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Duke basketball: 5 best seasons in Blue Devils history, ranked

By Mike Phillips

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils during the first half during their game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at LJVM Coliseum Complex on February 25, 2020 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils during the first half during their game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at LJVM Coliseum Complex on February 25, 2020 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

1. Duke basketball lives up to the hype in 1991-1992.

People say that the sequel doesn’t live up to the hype, but that certainly wasn’t the case for the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils. Expectations were high following the program’s first national championship and the team managed to deliver the best performance in Duke history.

It certainly helped that the core of the 1991 title-winners was back for more, headlined by Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley and the man America loved to hate, Christian Laettner. The regular season was a cakewalk for the Blue Devils, who lost only two games by a combined six points, both on the road.

A 25-2 regular season combined with a stampede through the ACC Tournament made the Blue Devils a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they played in some of the most memorable games we’ve ever seen. The 104-103 double-overtime win over Kentucky in the regional final, most notable for Laettner’s game-winning shot, will go down as an all-time classic.

The Final Four saw Duke take down Indiana by three to earn a shot at the upstart Fab Five of Michigan, headlined by Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard. The experience of Duke’s championship-winning squad paid off in spades as the Blue Devils won by 20 to claim their second straight title.

Laettner racked up nearly all of the hardware you could possibly find, including multiple national Player of the Year Awards and first-team All-American status. No Duke basketball team has ever compiled as talented a roster as that group had, easily making it the best in program history.

Next. Top 25 college basketball teams of all time. dark

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