I loves me some Duke Basketball. From Bob Verga to Demarcus Nelson, I am, have always been, and will always be all over them Devils. No bandwagon jumper, I. No, I was there in the Chip Engelland days, the Terri Chilli days, the Steve Gray days (it didn't happen, it didn't happen, it didn't...) and of course the brief Gaudet tenure. But thanks to a Duke professor father who was a sports junkie, I was able to take in early Devil squads from the cozy Cameron confines.

I saw greats such as Bob Verga, Dick Divenzio, Randy Denton and others. Even back then, the rivalry was intense with Dean "everything about me is evil except my politics" Smith starting to assemble his juggernaut down the boulevard and Norm "Plaid is dead; long live plaid!" Sloan picking up talent throughout the state. The Devils were struggling to find their rhythm in the post-Bubas years. But of course, they got Bill Foster in who managed a miraculous run before burning out and opting for a less stressful program (so much less stressful, the poor guy had a heart attack). I matriculated during the Foster years and got to see some tasty basketball. I saw the 40 to 47 game against Carolina, where the Four Coroners saw its swan song. I saw a Virginia game against Jeff Lamp (prior to Sampson) where Duke held the lead for less than 60 seconds the entire game, but fortunately some of that time was as the clock sounded. There were tent campers back then, although you could get a great seat for a midday biggie (e.g., UNC) by queueing up at sunrise gameday.

Then Duke hired some guy named Krzyzewski and all hell broke loose.