They'll see what all the fuss is about first hand when they square off against the 10th-ranked Blue Devils on Sunday at 11 a.m. (MST) in famed Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Montana junior Jack McGillis had little trouble coming up with an answer when asked what comes to mind when he hears Duke basketball.
No doubt. There have been three of them: 1991, '92 and 2001.
“Probably Laettner with the gamer,” Montana senior Jordan Hasquet said.
That came in Duke's 104-103 win over Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional final. Duke trailed 103-102 with 2.1 seconds to play. Grant Hill inbounded the ball from the opposite endline to Laettner, who caught the ball at the free-throw line, dribbled once, and canned the winning jumper. It completed a game in which Laettner was 10-for-10 from the field and 10-for-10 from the line and propelled the Blue Devils to their second straight NCAA crown.
“Obviously it's Coach K and then Mike Dunleavy Jr. - awesome,” Montana sophomore guard Michael Taylor said of Duke's Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski and star guard from the 2001 national championship team.
“The thing that I've always really respected about Duke and Mike Krzyzewski's team is they go about their business the right way,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said. “You see them playing really hard, laying it on the line and there's never any gibberish involved. You don't see them talking smack and trying to embarrass people. They show their emotion by sharing energy with each other. They play awfully, awfully hard, and that's what you have to appreciate and respect as a fellow coach.”
Then there are the Cameron Crazies, Duke's 1,200-strong student section known for its clever cheers and frenzied behavior. They've helped sell out Cameron Indoor for the past 277 straight games and made it possible for the Devils to win 62 straight home games over nonconference opponents.
“I think it will be pretty crazy,” Taylor said. “I played at Gonzaga with Eastern (Washington) my freshman year and that was pretty spectacular, but this could be another step up. We'll see what it's like. They can literally almost touch you, they're that close.”
The opportunity to play in one of the great venues in all of sports will be especially sweet for Taylor. A Kansas fan while growing up in Brewster, Wash., Taylor was promised a trip to KU's Allen Fieldhouse when he was recruited to Eastern Washington by then-coach Mike Burns.
“I've actually got a Kansas sweatshirt right there,” Taylor said recently, pointing to his duffel bag. “I just love the way they play. Guys like Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Boschee - my kind of guys. (Coach) Roy Williams was there; I loved it.”
True to his word, Burns scheduled the game for last Dec. 5, but by then the Eastern coach had been fired and Taylor transferred to Montana. The trip to Tobacco Road will help make up for missing that trip, Taylor said.
“Duke's going to be pretty sweet,” he said. “You can't top that.”
There are tangible benefits Montana will receive as well, like the $75,000 payday the school will receive for taking the game.
Duke officials contacted Montana and said the Griz were one of three programs they were considering for a game the day after Thanksgiving. But that didn't work for the Griz, who would've had to play in Durham on Friday, Nov. 28, fly back to Missoula on the 29th and face an afternoon home game against Santa Clara on the 30th.
“So we told them we were out,” Tinkle said. “They called us back and said, ‘We'd really like to have your program come back here, let's work on a date.' We talked to our administration and they thought it would be a great game for us and we thought it would be a great opportunity for our guys.
“It tells you they have enough respect for us because there's any number of schools that would beg to go back there. It says a lot about players and coaches who were here in the past who got us into this position to get an invitation like this. It gets us some national exposure. It's just a life experience for our guys.”
And more than that.
“It's going to be a dream come true for me, for the staff and the other players as well,” McGillis said. “Anyone who follows sports knows they're a perennial contender. It's going to be awesome to see where we're at compared to them.”
Hasquet agreed.
“It's kind of one of those things you dream about a little bit when you're a kid,” Hasquet said. “You kind of grow up watching them. Getting the opportunity to play there will be pretty special.”
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or at sportsdesk@missoulian.com.
Duke facts
Location: Durham, N.C. (pop. 187,000).
Enrollment: 6,247.
Arena: Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314).
Coach: Mike Krzyzewski (Army '69), 808-267 in 34th season overall, 735-208 in 29th season at Duke.
NCAA tournament: Duke has appeared in 14 Final Fours, winning the national championship three times (1991-92, 2001).
Tidbits:
- Duke has appeared in 32 NCAA tournaments, including 24 of the past 25 under Krzyzewski.
- Duke is 1,851-808 in its 105th year of fielding a basketball team, the fourth most wins behind Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas.
- Duke has won 20 or more games in 12 straight seasons.
- Coach Krzyzewski's 808 wins are fifth all-time behind only Bobby Knight (902), Dean Smith (879), Adolph Rupp (876) and Jim Phelan (830).
n Duke has a string of 277 straight sellouts and has won 62 straight games against nonconference foes at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
- Duke has had 20 players chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)
Tom Roberts wrote on Nov 22, 2008 8:45 AM: