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In 1993, after Duke’s back-to-back championships in ‘91 and ‘92, the Blue Devils were still good. They lost Christian Laettner and Brian Davis but retained Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill, Antonio Lang and an emerging Cherokee Parks.
They went into the NCAA tournament 23-7, good enough for a 3 seed in the Midwest. The Blue Devils took out Southern Illinois in the first game while on the other side of the bracket, #11 LSU lost to #6 Cal, 66-64.
After the game, LSU coach Dale Brown said that Cal didn’t have a chance against Duke. Essentially, he gave them all the motivational, bulletin board material you could imagine. Bears coach Todd Bozeman probably sent him a Thank-You note.
That game was many people’s introduction to Jason Kidd, then a freshman. He stayed at Cal one more year before going to the NBA, where he became a legend.
Kidd became one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. He was a superb pass-first point guard who was also an excellent defender.
In this video, his contemporaries talk about just how good Kidd was. Duke’s 1993 team would surely agree.
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