MIDWEST REGIONAL : The Shot Blacked Out, Connecticut Is Back

Connecticut vs. Duke, the nightcap of tonight’s NCAA Midwest Regional doubleheader at the Pontiac Silverdome, is a basketball rematch a year in the making. It is a game that has Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun uttering self-made bromides such as, “Revenge is a waste of energy,” and he almost sounds convincing.

His players, too.

Duke 79, Connecticut 78, on Christian Laettner’s last-second shot, March 24, 1990, East Regional final, for the right to go to the Final Four?

Never heard of it.

Didn’t Calhoun even run a videotape for the team, as a reminder?

“No, uh-uh, he definitely did not,” junior guard Chris Smith said.

You didn’t, coach?

“What video?” Calhoun asked.

Poor little Connecticut. It, well, needed that game more than Duke did. Duke already had a reputation. Duke was going to the Final Four for the fourth time in five years. The teams from Connecticut--Norm on “Cheers” called them the Fighting Insurance Salesmen--had a basketball heritage, but the wrong kind. UConn might as well be from the Yukon. It had never even been to a Final Four.

Calhoun feared it might take years for the Huskies to get so close again. To his surprise, here they are--a team with a record of 20-10 and a definite underdog to Duke (28-7), but here nonetheless and clearly capable of defeating the winner of tonight’s other Midwest game, Ohio State (27-3) vs. St. John’s (22-8).

But first, Duke.

That dreaded four-letter word.

What do UConn’s players remember from last year’s game?

“Oh, boy. I hate talking about that game,” Smith said. “I just want to forget that game.”

Yes, there is a video.

“I’ve never looked at the tape,” Calhoun said, “ but I have seen the last shot, because every so often someone shows it on TV and reminds me of it, thanks so much.”

And yes, the coach does intend to run the video for the players before tonight’s game.

“But they won’t see the last shot,” Calhoun said.

Why not?

“Because it’s X-rated,” he said. “I do have standards.”

Connecticut reached this point in the tournament by defeating Louisiana State, 79-62, and Xavier, 66-50, games not nearly so close as the two cliff-hangers that concluded last season. This marked the first time in UConn history that it has won NCAA games in back-to-back seasons, which shows why it seldom has been taken seriously.

Even when this season’s team won 12 of its first 13 games, there were few true believers. The players moped around. The coach entertained doubts. Somebody from another team who had studied the Huskies’ faces asked Calhoun: “Why aren’t they happy?”

The coach knew why. Or thought he knew why.

“I thought we were trying to relive a dream,” Calhoun said. “All we could do was chase shadows of last year’s team. Last year was a mystical, magical ride for us.”

It included the play of the NCAAs--the unbelievable out-of-bounds pass from Scott Burrell that traveled the length of the court into the hands of Tate George, who popped the ball into the basket. For one wacky moment, the Huskies owned college basketball. The regional semifinal was theirs, 71-70 over Clemson, and with it disappeared the sting of choke-jokes about having squandered a 19-point lead.

Duke was next.

The Blue Devils led by seven points at halftime. Score tied, 72-72, after regulation, the lead having changed hands eight times. Six more lead changes in overtime. Finally, Laettner hit a jump shot at the horn for a one-point victory.

Little did the Huskies think they could recover so soon. They lost good players, such as George. They lost six consecutive games at midseason--twice to St. John’s. Their pressing defense failed to rescue a so-so offense that even Burrell describes as having “not exactly the greatest shooters in college.”

But the Dukes of the world don’t let such things get them down. Duke lost three star players--Alaa Abdelnaby, Robert Brickey and Phil Henderson--and still bounced back.

Which is why Calhoun says: “Revenge is a waste of energy. We don’t want to beat Duke because they beat us. We want to beat Duke because they’ve become one of the standards by which college basketball in this country is measured.”

See, he does have standards.