooden, who won 10 NCAA championships, is the all-time leader with 21 victories in national semifinal and title games. Rupp won nine and Krzyzewski and Smith are tied with eight apiece.

Don't panic

Connecticut improved to 10-0 when trailing at the half. Duke lost for the first time after going 34-0 after leading at the break.

Star watching

The crowd of 41,340 at Tropicana Field, equaling the largest to ever watch a basketball game in the state of Florida, included Wooden, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, one-time Duke stars Christian Laettner and Grant Hill and former UConn star Ray Allen. The same attendance figure was announced for Saturday's semifinals.

Oops

With just under seven minutes remaining and Connecticut leading 65-63, CBS displayed a graphic showing timeouts remaining for Duke and Michigan State, the Blue Devils' opponent in the semifinals.

Great ride

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun rode Khalid El-Amin all the way to the national championship. The ride wasn't always smooth, though.

Asked to describe what it was like to coach the sophomore guard, Calhoun compared the experience to being on a giant roller coaster.

"The great thing is we always end up at the top," the coach said. "Like any emotional person, and I don't know anybody like him that's real emotional, I relate a lot to how he is, what he does."

El-Amin didn't take exception to the description.

"He meant that in a positive way. We're similar people in that we love to compete, love to win and that's what drives us," he said. "That's the biggest thing, and the most important thing that we have in common."

Leaving the ACC behind

Duke is proud of being the first team to win all 16 of its games in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Still, the Blue Devils didn't feel they were carrying a banner for the league in Monday night's national championship game.

"At this time you can't ask a team to make a mission statement for anything else than what they've internalized the game for," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

"We are ultimately proud of being a member of the ACC. We think it's as good a conference as there is. We're going to concentrate on Duke. And that's the only way you win. You can only fight for one cause at a time."

I'm pretty good

Much of the pregame hype focused on what Connecticut had to do stop Duke, particularly national player of the year Elton Brand.

But the Huskies' Richard Hamilton is an All-American, too, and Duke faced the challenge of trying to contain him.

If he knew of a way he could be stopped, Hamilton wasn't willing to share.

"I think it's no one way you can guard me," Hamilton said.

He added that his teammates make a defender's job even more difficult by setting screens and getting him the ball in positions that give him a good chance to score.

Hamilton led the Huskies with 27 points on 10-for-22 shooting.

Am I dreaming

During a break in preparation for the title game, Connecticut's Kevin Freeman took time to reflect on how much it meant to him to be playing in the Final Four.

"I was sitting in the player's lounge and remembered back in middle school," he said. "I used to beg my mom to let me stay up and watch the games on TV. It's a dream we get to live out. We have 40 minutes to live out the dream."

No real loser

Augusta, Ga., the hometown of Duke's William Avery and Connecticut's Ricky Moore, couldn't lose Monday night.

"Whatever happens, each guy will be happy for the other. Both of us have had great years and just special seasons," Avery said. "I'll be happy for him. He'll be happy for me."

 

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UConn thwarts Duke 77-74, earns first-ever NCAA crown Hamilton 'Rips' Duke for 27, leads Huskies to title Moore puts finishing touches on UConn's upset
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