The Chronicle celebrates one of Duke's most successful decades by honoring our top 10 Devils of the Decade. Each Tuesday, The Chronicle will feature one of the selected athletes. Today we profile athlete No. 2, Grant Hill.
College basketball fans might feel like they grew up with Grant Hill, as if he was a child sitcom star on the hardwood. They watched him finish off a gravity-defying alley-oop as a freshman. They watched him throw the pass that led to The Shot as a sophomore. They watched him carry an underdog team to the national championship game as a senior.
But Grant Hill's most vivid memories of his four years at Duke weren't witnessed by millions of TV viewers. Some of them didn't even take place on the basketball court. Only a handful of players and coaches shared the moments that Hill sees as defining his college career.
"The things that stick out are the behind-the-scenes things-in practice, on the bus, on the road, just seeing the camaraderie developing with my teammates," he said. "They're the kinds of things that the public doesn't necessarily know about, but they're just as memorable as being on national television or dunking in a game."
It might seem hard to imagine Hill sitting on a bus, joking around with teammates, far from the cameras. These days Grant Hill is as much icon as basketball player, known for his personality more than his jump shot.
During his days at Duke, ESPN would cut to shots of his parents and talk about how his dad starred in the NFL and his mom roomed with Hillary Clinton. Since he joined the NBA, Hill has appeared in commercials spoofing his nice-guy persona and graced the covers of magazines that have nothing to do with sports under headlines like, "Can Grant Hill Save Sports?"
For his entire NBA career, Hill has been a superstar. He was voted an All-Star starter as a rookie and hasn't missed a game since. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward has led the Detroit Pistons in scoring each of his five years in the pros.
But how many NBA All-Stars can say they weren't their college team's go-to guy their first three seasons? Christian Laettner or Bobby Hurley held that distinction until Hill's senior campaign, when he earned first-team All-America honors, saw his jersey retired and almost single-handedly led the Blue Devils within seconds of a third NCAA title in four years.
"In college, I was in every position," Hill said. "When I was a freshman, I was often the fourth or fifth option on offense. When I was a sophomore, I came off the bench a few times. When I was a senior, I was the man.
Hill literally leapt into the national spotlight in the final contest of his freshman season. Early in the first half of the 1991 NCAA title game against Kansas, Hurley lofted a pass that started to sail up and away from the basket. Hill jumped to retrieve it, climbing higher and higher in the air when gravity should have been pulling him back. Arms outstretched, he caught the ball behind his head and somehow brought it back to the hoop for a dunk that still gets replayed every March.
"I can't believe I could jump that high," Hill said of watching the clip. "I wish I could jump that high now. Every year at tournament time they put that one in there. At the time, I didn't realize what a big deal it would be. It really put me on the map. I still am somewhat amazed."
But there's one more thing that goes through Hill's head every time he sees the play.
"I look at my haircut," he said, "and it's like, 'What was I thinking?'"
A year later, much of Hill's flattop had been cut off, but the Blue Devils stood 2.1 seconds away from going home without a return trip to the Final Four. Kentucky led by one in overtime in the East Regional Final, and the full length of the floor separated Duke from the basket. As the Blue Devils came out of the timeout, Hill took the ball behind the baseline.
"We had practiced the baseball pass in practice a lot," he said. "I always prided myself on being the best at it on the team. I was always bragging to the other guys that if I weren't playing basketball, I'd make a good quarterback."
When the referee blew his whistle, Hill backed up his bragging. The sophomore cocked his arm, Laettner caught and shot, and the Blue Devils were on their way to Hill's second national title in two seasons.
"The first two years were hard to top," Hill said. "They were the best by far. To do well in school, have fun, and with all the different characters on that team-it doesn't get any better."
As a junior, Hill averaged 18 points a game to lead Duke in scoring and earned national defensive player of the year honors. Suddenly, everyone was asking him, Are you going to turn pro?
As it turned out, entering the NBA draft wasn't too feasible for Hill at the time. He underwent surgery on his toe in May and didn't return to the court until September. But Hill insists that even had he been healthy, leaving school never crossed his mind.
"Nowadays, a lot of young players are going straight to the NBA; they're not even going to college," he said. "I wasn't thinking that way. I wanted to try to compete on that level on the court-and also in the classroom-and walk away after four years with a good experience.
"It gives you a chance to grow as a person and evolve, especially when all of a sudden you become a multimillionaire. You have to make smart decisions; it's almost like being your own CEO.... For me, I needed the four years to get ready."
Hill returned to the Blue Devils to lead a team that had graduated Hurley and backcourt mate Thomas Hill. Duke was supposed to be good, but for the first time in years the Blue Devils weren't always mentioned when the subject of national title contenders came up.
Duke entered the NCAA tournament with a 23-5 record and a No. 2 seed. In the regional final, the Blue Devils faced top-seeded Purdue and the one player who prevented Hill from winning national player of the year honors, Glenn Robinson.
Hill had far from the greatest game of his Duke career that night. He shot 4-of-12 from the field and scored just 11 points. But he helped hold Robinson to an even more miserable night-6-of-22 shooting and a career-low 13 points. For the third time in four years, Hill earned a trip to the Final Four.
Soon that would become his third spot in an NCAA title game. Tied with Arkansas with less than a minute to go, the Blue Devils used a stifling defensive stand to force the Razorbacks' Scotty Thurman to hoist a desperation three-pointer with the shot clock dwindling and Tony Lang in his face.
If Lang's arm had been an inch longer, Hill might have gone out a champion. Instead, Thurman's rainbow three found gold and Hill's college career ended with a loss.
"We came so close, it would've almost been better to have been blown out," he said. "But it felt good overall for what we accomplished all year, especially since it was not expected."
Hill also found comfort in the fact that his basketball life was far from over. The Pistons would select him third overall in the 1994 NBA Draft, and Hill has done just about everything in Detroit, averaging 20.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists as a pro.
But the Pistons haven't made it out of the first round of the playoffs since Hill arrived in Detroit. The winning he grew accustomed to in college has deserted him in the NBA.
"It makes you appreciate and value those years even more," Hill said. "When you're going through it, you think that's how it's going to be forever. You're young and everything goes so fast. You don't always stop to enjoy it; you almost take it for granted."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.