ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The game everybody wanted has been in the making for a decade.
Duke and Connecticut, inexorably linked by Christian Laettner's shot in 1990 and a whole season of quiet anticipation, meet tonight in a national championship game that can settle a lot of scores.The Huskies (33-2) finally can give coach Jim Calhoun the prize he's been chasing all these years. Duke (37-1) can establish itself as one of the best teams in college basketball history.
For the first time in 34 years, the only two teams to be ranked No. 1 all season are playing for the national championship. The brackets and basketball gods gave us Duke, Connecticut and a lot of baggage for rivals who have met only five times.
It's the most anticipated championship game since North Carolina beat Michigan's Fab Five in 1993, the perfect way to culminate a great decade of basketball.
"I think it's the matchup everyone's really been looking forward to," said UConn forward Jake Voskuhl, who will share the task of guarding player of the year Elton Brand. "This is the matchup the media and the fans have wanted, because we don't play each other during the year. You guys wanted it, now you've got it."
Consider it redemption for all those NCAA tournaments that didn't quite give us The Game. Duke and UConn have been so dominant this season and so good this decade, this might just make up for the premature matchup between Louisville and Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma team in the national semifinals in 1983.
"We knew that Connecticut was one of the teams that could win," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, recalling the preseason rankings that placed Duke and UConn 1-2 in the land. "And we felt we were one of them. So we're the two who felt all year long that we were the guys. I think that's what will make it a great game."
If Duke is the essence of college basketball excellence in the '90s, Connecticut isn't far behind.
The Blue Devils are playing in their fifth championship game under Krzyzewski, the winningest active coach in the NCAA tournament with a 48-12 record. Only North Carolina's Dean Smith has more victories, 65.
Duke won back-to-back national titles in 1991-92, lost to Arkansas in 1994 and Louisville in 1986.
"When you talk about Final Fours, you're talking about Mike Krzyzewski," said Calhoun, going for his first national title in his first trip to the Final Four. "He's the coach for our generation."
Calhoun has transformed UConn from a regional basketball outpost into a national power during a 13-year reign that lacks only a national championship.
UConn appeared in the regional final in 1990, '95 and '98, losing each time. The first of those was a 79-78 loss to Duke when Laettner hit a jumper on an inbounds play at the buzzer in 1990.
"It made me sick," said Duke forward Shane Battier, who was 11 at the time. "Growing up in Michigan, I was a huge Michigan fan. I loved the Fab Five. I couldn't stand Duke. I couldn't stand Coach K. I hated Christian Laettner. It wasn't until the recruiting process that I came to love Duke."
Duke and Connecticut have met only five times, with the Blue Devils holding a 4-1 advantage. As if the Laettner game wasn't enough for Huskies fans to bear, Duke beat UConn 81-67 in the Sweet 16 in 1991.
"As much of a great person Mike Krzyzewski is, there are some people in Connecticut who don't truly like him," Calhoun said. "They're never going to forgive him for Christian shooting that shot.
"In my opinion, they're the epitome after Kentucky, or probably with Kentucky if they're fortunate to beat us, as the best team in the '90s. Clearly, they've broken our hearts a couple of times."
Duke seeks a place in history. Calhoun just wants to make peace with the past.
"Maybe, just maybe," he said, "we'll have an opportunity to do a little heartbreak on them, too."