UConn/Dook 2004

[Lefty2one]

That team will never get the historical respect it deserves. Villanueva missed the first few games of the year because the NCAA was dragging its feet, Mek had the early season and late season back problems, Gordon broke his nose and was a mess for a while during conference play. We didn't hit our stride until the Big Dance where we were killed people. That team had everything - shot-blocking, rebounding, size, speed, athleticism, shooting, depth, guard play, etc. Free throws and no backup PG (thanks to M. Williams) were the only weaknesses.

I would have loved to have seen what we would have done to Dook if Mek didn't pick up that second, awful foul. I can't believe how many Dook fans still believe that officiating cost them that game. It woulda been a double-digit loss for them if the refs let both teams play.

 

[Scoe]

I remember you could clearly hear Emeka yelling WTF when he picked up his 2nd foul.

 

[Tommyboy]

This calls for the Just One music video



The best Uconn Video every made. Great music and action sync

That alley oop dunk around 2:25 is sick.

 

[David 76]

That team will never get the historical respect it deserves. Villanueva missed the first few games of the year because the NCAA was dragging its feet, Mek had the early season and late season back problems, Gordon broke his nose and was a mess for a while during conference play. We didn't hit our stride until the Big Dance where we were killed people. That team had everything - shot-blocking, rebounding, size, speed, athleticism, shooting, depth, guard play, etc. Free throws and no backup PG (thanks to M. Williams) were the only weaknesses..

Agreed. Look at all the NBA players on that team. Our most talented championship team?

 

[Gurleyman]

That alley oop dunk around 2:25 is sick.

That vid has my favorite Emeka block ever at 1:05 against Alabama. It doesn't really look like anything special, but I have never really seen anyone do that before or since - sell out on the initial block with the right hand and then block the reverse attempt low with the left hand. That will get in a player's head ("Damn. I had him faked out and he still blocked it").

 

[intlzncster]

Agreed. Look at all the NBA players on that team. Our most talented championship team?

Without question. Two of the all time greats plus depth for days. If we had M Williams, there wouldn't even be any other consideration.

 

[David 76]

Without question. Two of the all time greats plus depth for days. If we had M Williams, there wouldn't even be any other consideration.

I did a double take because all I could think of was Murray. Murray was great but Marcus made more sense!

 

[Tenspro2002]

Rashad hit that 3 before any of us could really panic. That shot was on par with Brimah's And-1. Without it, we are in BIG trouble.

I think we were down 75-68. Duke had just scored but Rashad got that shot up and in within 10 seconds.

Any Duke fan who's a fan of basketball should spend his time criticizing the Duke players for their awful clock management and shot selection, rather than the officials. Duke snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Yup, the situation was as dire as you state. Actually, it was 75-67, and came on the heels of Emeka missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with about 3:10 to go. Duke had the ball, up 8, at the 3-minute mark. You had the feeling that if either a) they scored, or b) we failed to score on the following possession, the game was over.

Well, as it turned out, we had 8 consecutive stops/scores, and if we had failed on any single possession, it's likely we would have run out of time. A truly remarkable in-game run, at the most opportune time. The only run that really comes close is the 1996 BET vs. G'Town.

 

[August_West]

Duke fans are crazy to say the refs cost them the game. I will make one concession though, reddick got absolutely mauled on that drive to the lane at the end.

If the situations were exactly reversed and Ben didn't get that call in that spot Calhoun may have been put in jail. Overall though Both teams got screwed. That was a tough game to watch in real time very little flow for the middle 30 minutes. That comeback was no fluke though. We did the exact same thing to Pitt ( scum) a couple weeks earlier in BET final.

 

[Gurleyman]

Yup, the situation was as dire as you state. Actually, it was 75-67, and came on the heels of Emeka missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with about 3:10 to go. Duke had the ball, up 8, at the 3-minute mark. You had the feeling that if either a) they scored, or b) we failed to score on the following possession, the game was over. Well, as it turned out, we had 8 consecutive stops/scores, and if we had failed on any single possession, it's likely we would have run out of time. A truly remarkable in-game run, at the most opportune time. The only run that really comes close is the 1996 BET vs. G'Town.

I had remembered Pitt in the 2004 title game being similar, but went back and looked and we made our comeback a lot sooner. We took a lead with 2 minutes left.

Funny part of the trip down memory lane is that I watched Gordon's game winner for the first time in a long while (at least since 2011). He came off a screen, and Page and Troutman switched at the top of the key (Page shoved Troutman out onto Gordon to finish the switch). That left BG isolated on the top of the key against a big, and he went all Linda Ronstadt on him (that old classic "Blew By You"). Made a tough shot over the help, but he got deep into the paint. Dixon, of course, vowed right then that he would never allow one of his bigs to be isolated against a UConn scoring guard with a Big East title at stake. I mean, fool me once...

 

[nomar]

Yup, the situation was as dire as you state. Actually, it was 75-67, and came on the heels of Emeka missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with about 3:10 to go. Duke had the ball, up 8, at the 3-minute mark. You had the feeling that if either a) they scored, or b) we failed to score on the following possession, the game was over.

Well, as it turned out, we had 8 consecutive stops/scores, and if we had failed on any single possession, it's likely we would have run out of time. A truly remarkable in-game run, at the most opportune time. The only run that really comes close is the 1996 BET vs. G'Town.

75-67, of course. I'm embarrassed I got it wrong...

 

[champs99and04]

Yup, the situation was as dire as you state. Actually, it was 75-67, and came on the heels of Emeka missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with about 3:10 to go. Duke had the ball, up 8, at the 3-minute mark. You had the feeling that if either a) they scored, or b) we failed to score on the following possession, the game was over.

Well, as it turned out, we had 8 consecutive stops/scores, and if we had failed on any single possession, it's likely we would have run out of time. A truly remarkable in-game run, at the most opportune time. The only run that really comes close is the 1996 BET vs. G'Town.

I think that's really the best way to describe how incredible that comeback was. When you're down eight with three minutes to go, you basically have to be perfect to have any chance of winning. Duke's win probability at that point in time was probably in the neighborhood of 98% - drain some clock, get a stop or two, make some free throws, and you're playing in the championship Monday night for what probably ends up being K's fourth title. Instead, they panicked, and UConn played like champs. It was really one of the ballsiest stretches of basketball I've ever seen given the magnitude of the game.

 

[Inyatkin]

Duke fans are crazy to say the refs cost them the game. I will make one concession though, reddick got absolutely mauled on that drive to the lane at the end.

If the situations were exactly reversed and Ben didn't get that call in that spot Calhoun may have been put in jail. Overall though Both teams got screwed. That was a tough game to watch in real time very little flow for the middle 30 minutes. That comeback was no fluke though. We did the exact same thing to Pitt ( scum) a couple weeks earlier in BET final.

I agree Calhoun would have lost it, but have you ever seen a clean look at the Reddick play? Every replay I've seen it's hidden from view.
Not like you expect Rashad to make a clean strip there, but it's at least possible. And Billy Packer didn't act like it was a bad call, he said K needed to watch out for a technical.

 

[Walker11]

Yup, the situation was as dire as you state. Actually, it was 75-67, and came on the heels of Emeka missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with about 3:10 to go. Duke had the ball, up 8, at the 3-minute mark. You had the feeling that if either a) they scored, or b) we failed to score on the following possession, the game was over.

Well, as it turned out, we had 8 consecutive stops/scores, and if we had failed on any single possession, it's likely we would have run out of time. A truly remarkable in-game run, at the most opportune time. The only run that really comes close is the 1996 BET vs. G'Town.

Good post, I had a hell of a time watching that game with my Duke friend. Many apologies had to be made on my part post game. I feel like I have to rip you if I quote you so how old were you at that GTown game, 8? You seem like a young guy who shouldn't remember. That game was actually my first sporting memory and I swear we won because my dad told me to put on my Ray Ray jersey with 10min remaining.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Good post, I had a hell of a time watching that game with my Duke friend. Many apologies had to be made on my part post game. I feel like I have to rip you if I quote you so how old were you at that GTown game, 8? You seem like a young guy who shouldn't remember. That game was actually my first sporting memory and I swear we won because my dad told me to put on my Ray Ray jersey with 10min remaining.

Heh, that's actually a pretty good guess. No, I don't remember much about it at the time, except for Ray's shot, but I've watched replays of the last few minutes of that G'Town game a few times over the years. FWIW, I don't consider myself particularly young either.

 

[Tenspro2002]

When you're down eight with three minutes to go, you basically have to be perfect to have any chance of winning. Duke's win probability at that point in time was probably in the neighborhood of 98% - drain some clock, get a stop or two, make some free throws, and you're playing in the championship.

That's right. Do the combinatorics. We basically had to get the right outcome on 8 straight possessions to avoid needing to foul down the stretch, and on 10-11 straight possessions to sew up the game. Assuming each outcome is in the neighborhood of a 50/50 chance, that's (0.5)^8 ~0.4%. (In reality it's better odds than that, since there were probably more like 5-6 different possible paths out of a few hundred, but that's around the right order.) We actually got 12 straight positive outcomes to conclude that one, up until Duhon's meaningless 3.

1. Duke missed shot
2. Rashad made 3 (75-70)
3. Duke missed shot
4. BG 2 free throws (75-72)
5. Duke missed shot
6. Emeka floater for 2 (75-74)
7. Duke missed shot
8. Emeka putback for 2 (76-75)
9. Duke stripped
10. Rashad 2 free throws (78-75)
11. Duke missed shot
12. Emeka made 1 free throw (79-75)

Big time balls.