- The Duke Blue Devils are one of the most decorated teams in college basketball history.
- No championship is more iconic than the Blue Devil’s last-second win against Kentucky in the 1992 tournament, with infamously hated Christian Laettner hitting the game-winning turnaround jumper.
- Today, many members of the championship team are still involved with basketball, either as coaches or analysts.
Few images are more associated with March Madness than that of Christian Laettner, arms raised triumphantly in the air, ecstatic after hitting a game-winning buzzer beater against Kentucky. It’s the sort of dramatic moment that the NCAA tournament was made for.
It doesn’t hurt that those Laettner-led Duke teams, love them or hate them, are among the most dominant teams in college basketball history. The 1992 Duke Blue Devils were back-to-back national champions, playing in the program’s fifth straight Final Four, and capped off their season by thrashing Michigan in the title game.
Below, we take a look at some of the key contributors to that storied team, as well as where they went after that iconic game.
Christian Laettner was the Blue Devils leading scoring in 1992 as a senior and was the unanimous national player of the year.
Foto: sourceAmy Sancetta/AP
Laettner was infamously chosen for the 1992 Olympics Dream Team over Shaquille O’Neal. He entered the NBA in 1992, and played for over 10 seasons in the league and made the 1997 NBA All-Star game. Over 25 years later, he remains one of college basketball fans’ favorite players to hate — ESPN even made a documentary called “I Hate Christian Laettner” in 2015. Nowadays, Laettner runs the Christian Laettner Basketball Academy and hosts camps for kids.
Foto: sourceTim Bradbury/Getty Images
Bobby Hurley was the Blue Devils starting point guard and an All-American.
Foto: sourceJonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Hurley is now the head coach of the Arizona State men’s basketball team, who won a First Four game to get into the field of 64 for the 2019 NCAA tournament. He also holds the NCAA’s record for career assists.
Foto: sourceChris Coduto/Getty Images
Grant Hill was one of the top scorers on the Blue Devils as a sophomore. He also threw the inbounds pass that led to Laettner’s iconic shot against Kentucky.
Foto: sourceDoug Pensinger/Getty Images
Hill graduated from Duke in 1994 and went on to become an NBA superstar for several years until injuries derailed his career. He currently works for NBA TV, is a partial owner of the Atlanta Hawks, and maintains a substantial art collection. He was recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Foto: sourceJemal Countess/Getty Images
Source: Atlanta Hawks
Thomas Hill was the second-leading scorer and a third-team All-ACC player for the '92 Blue Devils.
Foto: sourceChuck Burton/AP
Since the end of Hill's playing days, he has gravitated towards education and mentoring young athletes, and now coaches at Avenues World School in New York City.
Foto: sourcePhoto courtesy of DukeAlumniVideo.
Source: DukeAlumniVideo
Brian Davis was a senior who played over a thousand minutes for the '92 Blue Devils, as well as a close friend of Laettner.
Foto: sourceMike Conroy/AP
Davis remains close with Laettner, and the pair have gone into a number of business ventures together, albeit with mixed success.
Foto: sourceMark Humphrey/AP
Source: Deadspin
Antonio Lang was a sophomore on the '92 Blue Devils.
Foto: sourceDoug Pensinger/Getty Images
Lang played in the NBA for a period before spending time in Japan as a professional player and coach. He is currently an assistant coach for fellow Duke alumnus Quin Snyder and the Utah Jazz.
Foto: sourceUtah Jazz
Source: Japan Times
Cherokee Parks was a highly touted high school basketball player who joined this loaded Blue Devils squad as a freshman.
Foto: sourceJonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Source: Sports Illustrated
Parks graduated from Duke in 1995 and was drafted into the NBA in the first round, but was a journeyman for most of his career. He recently joined the NBA's Basketball Operations Associate Program. He also founded the Apex Basketball Academy, an international camp for kids.
Foto: sourceYouTube
Sources: Basketball-Reference, NBA.com
Coach K had already been the coach of the Blue Devils for over a decade, and led the program to its first national title the year prior.
Foto: sourceEd Reinke/AP
Coach K is still the head coach at Duke and in 2019, brings one of his most talented teams ever into the NCAA tournament as the top-ranked team in the field. He also served as head coach of the USA basketball team, which he led to three straight Olympics gold medals from 2008 to 2016.
Foto: sourceMichael Reaves/Getty Images
Tommy Amaker was an assistant coach for Duke, having previously been a player for the Blue Devils during the 80s.
Foto: sourcePhoto courtesy of NCAA on Demand
Amaker is currently the head coach of the Harvard men's basketball team, after previous stints as the head coach at Seton Hall and Michigan.
Foto: sourceCorey Perrine/Getty Images
Source: Harvard Athletics
Mike Brey was an assistant coach for the '92 Blue Devils, having joined Coach K's staff in 1987.
Foto: sourcePhoto courtesy of NCAA on Demand
Brey has been the head coach of the Notre Dame men's basketball team since 2000, and is currently second on the program's all-time wins list.
Foto: sourceMichael Hickey/Getty Images
Source: Notre Dame Athletics
Another former Duke player, Jay Bilas was an assistant coach for the Blue Devils, as well as a student at Duke Law School.
Foto: sourcePhoto courtesy of NCAA on Demand
Jay Bilas currently serves as college basketball analyst for ESPN and is also an attorney with a law firm in Charlotte.
Foto: sourceRich Barnes/Getty
Source: Charlotte Magazine
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Foto: sourceAP Photo/Carlos Osorio
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