As the fanfare for the Duke All-Star Charity Basketball Game grew in the weeks preceding this once-in-a-lifetime event, Blue Devil fans across the nation anticipated a brilliant performance by a man named Hill.
But with Grant Hill confined to honorary coaching duties due to a healing ankle, another Hill rose to the ocassion.
Scoring 26 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the field, 1993 graduate Thomas Hill, who served on Duke's first two national championship squads, carried his Blue team to a 145-124 shootout victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The solid shooting by Hill, who currently is pondering a basketball comeback after starting his own software company, impressed the more than 8,000 basketball fanatics gathered in Duke's hallowed arena. But his statistics and the final score of the contest were of little consequence to those in attendance.
More importantly, the fans were witness to an event that is a Duke fan's dream--the chance to see all of their favorite players compete on the same court simultaneously. And although it has been years since many of the former players have stepped foot on campus, the Cameron faithful remembered them all as Duke radio announcer Bob Harris listed each player's career highlights over the public address system prior to tipoff.
"When they were introduced, I thought our fans did such a good job of recognizing them," Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "At times, I just had chills, because seeing those guys go out onto the court and on the bench brought back so many memories."
Just seeing his former players on the court was
For the final re-enactment of the evening, Krzyzewski called upon Laettner one more time to relive arguably the most famous shot in college basketball history--Laettner's 16-footer against Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional Finals which sent Duke on its way to its second-straight national championship.
Also featured in the re-enactments were current Duke assistant coach Chris Collins and fellow assistant Wojciechowski entered the game four minutes into the first of four 12-minute quarters. Pumping up the Cameron crowd, Wojciechowski slapped the floor on defense in trademark fashion, while Collins, always known to not be bashful in his shot selection, launched numerous 25-foot shots, scoring 21 points on 5-of-12 three-point shooting for the White team.
"I haven't played a game in Cameron since '96, so to be out on that floor, to hear the crowd cheer, it just gets the adrenaline going," Collins said as he basked in his post-game glory. "I've always loved our fans and I've always been one that likes the crowd and plays off the crowd. Once I had those first
Krzyzewski was also impressed with the play of his assistant coach.
"I think Chris felt like he was playing for that 18-13 team [in 1996]," Krzyzewski said. "He forgot that there's Elton Brand inside. As he always did, he lit up the crowd and played with amazing enthusiasm.... I think you can probably see even more clearly now why we do so well with Johnny, Wojo, and Chris as assistants because if you're a player, you have to love being coached by those guys."
Although former players like Collins were competing on Coach K Court for the first time in years, current NBA players like Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, William Avery and Roshown McLeod demonstrated why they have made it onto basketball's biggest stage. Brand and Maggette, who will play together next season for the Los Angeles Clippers, dumped in 44 points together for the White team, while McLeod chipped in with 24 points for the victorious Blue team. And Avery, who played alongside McLeod during the contest, demonstrated his unselfish style of play by dishing out a team-high six assists as he faced off against the NCAA's all-time leading assist-maker Hurley.
Even players who have been unsuccessful in their quest to make the NBA made their presence felt. Chris Carrawell, who was cut by the San Antonio Spurs soon after the 2000 NBA Draft, displayed his no-nonsense style of play with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"I never thought I'd be able to play in front of a crowd like this again...," Carrawell said. "It was like a family atmosphere out there and that's important."
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