YouTube Gold: Duke vs. St. John’s In The 1985 Pre-Season NIT

An early classic game in the Krzyzewski era

Today, Duke Baskeball is iconic, but in the early ‘80’s, the program was still being renovated. Duke had been great in the 1960’s under Vic Bubas, making three Final Fours and Bill Foster had taken the Blue Devils to the 1978 national championship game against Kentucky.

There was a proud tradition, but when Foster left in 1980 and A.D. Tom Butters hired some guy with a name so challenging that he just told us to call him Coach K, no one knew what to expect.

Mike Krzyzewski spent three years building a foundation and in 1984, the winning started. In 1985, Duke played in the Pre-Season NIT (a great idea that should be revived and expanded) and ran into #18 St. John’s in the semifinals.

That was an excellent and challenging team. Led by Walter Berry, Mark Jackson and Chris Mullin, the Johnnies took Duke to the very last play before the Blue Devils could claim the win.

When you watch this, you’ll see the trademarks of a Coach K team: toughness, resourcefulness and the basketball equivalent of Special Forces. No one knew what was coming, but they would soon find out.