"The Last Greatest Game" - Discussion Thread

[EarlJam]

Thought it may be fun to start a thread for all of those, including me, EarlJam, to discuss elements of the book, "The Last Greatest Game," by Gene Wojciechowski. I'm not a voracious reader (I read maybe a book every two months), but this book is AWESOME and a must read for any Duke or Kentucky fan or anyone who watched and vividly remembers that fateful 1992 game in The Spectrum.

It also gives a lot of behind-the-scenes views of recruiting, coach hiring, and what it takes to be a college basketball player (or what it took back then before the true "one and done" era).

It really is an amazing read so far.

We all remember hearing how sick Hurley was for that 1990 UNLV championship game. But wow, I never knew just HOW sick. Also, the stories of Laettner's antics, and how well he and Brian Davis truly clicked are incredible. This is how Christian Laettner introduced himself to Danny Hurley (when Danny was visiting brother Bobby at Duke): "What the fuck are you doing here?"

And then there was the time Rick Pitino told Roy Williams to "F*ck you and your timeouts!"

Also the stories of UK's rigorious conditioning program are well documented. Richie Farmer almost quit, as did Mashburn and a few others. It was insane.

I am SO loving this book!

-EarlJam

[EarlJam]

***WARNING! SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!***

Oh, also there was the story of how Thomas Hill decided on Duke (sorry, I have to!)....

In short, Thomas was going to unc. His family knew and loved Roy Williams. Then Williams went to Kansas. Okay, so now Thomas Hill was committed to going to campus. At the urging of his folks, he visted a couple of other schools (you know, going through the process), but he always intended to follow Roy. Once at Duke, he liked it. But what really hit him is when he was having a conversation with Brian Davis, **who would have likely gone to Maryland had Len Bias not died after the '86 draft. Davis told him, "You're just like me and Laett. You need to come here with us." Said Hill, "I'm going to Kansas."

"Fuck Kansas," Davis retorted. "We're gonna kick Kansas' ass."

The rest is history, and yes, Duke "Kick(ed) Kans' Ass!" (Chronicle) to win K's first national championship.

Beautiful, just beautiful.

-EarlJam

**In 1986, Maryland's coach was Lefty Driesell. Lefty was high on Davis, who was from Washington D.C. Davis was a HUGE Maryland fan and wanted to play ball there. Also, Bias was Davis' hero, and they had met in a barber shop once where Brian told him he was going to play at Maryland. Lefty wanted Brian. Brian wanted Lefty. After Bias' death, Lefty was forced to resign. The new coach, Bob Wade, wanted no part of Brian. Virginia would have taken Davis if Stith didn't go there, but Stith went there. Unc would have taken Davis if Hubert did not go there. Hubert went there. So, then there was Duke. A somewhat reluctant Davis went, vowing to be better than everyone....largely to Coach K's chagrin. Needless to say though, Davis ended up loving his school, Coach K, and the rest is history!