Duke/Indiana 2002

[Crank_it_loud]

I'm going through Duke withdrawal so I've been watching old games on YouTube. I just watched the Duke/Indiana game from 2002 tourney. What the heck happened? I forgot that Duke was up 17 points in the first half - do any of you remember that game very well? I knew the outcome but even now my jaw was nearly on the floor.

Had to watch Duke/Baylor 2010 to cheer me up!

 

[pisgah101]

First game I can remember being completely pissed at! And boozer was hacked and shoulda got to shoot

 

[Willcampbell]

I was at the bar at the Soundview Inn on Eastern Long Island, drinking Martel Condon Bleu Cognac. Thank God for the cognac.
OFC

 

[HuffyJB]

That was a rough one. Duke's starting five all went on to be NBA players. WAY too much talent to bow out in the Sweet Sixteen, but that is how it often goes in a single elimination tournament. To me, given the talent and timing, that is arguably the biggest upset Duke has suffered. That includes first round exits, as well as FF games where Duke was the favorite, like Louisville in 86 or UConn in 99. If that IU team and that Duke team play 50 times, Duke might win 49 of 'em.

 

[crazyduke3]

Boozer got freaking raked.

Still, we blew that game. If jay just hits his Ft's.... his one weakness.

 

[skysdad]

First game I can remember being completely pissed at! And boozer was hacked and shoulda got to shoot

I generally staying away from blaming officials for a loss because so many other things factor in over the course of the game and at one time we did have that big lead. But Boozer was without a doubt hacked on that play and a foul should have been called. It would have been nice if Williams had hit the foul shot though. Gotta make those crunch time free throws. At the time I was more upset at the missed free throw than the missed call. OFC

 

[pisgah101]

I generally staying away from blaming officials for a loss because so many other things factor in over the course of the game and at one time we did have that big lead. But Boozer was without a doubt hacked on that play and a foul should have been called. It would have been nice if Williams had hit the foul shot though. Gotta make those crunch time free throws. At the time I was more upset at the missed free throw than the missed call. OFC

this is true! NPOY should hit a FT in the crunch

 

[DukeDenver]

I don't want to talk about it.

 

[FearTheBeard]

I don't want to talk about it.

I agree. WAAAAYYYY TOO SOON!!!

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

I can't add much to what has already been said...it was certainly a tough loss. I too was mad at the no call on Boozer, but sometimes you get the breaks, and sometimes you don't. We've had a few good things go our way...like 2 NCAA Championships since 2010.

OFC

 

[Mark Gastineau]

If jay just hits his Ft's.... his one weakness.

This. I remember that game very well. That missed FT killed me

 

[duke198025]

Living in Houston they weren't televising the game.. Back in 02 they didn't have games on 5 channels. I kept seeing the score in the top right hand corner get closer and closer and you don't know what's happening... that's the worst. Then they flip to the game just in time to see Jay hit the three, miss the FT and Boozer miss the put back. Brutal.

 

[baronblank]

I was there, Indiana was playing as well as anyone at the time and rupp arena was a sea of red that night. It felt like a home game for them, still the worst ive felt after watching a game.

 

[Mark Gastineau]

This game was actually the same week I decided to go to Duke. Pretty tough first game for me as a Blue Devil.

 

[hoosurdukie]

I had just moved to Indiana from Chicago at the time, and remember how much flak I was taking for being a Duke fan, and being pretty young I got so ticked off that I decided I would despise IU forever... Didn't work out, as I decided to go to undergrad at IU, and slowly proceeded to not hate their basketball team anymore.

 

[skysdad]

It was a sick feeling that night for sure. I remember that after that loss I decided that no Duke loss would effect me that way again. You can't win them all is the old saying but some of the losses really hurt. I still hate losing but after that loss I was ready to move on to the next game. I guess that's when I decided that the next game is the biggest game we would be playing and still believe that. To me the first game of the season will be the biggest game we play. It will be temporary because we have a game right after that etc. Yes I hate losing especially to our rival but there are so many more important things going on to dwell like what happened to our nation about 9 months earlier. OFC

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

It was a sick feeling that night for sure. I remember that after that loss I decided that no Duke loss would effect me that way again. You can't win them all is the old saying but some of the losses really hurt. I still hate losing but after that loss I was ready to move on to the next game. I guess that's when I decided that the next game is the biggest game we would be playing and still believe that. To me the first game of the season will be the biggest game we play. It will be temporary because we have a game right after that etc. Yes I hate losing especially to our rival but there are so many more important things going on to dwell like what happened to our nation about 9 months earlier. OFC

I think one of the advantages of growing older (thank goodness for something) is that we learn to cope a little better with stuff like losing a ballgame. Still don't like to lose, but as you say Sky, there are more important things in life.

OFC

 

[dukiejay]

If memory serves, we were up 29-12, or something like that right out of the gate. We came out on fire and then just took our foot off the gas. We were actually fortunate the game was as close as it was down the stretch. We just fell apart.

Recruiting back then wasn't followed or monitored near as closely as now, but some of you may or may not remember that we were almost considered a lock to land Jared Jeffries. In fact, Bobby Knight had to beg Jeffries to visit. He was completely sold on Duke. That was a huge loss. Duke was so sure Jared was in the bag they stopped recruiting some other guys.

 

[DukeDenver]

This game was actually the same week I decided to go to Duke. Pretty tough first game for me as a Blue Devil.

Being 2 years ahead of that I was on a 2 year high, coming off a freshman year title then having another great season with tons of momentum. If I recall correctly, many of us were kind of banking on seeing the Terps one more time. We split the reg season, both top 5 teams, and we wanted to prove who was best second year in a row. Indiana destroys that chance, then makes it to the title game and loses to the Derps. Pretty awful way to end it for a team featuring 6 guys who went on to play NBA ball. Dahntay Jones and Ewing were on that team. How the hell did we lose?

 

[df64]

While Duke was blowing out IU, Williams stole the ball on the perimeter and flew in for a layup. Although it was basically uncontested, he was really flying in hard and missed. I remember getting one of those feelings right then and there...boy, I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us.

That was a great team that lacked depth on the perimeter/wing. If I remember correctly, that is the year Andre Sweet transferred out to Seton Hall due to being home sick. They wouldn't have needed him for much, but I always thought he could have been one of those forgotten difference makers if he had stayed..

 

[bhdevaul]

I remember watching the game in my basement, turning off all the lights and T.V. when it was over and just sitting there in the dark for hours.

The other key thing I remember from that game was the story of Coach K stopping by the Indiana team bus after the game and personally congratulating them before they left the arena. It's that little stuff that amazes me that anyone can hate on him.

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

I remember watching the game in my basement, turning off all the lights and T.V. when it was over and just sitting there in the dark for hours.

The other key thing I remember from that game was the story of Coach K stopping by the Indiana team bus after the game and personally congratulating them before they left the arena. It's that little stuff that amazes me that anyone can hate on him.

And what is even more amazing about K going the extra mile to congratulate other teams (and he has a history of that) is that he is such an intense coach. He brings it all game long...and to be able to tone that down enough (with very little time elapsed from a tough game) is very impressive to me. All of us know how difficult (and how long) it can be to settle back down a little after a grueling loss.

OFC

 

[eastspartan]

Remember that game....rough.

 

[ChapelTower]

Was extremely painful. Horrible officiating + our self destruction (travelling on a two on one fast break, missing FT, missing put back, zero interior defense...).

At the time, I worked in a company with many IU graduates. Painful to watch them celebrate while knowing we should have wiped the floor with the IU team with our talent level.

One of the worst loss for me ever (on par with 2011 to Arizona, 99 to laptop-stealing huskies and 98 loss to UK), because we had much more talent than the opponent.

 

[barkingpumpkin]

And what is even more amazing about K going the extra mile to congratulate other teams (and he has a history of that) is that he is such an intense coach. He brings it all game long...and to be able to tone that down enough (with very little time elapsed from a tough game) is very impressive to me. All of us know how difficult (and how long) it can be to settle back down a little after a grueling loss.

OFC

And that's why I can't give Bo Ryan a pass. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, it sucks to lose when the stakes are highest. But it's not impossible to lose with class. It's what makes one great, in my opinion.

 

[kwyjibos13]

This is one of the games I point to when people say Duke gets all the calls (that and GT in Cameron in 2004. There is a video on youtube put up by a Terps fan that tries to show how much crap K gets away with in terms of dealing with the refs. I agree K should have been tossed for that one, but it CLEARLY shows two minutes of pathetic reffing. I think the refs knew this and gave K a LONG leash). Duhon makes an absolutely clean strip near halfcourt and has an uncontested layup until the ref inserts himself...

 

[pisgah101]

2004 UCONN is enough proof we don't get the calls...

 

[Crank_it_loud]

2004 UCONN game will haunt me for a long, long time. That was arguably my favorite Duke team. They were screwed by the refs, plain and simple.

 

[skysdad]

Many factors go into losses. Missed free throws, turnovers, bad decisions, good and bad breaks and yes even some bad calls. I really believe we've lost a lot more games because of other factors than poor officiating. OFC

 

[DukeDenver]

If officiating had been perfect the last 34 years, we'd probably still have 5 banners. The years may have been different, but it wouldve evened out.

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Don't get me wrong, rarely do refs have enough influence to win or lose a game for a team, and Duke has also often been on the favorable side of officiating. Regardless, though, the refs screwed Duke against UCONN that game. That's the one game I felt that's happened to Duke over the last 15-20 years.

 

[pisgah101]

Don't get me wrong, rarely do refs have enough influence to win or lose a game for a team, and Duke has also often been on the favorable side of officiating. Regardless, though, the refs screwed Duke against UCONN that game. That's the one game I felt that's happened to Duke over the last 15-20 years.

Me too this is the one game without a doubt that I say the refs won it for the other team and I don't usually blame refs really but that was the worst one. Even K said it during the game toward the end he was screamed at the refs they had ruined it for us

 

[DevilDJ]

Boozer got freaking raked.

Still, we blew that game. If jay just hits his Ft's.... his one weakness.

True but I don't let those bother me. The infuriating thing about that game was the blown lead. Duke returned a national championship team and was goin' for their second back-to-back in a decade. It shoulda never come down to free throws and/or any perceived poor officiating. That game was OVER and the next thing ya know , Duke was in a dogfight. Awful game. Seriously.

 

[youngman42]

2004 to UCONN was the worst b/c we had the game and the refs just made up calls. But, indeed, 2002 to IU was bitter as well. Clearly we were the better team and should have won and gone on to the FF - even potentially winning it all.

Bummer that J-Will, who was otherwise such a great shooter and scorer, just could not hit free throws at that moment.

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Just watched end of that 2004 FF game and wow, Ewing and Deng both made questionable shot-attempts in the last 3 minutes. That hurt big time (along with Horvath quickly getting 2 more fouls to get to 5). Btw Randolph looked darn good on that game prior to 5 questionable fouls DQ'ing him.

 

[5timestheking]

I was at the bar at the Soundview Inn on Eastern Long Island, drinking Martel Condon Bleu Cognac. Thank God for the cognac.
OFC

Will, where are you from. I grew up out there.

 

[dizukies88]

Duke flat out did not respect their opponent that night. Was looking at a ridiculously easy game in E8 against Toledo I believe. Duke jumped out early and was crushing Indiana. Then just fell asleep and could not correct things...it was like an Avalanche. J Jeffries and A.J Moye crapped on Dukes existance all night. Furthermore, Duke got zippo from the bench and could not hit ft's.

Not sure how the 2002 gets the pass they do for not winning it all..at the very least not going back to the ff. The team had 4 starters back from the championship team! 3 Juniors and 1 sophomore. Also, they added Dahntey.

 

[aah555]

Duke flat out did not respect their opponent that night. Was looking at a ridiculously easy game in E8 against Toledo I believe. Duke jumped out early and was crushing Indiana. Then just fell asleep and could not correct things...it was like an Avalanche. J Jeffries and A.J Moye crapped on Dukes existance all night. Furthermore, Duke got zippo from the bench and could not hit ft's.

Not sure how the 2002 gets the pass they do for not winning it all..at the very least not going back to the ff. The team had 4 starters back from the championship team! 3 Juniors and 1 sophomore. Also, they added Dahntey.

Agreed. That Duke team had absolutely no business losing to IU. It was absolutely loaded, and showed how much better they were than IU for much of that night. However, they just got sloppy and didn't match IU's intensity down the stretch -- and then didn't get the breaks they needed to pull a rabbit out of their hat when they did pick it up the last couple minutes. From a pure talent perspective, that was arguably a better team than 00-01 because Dunleavy, J-Will, Duhon, and Boozer were all a year better and the drop off from Battier/James to Jones/Ewing was not huge. However, the departure of Battier/James clearly cost us in the intangible department and also left us a bit soft / undersized in the frontcourt. If there was one flaw with that 01-02 team, it was rebounding / interior defense. That squad had no real shotblocking presence and Dunleavy was a bad rebounder at the 4. It really shouldn't have mattered because we were so talented / athletic on the perimeter on the wings that most teams couldn't even run any offense when we were engaged -- but the lack of size created some problems when our intensity /activity level dropped -- which is precisely what happened against IU at some point in that game.

 

[Willcampbell]

Will, where are you from. I grew up out there.

Port Jefferson, NY and Bloomingdale, GA.

 

[aah555]

Don't get me wrong, rarely do refs have enough influence to win or lose a game for a team, and Duke has also often been on the favorable side of officiating. Regardless, though, the refs screwed Duke against UCONN that game. That's the one game I felt that's happened to Duke over the last 15-20 years.

Refs. didn't help, but we lost that game because we played poorly down the stretch. Critically, Luol and Daniel forced up a few bad shots with plenty of time on the shotclock -- a few of which led to UConn runouts. If we had executed down the stretch, the refs wouldn't have mattered. Also, while we clearly suffered from the foul trouble late, let's not forgot that Emeke spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. All things being equal, UConn losing Emeke for big stretches probably hurt them more than Duke losing Shelden / Shav.