YouTube Gold: ESPN Feature On Duke’s 1986-87 Team

In 1986, Mike Krzyzewski had his first great season at Duke with a 37-3 record and losing to Louisville in the NCAA championship game.

The next season was supposed to see a major drop-off with so many seniors leaving, but 1987 was a wonderful year too. That season proved that Duke wasn’t going away.

This ESPN clip, which aired at the halftime of the second Duke-UNC game that year (in Chapel Hill) features Coach K, Danny Ferry and Tommy Amaker talking about their group and how much they enjoyed the season.

A lot of what Coach K says here became very familiar to Duke fans over the years, but it’s interesting to see him so early in his career and to see how his philosophy was building.

Duke would go on to make the Sweet Sixteen in 1987 before ripping off Final Four appearances in 1988, 1989 and 1990 before winning the championship in 1991 and 1992.

That was the most sustained stretch of excellence since the John Wooden era at UCLA.