As promised, in light of West Virginia's recent misfortune, here is an update of the Duke Curse. We can only ask what we asked Jerry Tarkanian at the 1991 Final Four: Given what happens when you beat Duke in the tournament, is it really worth it?
- 1984, Washington. The next year they played in Durham and were so riddled
with injuries that Detlelf Schrempf had to play point guard. A long decline
ensued and their German connection dried up. - 1985, Boston College, lost coach Gary Williams soon thereafter to Ohio
State. Program revived long enough to beat UNC, then self-destructed and lost
Jim Oâ Brien toâ¦Ohio State. - 1986, Louisville: A long, slow descent followed, complete with probation.
Crum finally run off. In 2005, Rick Pitino finally got the Cards back to
the Final Four. - 1987, Indiana: A painful down period until 1992 Final Four (where they lost
toâ¦..Duke). Controversial coach Bob Knight forced out in 2001 (see below). - 1988, Kansas: Probation, lost coach.
- 1989, Seton Hall: slow decline ensued, finally arrested by Tommy Amaker, who
almost got them to the Elite Eight. - 1990, Vegas. Lost rematch, lost coach, lost most prestige, got Rollie
Massimino - 1991 - Duke wins title.
- 1992 - Duke wins title.
- 1993, Cal. Probation, lost coach, big scandal, big stinking mess.
- 1994, Arkansas: a small probation, faded for several years, Nolan Richardson
fired in bizarre sequence of events. - 1995 n/a
- 1996, Eastern Michigan: Lost coach (to Cal), faded from view, not heard from
since. Bonus Curse: Ben Braun fired at Cal in 2008. - 1997, Providence: Program peaked, fell, lost coach to UVa. Bonus Curse: Pete Gillen fired after a dismal run at Virginia
- 1998, Kentucky: Lost players to hardship in â98, draft, transfers at the end
of â99, a rash of serious auto related problems. In 2001-02, chemistry problems
and Jason Parker injury doomed the âCats. . - 1999, UConn: El-Amin arrested for marijuana possession, , Hamilton left, two
car/image problems. Doug Wrenn arrested for alleged shoplifting before the
season, suspended twice. El-Amin suffers a critical injury in tournament, team
loses to Tennessee in NCAAs. Wrenn kicked off team after a post-season arrest. - 2000/2001, Florida: lost Mike Miller and Donnell Harvey to the NBA. Had a
series of injuries the following season. Knocked out early in tournament two
years in a row. Teddy Dupay implicated in gambling scandal, kicked off team. - 2001 - Duke wins title.
- 2001 - UConn flames out in regular season, canât even make the NCAA field.
- 2002 - Indiana loses Jared Jeffries to early entry.
- 2003 - Kansas loses head coach Roy Williams to UNC
- 2003 - Former UConn star Khalid El-Amin loses case, ordered to pay $54,000
for beating man. - 2004 - Indianaâs loses forwards Patrick Ewing, Jr., and Sean Kline, to
injuries. George Leach has struggled with injuries as well. Indiana finishes at
14-15. - 2004- Ben Gordon leaves UConn for NBA
- 2005 - Indiana finishes 15-14. Mike Davis retained, but told he must win
more. The entire state of Indiana misses the tournament. - 2005 - UConn assistant coach Clyde Vaughan arrested for solicitation,.
Antonio Kellogg arrested for marijuana, Charlie Villanueva leaves after two
years for the NBA. UConn lost to N.C. State in the tournament after
Denham Brown said they âwere used to losingâ and wouldnât be able to
handle being down to UConn. - 2005 - Kansas loses to Bucknell in the first round. Bucknell had a
total of five scholarship players on the roster. - 2005/2006 - UConnâs Marcus Williams and A.J. Price busted for trying to sell hot laptops. The Huskies, overwhelming favorites for the title, go on to lose to George Mason.
- 2006 - LSU defeats Duke. 2008 - John Brady fired in mid-season.
- 2007 - VCU - Florida A.D. was in the air to hire Athony Grant after BillyDonovanâs bizarre NBA career lasted a weekend or so. After he decided to bolt back to Gainesville, the A.D. flew straight back and never offered Grant the job.
- 2007 - Tubby Smith leaves Kentucky under pressure. In the fall, Kentucky loses at home to Gardner- Webb in an all-time low for the program.
- 2008 - Bob Huggins trips at the airport and ends up at the hospital.
- 2008 - West Virginia's Joe Mazzulla and Cameron Thoroughman arrested for underage drinking and fighting the cops - at a Pirates game no less.