1987-88

Season Overview

With 76.3% of minutes played and 78.1% of scoring returning from the 1986-87 team, Duke entered the season with legitimate expectations for the first time since the seniors of '86 had graduated. This was no longer a rebuilding project. This was a program.

Junior Danny Ferry emerged as one of the best players in America, averaging 19.1 points per game with a versatile game that combined size, shooting, and passing in a 6-foot-10 package. Senior Billy King — Duke's defensive enforcer — won the NABC National Defensive Player of the Year award, making it two consecutive years a Blue Devil had claimed the honor (after Tommy Amaker in 1987). Senior Kevin Strickland averaged 16.3 points as the team's second scorer. Sophomore point guard Quin Snyder ran the offense, and sophomores Robert Brickey, Phil Henderson, and Alaa Abdelnaby provided the depth that would power Duke for years to come.

The Blue Devils went 28-7 and finished third in the ACC at 9-5, but the signature achievement was the sweep of North Carolina — something Duke hadn't accomplished in 22 years. Duke won 70-69 in Chapel Hill on a gritty road performance, then demolished the Tar Heels 96-81 at Cameron on Senior Day for King and Strickland, and completed the 'Triple Crown' with a 65-61 victory over UNC in the ACC Tournament championship game in Greensboro. It was the moment the rivalry shifted. Dean Smith's program was no longer the undisputed king of Tobacco Road. Ferry's shot with 1:25 left and Snyder's two free throws with four seconds remaining sealed the tournament title.

In the NCAA Tournament, Duke was seeded #2 in the East Regional. The Blue Devils survived a scare from 11-seed Rhode Island, winning 73-72, before dominating #1 seed Temple 63-53 in the Regional Final to earn a trip to Kansas City and the Final Four.

There, they met Danny Manning and Kansas — 'Danny and the Miracles,' a team that had lost 11 games during the regular season but was carried by the most dominant player in the country. Manning scored 25 points and Ferry had 19, but Kansas won 66-59. Manning would go on to lead Kansas to the national championship two days later, one of the great individual tournament runs in history.

The Final Four loss stung, but the season was transformational. Duke had swept UNC, won the ACC Tournament for the first time in the K era's dynasty run, and reached the Final Four for the second time in three years. It was the beginning of an unprecedented streak: Duke would make the Final Four five consecutive years from 1988 to 1992, winning national championships in 1991 and 1992. The 1987-88 team lit the fuse.

It should not have worked. Kansas had lost 11 games during the regular season. They'd lost four times by double digits. They'd gone nearly a month without beating a Division I opponent. But they had Danny Manning, and in March, that was enough.

Duke entered the Final Four riding the high of its greatest season in the K era: the Triple Crown sweep of UNC, the ACC Tournament title, and dominant wins over Boston University, SMU, Rhode Island, and #1 seed Temple to reach Kansas City. Ferry, Brickey, Henderson, Snyder, and King were playing the best basketball of their lives.

But Manning was transcendent. The 6-foot-10 senior scored 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, controlling both ends of the floor. Ferry fought valiantly with 19 points, but the Kansas defense — inspired by Manning's will — held Duke to 37% shooting. The 66-59 final was a testament to how far one superstar can carry a team.

Two days later, Manning led Kansas to the national championship over Oklahoma, cementing one of the most improbable runs in tournament history. For Duke, the loss was painful — they were the better team on paper — but it was no shame to lose to greatness.

More importantly, the season had launched what would become the most dominant stretch in Duke basketball history. Five consecutive Final Fours. Two national championships. The '88 team was the one that proved Duke belonged at college basketball's highest table — not as a guest, but as a permanent resident.