CHARLOTTE -- Everybody laughed back in November when Grant Hill announced that his team was going to win the national championship.
They were right, of course -- Hill was wrong. Arkansas is king this year.
But nobody guessed how close Hill would come -- dead even with the Hogs at 70-70 on his three-pointer with 1:30 left in the season. They were the final points of his college basketball career.
In his last college game, Hill's Blue Devils were beaten by Scotty Thurman's deep, falling-out-of-bounds three-pointer with 0:50.7 seconds left to play. It will go down as one of the biggest and greatest shots in the NCAA Tournament's long history.
In the thrill of that Arkansas moment, it was easy to forget how far Hill had brought this Duke team. It wasn't that the media refused to respect Duke basketball when the season began -- reporters from across the country were well-acquainted with what Mike Krzyzewski-coached teams could do. The Blue Devils were ranked in the top six throughout the year and were the No. 1 team in the land for the first week in February.
It's just that nobody thought they'd get this far. After all:
-Duke lacked a point guard -- the kind which can push the ball up the floor at a breakneck pace before dishing for dunks and layups -- the steady ball-handler. And strong perimeter play, led by a point guard, is supposed to be a non-negotiable prerequisite for NCAA Tournament success.
Hill is a lot of things -- at times this season, he's been everything -- but he really isn't a point guard. Duke did the unthinkable when it advanced to the national title game, nearly winning the whole thing, without a primary ball-handler.
-Teams don't win with a single superstar. Bobby Hurley wasn't enough last season, and Grant Hill alone wouldn't be enough for post season success this year. He would tire, and opponents would key on stopping him.
But Hill did so much more than score points and dish out assists. He made everybody else around him better players. You can be sure that Chris Collins' jumpshooting resurgence last night was due, in part, to Hill.
-It was UNC's year to repeat. All the focus was supposed to have been on the talented Tar Heels. When the Blue Devils lost to California in the second round of the Tournament last year, the "Duke Dynasty" was officially over.
Instead, UNC made an early post-season exit, and we learned something we probably knew all along: Grant Hill knows a little more about basketball than the rest of us.
He couldn't have written a better script back in those early winter months. Hill didn't know exactly what roles his teammates might fill or exactly where the wins and losses might fall. But he had an idea.
Hill knew, without any doubt, that this 1993-94 Blue Devil squad was his team. Marty Clark and Tony Lang had their leadership roles, but they really shared the title of captain in name only. Duke started and ended with Grant Hill.
He knew he could win a whole bunch of games all by himself. But in the tougher games -- especially in the tournament, where championships are won -- he would need help. Hill had to prepare his teammates.
And so, throughout the year, he taught them how to win. He set the tone. He led by example. He said all the right words.
It's pretty clear where Grant Hill stands among all the great ones who have played at Duke. But what sets him apart from the rest is that he is the greatest captain the program has ever seen.
"He's the greatest player I'll ever play with," Collins said. "He's one of the greats to ever play the game. I'm so honored to have played with him. I love Grant Hill. He's a great person, a great player, and he's definitely going to be in the limelight for a long time."
Hill played 78 minutes at this Final Four, including 40 in the semifinal win. Two days after that maximum effort, he scored just 12 points and had nine turnovers, along with a game-high 14 rebounds against Arkansas. As usual and as always, he was the catalyst for any success Duke had.
He did everything the right way. And for the rest of his coaching career, Krzyzewski will be telling Grant Hill stories to motivate his team -- in the huddle, during practice, or in the pre-season. There will never be another player like him, but if the Blue Devils of the future want to improve as a basketball players, Hill will be the goal they'll shoot for.
But Monday, it was not meant to be. It was Arkansas' turn, and the National Championship trophy is headed off Tobacco Road for the first time in three years.
Knowing what might have been, there weren't many smiles in the Duke locker room last night. The pain was there for all to see. There was no talk of the future -- for Hill, Tony Lang and Marty Clark, there is no tomorrow. Their Duke careers are over.
But in time, the 1993-94 Blue Devils will realize what they did this season.
On that day, the smiles will be awfully tough to hold back. And Grant Hill will probably have the last laugh.
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