Well, it wasn't exactly a typical Duke sports year.
But it wasn't a bad year, either.
When most people look back at the 1994-95 Blue Devil sports year, they will remember the struggles of the men's basketball team. On a campus which has always been--and probably always will be--dominated by men's basketball, there was not much to cheer about: 13-18. Last in the Atlantic Coast Conference. No post-season.
For those who live and die with Duke basketball, there was a 24-hour suicide watch this winter.
But there shouldn't have been. The men's hoops team provided plenty of exciting--albeit losing--moments. And other Blue Devil teams more than made up for the victories missing from Cameron.
Duke athletics is not just about men's basketball. And if nothing else, that was the lesson of 1994-95.
The football team earned national notoriety for its rebirth. The women's basketball team gained popularity and had its best season ever. The volleyball team kept on dominating the ACC. The tennis, soccer and lacrosse teams quietly took their annual places in the nation's elite.
When it all comes down to it, there are four events that have defined the sports year for me. After these four events, fans walked out uttering the same words: "I have never seen anything like that before."
-First, there was the football team's game against North Carolina on Nov. 22 in Wally Wade. As fellow Chronicle writer Danny Sullivan put it following the game, "Has Duke football ever had a better loss than it did on Saturday?"
Not in the four years that I was here. Duke was up, UNC was up, Duke made a dramatic comeback, and UNC pulled it out in an exciting finish.
"I don't think I've been in anything as wild as this," Duke head Fred Goldsmith said after the game.
After three years of watching Duke football falter and fumble, I couldn't have been prouder to be a Duke football fan.
-The men's basketball team had quite a few edge-of-the-seat losses. But none topped the first game against Carolina on Feb. 2, which may have been the best college basketball contest of the year.
In two overtimes, the Tar Heels finally won, 102-100.
But that was only after sophomore Jeff Capel prolonged the drama at the end of the first overtime by burying a 30-foot desperation heave to bring chaos to Cameron. I found myself jumping out of my seat on press row to cheer with the Crazies. Then I quickly looked around to see if any of the Duke sports information people had noticed and might throw me out for "non-objectivity." Not surprisingly, however, they had the same reaction that I did.
"That was the greatest game I've ever been a part of," UNC's Jerry Stackhouse said.
-For all of you who weren't lucky enough to visit beautiful Tuscaloosa, Ala., over spring break, well, I was.
I admit that I did wonder why the heck I was spending my break in Tuscaloosa rather than at a more enticing location. But after more than a few beverages and several games of pool, photographer Doug Lynn and I were quite happy campers.
By the way, we were there for a game--between Duke and Alabama in the second round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament--and it was simply a classic. After four overtimes, the Crimson Tide survived, 121-120. It was a tight, exciting game-and-a-half.
"I think it was one of the greatest basketball games ever played," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said.
On the plane ride home, when Doug and I weren't sleeping or complaining about headaches, we were trying to figure out how in the world to adequately portray this game, which fewer than 2,000 people saw.
-Finally, there was last Sunday's women's tennis match at the ACC tournament. As one inexperienced tennis observer (actually, it was Duke field hockey coach Jacki Silar, who is head of the ACC women's tennis committee--don't ask) said during the match, "I'm going to have to go get a racket and some lessons on Monday."
She was not the only one.
"That's the most incredible thing I've ever seen," said ACC tournament staffer Emily Watkins.
Seniors Monica Mraz and Wendy Lyons grabbed an astonishing, come-from-behind victory--which has already been rehashed in The Chronicle this week, so I won't do it again--to give Duke perhaps the toughest of its eight straight ACC tournament titles.
"It's got to be the best ACC final ever in tennis," Duke head coach Jody Hyden said.
I just wish I had gotten a piece of that huge tennis-racket cake the players were eating after the match.
There were plenty of other memorable games and matches. Women's soccer over UNC at Chapel Hill. . .men's soccer over UNC and N.C. State before losing 1-0 to Virginia in the ACCs. . .women's hoops stunning UVa. . .football over Virginia and Clemson before dropping a heartbreaker to N.C. State . . . men's tennis rallying to edge UNC at the ACCs. . .lacrosse dominating the ACCs. . .the list could go on and on.
But I'll spare you. Instead, I'd like to leave with one final thought: Duke sports do matter. And I'm not just talking about football and basketball.
While 95 percent of this campus might not care about a lot of the stuff we cover, these athletes deserve to be recognized. They have achieved incredible success in the playing arena, but many are also equally successful off the field or court. Unlike athletes at many other schools, most Duke athletes are true student-athletes. They have class and they have brains. You can chat with most of them like regular, down-to-earth students.
Blue Devil teams won some and lost some in 1994-95. But regardless of the outcomes of the games, my opinion is now set in stone--it was simply a great year for Duke sports.
Dan Wichman is a Trinity senior and about-to-be-former sports editor of The Chronicle. And he still doesn't know what the hell "Water boy" means or where it came from.
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