In the fall of 1990, Duke was coming off of a very difficult loss to UNLV in the Final Four. It was so bad that then-coach Mike Krzyzewski, who watched video relentlessly, didn’t watch it until a rematch was possible in the 1991 Final Four.
The team was still forming its identity in November, when Marquette came to town.
Christian Laettner was not a legend, Bobby Hurley was still called Baby Hurley by some, and Grant Hill was a freshman who still deferred too much.
Marquette was not a very good team. Coached by the obnoxious Kevin O’Neill, and still known as the Warriors (Marquette changed its nickname in 1994 to the Golden Eagles), Marquette was competitive for parts of the game, but Duke had better talent, and the game was in Cameron.
Why do we say O’Neill is obnoxious? Because, at least when he was coaching, he was. He was confrontational, profane towards many people, including his players, one of whom said he had a “black heart.” He was suspended for one PAC-10 tournament after getting into a fight with an Arizona booster, and there are allegations of trashed hotel rooms and heavy drinking.
You could say this for him, though: he treated everyone the same.
Badly.
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