It Was Twenty Years Ago Today...

It’s been goin in and out of style....but guaranteed to raise a smile. So let us (re)introduce to you...the act you’ve known for all these years...Duke’s Miracle Minute finish in Cole!

Okay, enough Beatles.

Believe it or not, it really has been twenty years since Duke’s insanely great comeback at Maryland. We’ve linked to the comeback portion previously but today, in honor of the anniversary, and to depress Maryland fans of a certain age, here’s the entire game.

You’ll soon see that, for most of the game, Maryland was the better team. But Duke pushed back late, largely because Maryland fans started to chant “over-rated” prematurely, which irritated Duke great Jason Williams, who then scored five points in five seconds, cutting the lead in half with 48.7 left.

Maryland helped. Drew Nicholas bricked two free throws, the second one quite badly, thus leaving the door open.

Williams then came down and hit another three to cut the lead to 90-88.

After a timeout, Duke stole the inbounds and Maryland fouled Nate James on a put-back attempt. He hit both to make it 90-90.

The Terps got the ball back with 21.9 to go and got the ball across the line with 13.5 on the clock. The offense was disorganized and when Drew Nicholas finally got the ball in the left corner, he had to launch a desperation three. It bounced off and Duke finished Maryland in overtime.

What was remarkable about this game, aside from the actual comeback, was how predictable Maryland’s collapse was. The Terps always had a weak psyche in the ACC and the fans typically expected to lose, sometimes even finding a conspiracy behind the team’s failings.

This wouldn’t be their last failure against Duke. The teams played four times in 2001, twice in the regular season, once in the ACC Tournament finals and once in the Final Four.

Maryland won in Durham, then lost in the ACC Finals when they failed to block out on a late put-back. Then they had a monumental collapse in the Final Four, leading by 20 in the first half, only to watch Duke surge back to win by 11.

The best part of that game? Watching the Maryland bench descend into chaos and whining as Duke waved goodbye.

Gone in 54 seconds...enjoy!