Honestly, it took us awhile to understand the level of hatred Maryland had for Duke in the 1990’s and 2000’s. We became the focus of their enmity but for us? What did we care about Maryland? They were an average basketball team for most of that time. It took years to them to recover from the Len Bias troubles and Bob Wade, as it turned out, didn’t really help.
By the time Gary Williams took over, Maryland had had a dismal decade – and at the same time, the Krzyzewski Era at Duke really took off.
After
the Lefty Driesell era had some amazing highs, the post-Lefty era was a big letdown and Duke became the focus.
Like we said though, most Duke fans had no clue. We had tickets to some Duke-Maryland games we tried to sell as late as the Battier era at Duke and we couldn’t give them away. No one was worked up about the Terps and, as much as anything, that indifference probably drove them nuts.
By 1991, Duke had been to the Final Four in ‘86, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90 and won the championship in 1991. With Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill, Duke had a team for the ages. Meanwhile, Maryland was burning with resentment and envy, and we’re quite sure Laettner’s arrogance didn’t help.
These clips are from the 1992 ACC Tournament encounter between the teams. Laettner’s unparalleled ability to infuriate opponents had hit full stride and at Maryland, Gary Williams had shown an incredible ability to motivate his teams after perceived slights.
It didn’t work here – beating Duke in 1991-92 was no easy task – but you can see the groundwork being laid. Maryland was improving and Williams was stoking the fires.
Duke was just too good in 1992 though – and in most years after, too.
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