In 1992, Duke was the defending national champions. The 1991 Final Four opened with an emotional rematch with UNLV after being blown out by the Runnin’ Rebels in the 1990 championship game.
Duke then beat Kansas.
The 1992 season was different.
Led by Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, and Bobby Hurley, Duke was a brilliant team.
Even so, it took some damage during the season, with injuries to Hurley and Hill. However, they still finished the regular season at 25-2.
Duke won the ACC Tournament with relative
ease, then blew through Campbell, Iowa, and Seton Hall, before the legendary matchup with Kentucky in the Elite Eight. It was an incredible game, but physically and emotionally, it was bound to be draining.
Then came the Final Four, with Indiana up first.
This was when the late Bob Knight blew a gasket and turned on his mentee, Mike Krzyzewski.
Coach K had said that he would like to be recognized more for his own accomplishments than as a Knight protégé, and that infuriated Knight.
Always thin-skinned and unable to properly regulate his negative emotions, Knight essentially told Krzyzewski that if he wanted to be free of him, that was fine by him. The message was delivered by a letter that Knight gave to special assistant coach Col. Tom Rogers, who Knight knew from West Point.
Perhaps anticipating trouble, Rogers held the letter until after the game ended.
It was an outstanding game, but could Duke match the effort and emotions the Kentucky game required?
No. But it had enough to beat IU, if barely.
The Hoosiers built a 12-point first-half lead and were up at the break, 42-37.
Ted Valentine, hardly Knight’s favorite official, helped the officiating crew call 33 fouls on Indiana. By the end of the game, Alan Henderson, Calbert Cheaney, Damon Bailey, and Greg Graham had fouled out, while Chris Reynolds had four. Knight got a technical from Valentine (say what you will about TV Teddy, but he was one of few people to consistently stand up to Knight).
Duke built an 11-point lead late, but the Hoosiers, despite the foul problems, rallied. With seconds to go, Duke was up just 81-78 when Jamal Meeks missed a three.
The Blue Devils walked away with the win, but Knight snubbed Krzyzewski in the handshake line, with his “drive-by” handshake.
After the game, of course, Rogers gave Coach K the infamous and ugly letter, which was by all accounts a real blow. Knight had looked after Coach K after his father died while he was a West Point Cadet, and had championed him as a young coach.
They would reconcile when Krzyzewski asked Knight to present him for his Hall of Fame induction in 2001, but the relationship would end with Knight’s final snub at a 2015 West Point reunion in Pinehurst, N.C.
The two men never spoke again.
Knight never came to terms with his former player and protégé surpassing him.
And it was permanent. Knight made the Elite Eight the following season, but never again got past the Sweet Sixteen.
Krzyzewski, meanwhile, would go on to win three more national titles.
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