DANNY SULLIVAN
After a decade of repeated victory marches through March, the men's basketball team saw a trying season end without an NCAA tournament bid for the first time since 1983.
Forget about March Madness. Try March Sadness.
"It's strange," acting head coach Pete Gaudet said. "I've been watching the [NCAA] tournament as a fan. Every weekend, more and more coaches and players become fans. But we've been a part of it all. What you learn from this is that nothing can be taken for granted."
And with its tremendous success over the last 10 years, Duke had become synonymous with the best of college basketball. Again this year, the Blue Devils were expected to hold a perch near the top of the weekly national rankings, to be in the hunt for an Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title or maybe an ACC tournament championship, and to compete in that nice, long ride down the road toward the Final Four. And all the while, no one could imagine the Blue Devils being guided by anyone but head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The Blue Devil bubble burst quickly in 1995. Duke finished 13-18 overall, 2-14 in the ACC, after starting the year with nine wins and only two losses. The first cracks in the Blue Devils' season appeared in early January. A 75-70 loss at home to Clemson on Jan. 4 began a downward spiral in ACC play that would see the team lose its first nine conference games on its way to the league cellar.
That loss to Clemson stood out for another reason: it marked the last time Krzyzewski would appear on the sidelines for the Blue Devils all season. Having pushed himself too hard in trying to recover from preseason back surgery, Krzyzewski succumbed to recurring problems and entered Duke Hospital on Jan. 6. Assistant coach Pete Gaudet was named interim head coach.
He would hold that post for the remainder of the year. Krzyzewski ended the speculation as to when he would come back by announcing on Jan. 22 that he wasn't making sufficient progress in his recovery to allow a return before the end of the season.
Gaudet praised the players for working hard in trying to adjust to the situation, but said that the program missed the presence Krzyzewski brought to the team.
"When Coach K is around, he has an understanding of the league, and he's so inspirational," Gaudet said. "What he brings to practice and the emotion he has are certainly qualities that have been there for us in the past."
One ACC guard who has given Duke nothing but trouble during his brilliant career said the effect of Krzyzewski's absence on Duke's season cannot be underestimated.
"Losing your head coach is a big thing," said Randolph Childress after his 40-point performance on March 10 helped Wake Forest eliminate Duke from the ACC tournament, 87-70. "That's something that you just can't overcome. That's far greater than losing any player on their team. They could lose Cherokee Parks, but with Coach K there, they probably would have won more games than they won this year. We all know how great a player Cherokee Parks is and what he means to their program, but you can't lose your head coach and then expect everything to just move on as smoothly as possible.
"Losing you coach is like cutting off the head of your team. Yeah, the players do go out and play the game, but without your coaches, man, it just doesn't happen. You can't do it."
After Krzyzewski's announcement, the Blue Devils tried to start over and right themselves under Gaudet. It didn't happen. Duke's inexperienced perimeter rotation continued to struggle in finding consistency both offensively and defensively, never entirely recovering from early-season injuries to junior Chris Collins and freshman Ricky Price. Senior big men Cherokee Parks (19.0 points, 9.3 rebounds per game) and Erik Meek (10.3 points, 8.3 rebounds per game) enjoyed solid years statistically--except in the victory column.
Part of the problem was the quality of the ACC this season. Gaudet said he felt Parks held his own against the league's top big men.
"But there are a heck of a lot of good players right down the line, with Travis Best, Cory Alexander, Bob Sura," Gaudet said. "Donald Williams is in there, and Childress, of course.
"You keep going and going and you just say `Wow--a lot of good players are in this league.' Certainly the ACC having one-fourth of the Sweet 16 is remarkable. Those teams are shining through right now."
With the Blue Devils facing such competition every night, a tragic pattern developed: Duke would play its opponent remarkably well for almost the entire game. Then, somehow, the Blue Devils would come up short in the final minutes.
One thing was clear: Duke led the country in close calls. Of its nine losses to the ACC teams that have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament (North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest), Duke registered five defeats by three points or less.
"We'd go out every game, and no matter how up we were for the game, it would seem like something inevitably would always go wrong," Parks said. "Some people seem to think that we came out every game knowing that it's going to go down to the wire, and we're going to lose. That's not the case at all. I wish I had an answer to that."
Even though the season is over, Duke is still working to find that answer. Gaudet thinks the Blue Devils know the formula they need to return to glory.
"As we look at the whole season, it's got to make us think that if everyone pitches in and we don't make excuses, we're going to get back," he said. "We're not looking for any magic. We're just looking for a stable situation and a hard work ethic."
Gaudet said that despite the losses, the team concentrated on working harder for the next game and not stopping to feel sorry for itself. He added that the squad wished next season could start tomorrow, having never lost its desire to try and achieve.
"There's never a sense of relief," said freshman guard Trajan Langdon after the team's ACC tournament loss to Wake Forest. "You always want to keep playing. Although it was a tough year, we came in and had a chance to win this game tonight. We'll come back next year with a chance to start all over."
Krzyzewski announced in a press conference before the ACC tournament that he is looking forward to coaching next year. Will the 1995-96 season see the program bounce back?
"Definitely," Parks said. "No doubt."
Big questions will face Krzyzewski's next squad on the front line. With the graduation of Meek and Parks, Duke currently looks to have only two players over 6-8 on next year's roster--6-10 recruit Taymon Domzalski and 6-10 sophomore Greg Newton (assuming Newton is readmitted to the University following his suspension this semester).
Still, based on Newton's spirited play before the suspension, Gaudet is optimistic about the big man's return. He also thinks the team's perimeter should be much improved with this season's experience under its belt.
"Even special freshmen usually play only [limited minutes] in the ACC," Gaudet said. "There aren't very many freshmen who play a lot. One good thing about this year is that our young players got an awful lot of experience in a very tough league."
Gaudet said Wake Forest center Tim Duncan was a good example of a player who benefited from lots of playing time early in his career. Now, Demon Deacon head coach Dave Odom thinks it's Duke's turn to use the opportunity for playing time to its advantage.
"You say that you wouldn't want to play against Duke. Well, I wouldn't want to recruit against them right now," said Odom during the ACC tournament. "They know where the players are. [Playing time] is the one thing that they really haven't been able to offer that much, and they still got [top recruits]. Now you throw that in and they'll be brutal."
So after the struggles of 1995, does Odom think the Duke program is in shambles?
"Absolutely not," he said.
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