Our 99 team will never get proper credit on these lists. They had a switch like no other. They were good enough to put up minimal effort against an average team and just squeak out a win.... eventhough the outcome was never in doubt. Strong, fast, rarely turned it over, deep bench, had maximum ball handling and shot the ball very well. Their ability to play down to the opponent with no concern of losing deceived the national pundits.
I actually think they only put in max effort twice all year. St John's in the BE finals and for some reason New Mexico in the NCAA. The St John's game made sense, but the New Mexico thing was odd. They played New Mexico like they wanted to embarass NM really bad.... and they did. After the St John's game I think JC said I can't get a team to play better than that. I never heard JC say that any other time.
I also think Duke hit some desperate shots just to keep it close. We were on the edge of running the deficit up to 10. The Duke fan sitting next to me at Tropicana field had to leave with 2 minutes to go. He couldn't handle the stress. Nice guy actually, but what a wuss.