1986-87

Season Overview

Mike Krzyzewski lost four starters from the 1986 national runner-up team: Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, and David Henderson. Only 43.9% of minutes played and 27.0% of scoring returned. Every pundit in America expected a significant step back. They were wrong.

The 1986-87 Blue Devils went 24-9 and reached the Sweet Sixteen before falling to Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers — the eventual national champions. It was, in K's own words, the season that demonstrated Duke basketball had built something sustainable. The '86 team wasn't a fluke. Duke wasn't going anywhere.

The team was rebuilt around senior point guard Tommy Amaker, the only returning starter, and sophomore forward Danny Ferry, who emerged as the go-to scorer. Junior Billy King brought the defensive intensity that would earn him the National Defensive Player of the Year award the following season. A talented freshman class arrived featuring Quin Snyder, Phil Henderson, Robert Brickey, and Alaa Abdelnaby — all of whom would become major figures in the dynasty years ahead.

This was also the first season of the three-point line in college basketball, and Amaker — the team's defensive ace — led Duke in three-point shooting, an irony that delighted K. Amaker earned NABC National Defensive Player of the Year honors (the first ever given) and was named a Third Team All-American. He and Ferry shared team MVP honors.

The ACC was stacked. North Carolina, featuring freshman J.R. Reid and senior Kenny Smith, went undefeated in conference play. Duke finished third at 9-5 but had the program's future in place. The freshmen who arrived this year — Snyder, Henderson, Brickey, Abdelnaby — would combine with Ferry to make the Final Four in three of the next four seasons and win back-to-back national championships in 1991 and 1992.

The 1986-87 season is the bridge. Without it, the dynasty doesn't happen.

It was the first time Duke and Indiana had ever met in the NCAA Tournament, and the matchup was impossible to ignore: Mike Krzyzewski, who had played for and coached under Bob Knight at West Point, facing his mentor with a Sweet Sixteen berth on the line.

Duke started brilliantly, racing to a 29-21 lead behind a 4-for-4 barrage from the three-point line — the new weapon in its first NCAA Tournament ever. Indiana looked rattled, with Steve Alford held to a single point in the opening stretch. But Knight's team responded with a devastating 14-2 run, and the Hoosiers closed the first half with a 49-39 lead after a 28-10 surge.

Duke fought back in the second half but could never recover. Tommy Amaker, playing his final college game, scored 23 points in a valiant effort — the most by any player on either team. Danny Ferry added 18. But Indiana was simply too deep and too talented, with Keith Smart and Ricky Calloway leading a balanced Hoosier attack.

The 88-82 final score didn't reflect how close it felt in the second half. Indiana would go on to win the national championship on Smart's iconic baseline jumper against Syracuse.

For Duke, the loss was bittersweet. Amaker's career was over, but the program had passed the critical test: after losing four starters from a title-game team, Duke had won 24 games and reached the Sweet Sixteen. K would later call this the season that proved Duke's rise was permanent. The apprentice had lost to the master — but the student was building something the teacher would envy for the next two decades.