The Shot (Duke–Kentucky)

External video
External video
	The final play of the game, as broadcast by CBS

1992 East Regional Final
"The Shot"
1992 East Regional Final; "The Shot"
East Regional Final
(29–6)	(32–2)
103	104
Head coach:; Rick Pitino	Head coach:; Mike Krzyzewski
AP: 6; Coaches: 9;	AP: 1; Coaches: 1;
Date	March 28, 1992
Arena	The Spectrum (demolished 2011)
Location	Philadelphia, PA
Attendance	17,848
United States TV coverage
Network	CBS
Announcers	Verne Lundquist and Len Elmore

The 1992 NCAA Tournament was highlighted by a game between East Region #1 seed Duke and #2 seed Kentucky in the East Regional Final to determine a spot in the Final Four. With 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime, defending national champion Duke trailed 103–102. Grant Hill threw a pass the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who faked right, dribbled once, turned, and hit a jumper as time expired for the 104–103 win. In 2004 Sports Illustrated deemed it the greatest college basketball game of all time,^[1] and ESPN included it as number 17 on its list of top 100 sports moments of the past 25 years (see ESPN25). It is ranked number one on the list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time compiled by USA Today in 2002.^[2]

Background & Legacy[]

Kentucky Wildcats[]

The 1991–92 team is one of the most revered in the University of Kentucky's (UK) long basketball history. The Wildcats were coming off a two-year postseason ban due to major recruiting violations committed during the tenure of Pitino's predecessor Eddie Sutton, although the NCAA found Sutton was not personally liable. The violations mainly centered on alleged cheating by former player Eric Manuel on the ACT college entrance exam and cash payments to the guardian of another former player, Chris Mills. This was notoriously highlighted on the cover of Sports Illustrated called "Kentucky's Shame".^[3]

The team's four seniors, three of whom were Kentucky natives, had remained loyal to the program throughout its probation, and would enter Kentucky basketball history as "The Unforgettables". They were:

Richie Farmer, a 6'0"/1.83 m shooting guard from Manchester, a small town in the state's eastern coal fields. (He served as the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2004 to 2012, and was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 2011, and would later serve two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple corruption charges during his tenure as Agriculture Commissioner.)
Deron Feldhaus, a 6'7"/2.01 m forward from Maysville, a small Ohio River town in the Bluegrass region, about an hour's drive upriver from Cincinnati.
John Pelphrey, a 6'8"/2.03 m forward from another eastern coal town, Paintsville (currently the head coach at Tennessee Tech, and former assistant at Florida and former head coach at Arkansas).
Sean Woods, the only non-Kentuckian, a 6'2"/1.88 m point guard from Indianapolis (formerly the head coach at Morehead State).

Although the seniors were the heart and soul of the team, its biggest star was sophomore Jamal Mashburn, who would go on to become a consensus first-team All-American the following season and have a successful 12-year NBA career; he is now an NBA analyst for ESPN.

The legacy of "The Unforgettables" at UK was great enough that the UK program decided to retire their jerseys (but not their numbers) almost immediately after that game. While jersey retirement is not uncommon, it is rare for a school to bestow this honor so soon after a player's career ends.

Duke Blue Devils[]

Duke entered the 1991-92 season having just won their first ever national championship the previous year and looking to repeat as national champions for the first time since UCLA in 1972 and 1973. Losing only Greg Koubek and to graduation and Billy McCaffrey and Crawford Palmer to transfers, Duke retained its core players including Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill and was able to add recruits Cherokee Parks and Erik Meek to its lineup.

The Blue Devils started the season ranked No. 1 and won their first 17 games. Their unbeaten streak came to an end when they lost a close contest to archival North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center by a score of 75–73. However, Duke would only lose one other game (to Wake Forest 72–68 in Winston-Salem) for the rest of the season and finished the season with a 25–2 record and the 10th regular-season championship in school history, entering the ACC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and defeating North Carolina in the ACC title game 94–74 to capture their 9th ACC Tournament Championship in school history.

Following this game, Duke successfully concluded their quest to repeat at the Final Four in Minneapolis after first overcoming Indiana 81-78 in Bob Knight's last Final Four appearance as Hoosiers head coach and then sweeping past Michigan, led by the Fab Five, 71-51. Laettner was also the only collegiate player to be named on the 1992 United States men's Olympic team, also known as the Dream Team, which Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski served on as an assistant under Detroit Pistons head coach Chuck Daly before taking the helm from 2006 to 2016.

The game[]

The game between Kentucky and Duke is considered by some to be the greatest NCAA tournament game ever. The game was close for the entire 40 minutes plus the 5 minute overtime. Duke was the top-ranked team for the entire season, and were favored to win the national championship for the second consecutive year.

At the end of the first half, Duke led Kentucky 50–45. During the second half, after Aminu Timberlake was knocked down during a play, Laettner stepped on his chest. He was assessed a technical foul, but was not ejected. Kentucky tied the game at 93 with 33.6 seconds left in regulation on a Deron Feldhaus putback of a John Pelphrey miss. Duke's point guard Bobby Hurley had a chance to win the game as time expired, but he missed the shot and the game went into overtime.^[4]

The teams traded the lead through the overtime period. After Kentucky pulled ahead 98–96, Laettner took over for the Blue Devils, scoring their final six points and giving them a 102–101 lead. Kentucky called a timeout with 7.8 seconds left, then Sean Woods hit a running one-hander in the lane over Laettner to put Kentucky ahead 103–102 with 2.1 seconds remaining. Duke called a timeout and drew up the final play. Unguarded on the inbounds play, Grant Hill threw the ball 79 feet to Laettner at the opposite foul line, who dribbled once, turned, and put up "the shot" as time expired, giving Duke a 104–103 victory.^[4]

Laettner finished the game with 31 points and 7 rebounds. He was a perfect 10–10 from the field and 10–10 from the free throw line.

The calls[]

There's the pass to Laettner...puts it up...(Buzzer sounds) Yes!

Verne Lundquist on CBS's TV broadcast^[5]

Here's the long pass then. Laettner's got it, puts down a dribble, turns for the jumper – good! And Duke wins it, 104-103. That's why they're #1.

Cawood Ledford on the Kentucky radio broadcast^[6]^[7]

All right, uh, Grant Hill will make the inbounds play, so that takes care of that option. Tony Lang and Thomas Hill are in the backcourt to accept the pass. Bobby Hurley up the floor with Laettner. They throw it the length of the floor – Laettner catches, comes down, dribbles, shoots, scores! Christian Laettner has hit the bucket at the buzzer! The Blue Devils win it 104-103! Look out, Minneapolis, here come the Blue Devils!

Bob Harris on the Duke radio broadcast on the Capitol Sports Network^[8]^[9]

References[]

^ Matthew Waxman = 16 Greatest Games Sports Illustrated (On Campus), March 10, 2004.
^ Mike Douchant – Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002.
^ Curry Kirkpatrick – Kentucky's Shame. Sports Illustrated, May 29, 1989.
^ ^a ^b Sims, John. "Revisiting the Greatest Game Ever Played: The 1992 East Regional Finals". Bleacher Report. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
^ Christian Laettner's shot sinks Kentucky in 1992 Elite Eight March Madness on YouTube
^ 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional Final - Duke vs. Kentucky (Kentucky Radio Broadcast) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and the University of Kentucky)
^ "The Shot" by Christian Laettner (Kentucky Radio) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and the University of Kentucky
^ 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional Final - Duke vs. Kentucky (Capitol Sports Network) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and Capitol Sports Network)
^ "The Shot" by Christian Laettner (Duke Radio) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and Capitol Sports Network)

External links[]

Full game broadcast on YouTube

[1] Matthew Waxman = 16 Greatest Games Sports Illustrated (On Campus), March 10, 2004.

[2] Mike Douchant – Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002.

[3] Curry Kirkpatrick – Kentucky's Shame. Sports Illustrated, May 29, 1989.

[auto-4] Sims, John. "Revisiting the Greatest Game Ever Played: The 1992 East Regional Finals". Bleacher Report. Retrieved December 2, 2015.

[5] Christian Laettner's shot sinks Kentucky in 1992 Elite Eight March Madness on YouTube

[6] 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional Final - Duke vs. Kentucky (Kentucky Radio Broadcast) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and the University of Kentucky)

[7] "The Shot" by Christian Laettner (Kentucky Radio) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and the University of Kentucky

[8] 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional Final - Duke vs. Kentucky (Capitol Sports Network) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and Capitol Sports Network)

[9] "The Shot" by Christian Laettner (Duke Radio) YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS and Capitol Sports Network)

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