How will Hubert Davis get his team to have fun at Cameron?
Davis said his Tar Heels “are not part of the pageantry” surrounding Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game at Duke.
Not the Coach K-centric hype that has been a dominant portion of ESPN programming for more than 30 years.
Not the jet-engine roar his team will hear when taking the court and tries to do better than it did at the Smith Center.
Not the NBA-rich roster that will be trying to defend their home court and K’s legacy in his Ultimate Senior Game.
Although it will be three days shy of 30 years when Davis played his last regular-season college game on Senior Day for Christian Laettner, Brian Davis and the other graduating Dukies, Hubert might try to channel the fun he had on March 8, 1992.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Devils were the defending NCAA champions on their way to back-to-back titles for the first time since UCLA won seven in a row under John Wooden. But they had lost two straight to their archrival, the 1991 ACC tournament final in Charlotte and the famous “Montross blood game” a month earlier in Chapel Hill. So Duke was out for more blood.
It couldn’t have been a more inhospitable atmosphere than maybe this time, as Krzyzewski goes out at home and then ends his Hall of Fame career with the most major college coaching wins and maybe a sixth national championship.
Hubert might remind his team of how much fun HE had that day despite the eventual 12-point loss. Davis got off to a red hot start en route to a college high of 35 points, hitting 13 of 19 shots including 6-of-8 from 3-point range.
It may be the only time cantankerous Cameron Crazies actually cheered an opposing player, caught up in the joie de vivre of No. 40 in light blue, easily outscoring the great Laettner.
And if that doesn’t work, Hubert can emphasize how much his team has come together during tough times and won four straight on the road and is ready for such a challenge.
He can also look at the box score from the February 5 game at the Dean Dome. Each team hit 10 free throws and nine 3-pointers. The 87-67 difference came down to Duke making 10 more two-point baskets.
He might say, “Play loose, have fun and make more dadgum shots!”
Photo via AP Photo/Gerry Broome.
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