DURHAM, N.C. — Perhaps not since 1992, when Duke went to Minneapolis with a chance to be the first repeat champion since UCLA, have the Blue Devils played a game like Saturday where the consequences of losing so vastly outweighed the rewards of winning.
That team already had a national championship to its credit, and played the entire season facing expectations rarely seen in college basketball, but had survived the season to reach the Final Four with history within its grasp.
By the time the Blue Devils reached the title game, they had survived one of the greatest games ever played with one of the greatest shots ever made — Christian Laettner against Kentucky in the regional final — and dispatched Mike Krzyzewski’s mentor Bobby Knight in the first game at the Metrodome.
