The Duke Blue Devils did what no team could do for 19 years. Christian Laettner did what he had to do. And Mike Krzyzewski did what he seldom does.
When the last strand of net was cut Monday night and Duke was national champion for the second straight year, college basketball history had a new chapter, one whose end has yet to be written.The Blue Devils' wire-to-wire season was finally over, Michigan's Fab Five vanquished 71-51, and Krzyzewski could relax at long last. His face changed from stern to smiling as he hugged his players, pumped his fists into the air and waved to the fans.
"This is the greatest year I've ever had as a coach," Krzyzewski said. "The last four games were even better because it's like we really deserve it. To be the No. 1 team for the whole year and do what they did, they were the best."
Duke, 1990-91 NCAA champion.
Duke, 1991-92 NCAA champion.
Not since the end of the UCLA dynasty had that happened - one team, two seasons, two titles.
The closest anyone had come was UNLV last season, and that chance was ended in the national semifinals by Duke, the modern-day version of UCLA with six Final Four appearances in seven years, five in a row. Krzyzewski is now the ninth coach to have won more than one NCAA title and just the fifth to win them consecutively.
The Blue Devils spent the season answering question after question about repeating, and the queries grew louder as the games got closer in the last two weeks. That made the answer especially satisfying.
"We won last year, but it's the best feeling to go out in my last game at Duke on a winning note," said Laettner, who played in more college games and started in more Final Fours than anyone.
It wasn't easy.
Wins over Seton Hall, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan meant 12 straight NCAA victories, but they were struggles.
They needed a miracle shot by Laettner to get to their fifth straight Final Four and sixth in seven years, and they had to overcome a season-low game by Laettner to get back to the championship game.
Krzyzewski, whose 33-7 record and .825 winning percentage in the NCAA tournament ties him for fourth place with UCLA's John Wooden, had to kickstart his team one last time.
He went into the lockerroom at halftime, down 31-30 and lucky to be that close, ripped into his players, one at a time, for a lethargic performance.
"He got on all of us," said Thomas Hill. "He was shouting. He did what was needed."
It worked, starting with Laettner, whose Final Four funk continued with only five points in the first half against Michigan.
"He was throwing up bricks and we were still down just one point," Krzyzewski said. "I knew if we could turn up the emotion and get him back in the game we'd have a shot."
After missing six of eight shots and making a season-high seven turnovers in the first half, Laettner finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and no more turnovers."I didn't press enough" in the first half, Laettner said. "What I was doing was not attacking enough and looking to pass and then making bad passes."
The second half was Laettner in player-of-the-year form.
The all-time leading scorer in the NCAA tournament hit his first two shots after halftime, a layup on a feed from Bobby Hurley and a 3-pointer that gave Duke the lead for good at 35-33 with 19:16 to play.
"I'm glad Christian snapped out of it," said Hurley, voted Most Outstanding Player of this Final Four after finishing with nine points and seven assists to go with his 26-point effort against Indiana.
Laettner said he didn't dwell on his first half woes.
"You can't put the weight of the world on your shoulders at that point in time," he said. "The defense was tough the entire game and I was making bad decisions and not taking care of the ball. I finally got an easy basket when Bobby made the pass and then hit the `3' and things started going for me."
Suddenly, Duke broke the game open, scoring on its last 12 possessions and ending with a 23-6 run over the last 7:06, including 12 points by Grant Hill.
"When Bobby made that great pass, and then we looked for Christian and said `You're on,' he responded and played a great second half," Krzyzewski said.
Duke's defensive pressure limited Michigan to only 20 second-half points on 29 percent shooting - nine for 31. The Wolverines shot only 38 percent for the game and had their lowest point total in eight years, as well as the lowest losing score in a championship game since Indiana beat North Carolina 63-50 in 1981.
"The second half, we had no semblance of order on offense," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "And I think it was as much their defense as anything. We unraveled with some bad shots and you can't do that against a good team."
Grant Hill had a terrific all-around game for Duke with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Thomas Hill added 16 points and seven rebounds.
"Coach just challenged us at halftime to play better," Grant Hill said. "We just tried to come and play hard. Michigan played hard. I'm just so happy we came through in the stretch."
Duke tied the second-largest winning margin in NCAA championship game history, topped only by UNLV's 30-point blowout of the Blue Devils two years ago and equaled by Ohio State over California in 1960.
But the loss couldn't overshadow what Michigan did this season, especially after Fisher switched to five freshmen starters eight weeks ago.
"Cry that's part of it," Fisher told his team. "Feel awful, but be proud of what you've done and be determined you're going to learn from this game and set your sights next year as high as they were this year."
Chris Webber, who led the Wolverines with 14 points and 11 rebounds, said the Wolverines still have their own place in history, even if they didn't become the first champions ever to start five freshmen.
"We had a great season," he said. "There will never be a freshman class to do that again."