Where were you when Laettner hit “The Shot”?

I was in what passed for the den at 102 Archer in Shreveport. Casey was only three then and as Duke Blue Devils ran gleefully all over the Spectrum court in Philadelphia, I looked at him and said, “I wish you could appreciate what just happened. Or talk to me about it.”

He wouldn’t.

Kids…

Neither would John James, posted up that afternoon in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hotel room where he was “busy” working for The Times covering the Shreveport Captains and their parent club, the San Francisco Giants, in Cactus League action. I remember he was angry because whenever we covered baseball, The Times made us wear a protective cup. Odd Gannett policy, but rules is rules. Anyway…

The Duke-Kentucky game was, of course, a four-diaper game. I don’t agree or disagree, but as a point of reference, in 2004, Sports Illustrated ranked it as the greatest college basketball game ever.

It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen, no question.

For sure it was the highlight of the 1992 NCAA Tournament. It was for the final spot in the Final Four. It was tight the whole game, including the final 2.1 seconds when defending national champion Duke called time out trailing 103-102. Grant Hill’s undefended length-of-the-floor inbounds pass—Rick Pitino and his staff had decided to double-team Christian Laettner instead of guard the passer—was an overhead winner to Laettner, who caught it a couple feet from the free throw line, almost dead center, back to the basket. Fakes left, dribble once as he fakes right, turns back left and, falling away, shoots.

Duke wins, 104-103.

I had no feelings either way except appreciation for how well the game was played and how hard the game was played. I didn’t know whether to feel happier for Duke or sorrier for Kentucky. As happy as the Duke players were — remember Thomas Hill crying for joy and in disbelief, his Duke hands clasped behind his head? — the Kentucky players were probably one step on the emotion scale sadder than Duke was happy.

It really was a game in which there were no losers—but Duke advanced, and Kentucky did not. The Blue Devils would successfully defend their 1991 national title in Minneapolis, where they beat Indiana by three and, in the championship, Michigan by 20.

Laettner finished that Regional Final game against Kentucky with 31 points and 7 rebounds,10–10 from the field and 10–10 from the free throw line. Those Laettner-Hill-Bobby Hurley Duke teams were fun, fun college teams to watch.

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