European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday March 30, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 25commentarywait Morrissette forgive my feeling like a proud papa about this years Mcaa final four. Three of the Guys who were on my Northern Virginia prep basketball beat from 1986-88 Are playing in Indianapolis this weekend 6-8 Grant Hill and 6-10 Crawford Palmer of Duke and 6-4 Hubert Davis of North Carolina. All three went to the acc As the All time leading scorers from their High schools Hill from South lakes High school in Reston a. Davis from Lake Braddock High in Burke a. And Palmer from Washington Lee High of Arlington a. Hill is a freshman while Davis and Palmer Are juniors. Hill had an immediate Impact on the Blue devils and he planned it that Way by signing Early in his senior year. He has been a starter from the beginning averaging 11 Points and five rebounds a game. He a Dukes second leading rebounded behind 6-11 Center Christian laettner. A one of the reasons i committed to Duke Early was because coach k Mike Krzyzewski assured me i would fit into his system and he recruit any More Small forwards a Hill said after the Duke Georgia tech game in Atlanta in january. You could say Hill was destined for greatness. His father Calvin is a Yale graduate and was a super bowl running Back for the Dallas cowboys. He is now vice president of administration for the Baltimore orioles. His Mother Janet co owns a consulting firm in Washington with former army Secretary Clifford Alexander. She is also the first Cousin of Jean Young wife of former Atlanta mayor and . Ambassador Andrew Young. The family settled near Redskin Park in Herndon va., while Calvin finished his nil career with the redskins in 1976 and 1977. Grant Hill established greatness in his own right leading the South lakes sea Hawks to 25-4 and 27-2 records and the state tournament semifinals in his last two seasons. South lakes lost to Hampton both times. During his Junior year he once scored the last 20 Points of a game to give the sea Hawks a two Point Victory. He came to Duke averaging 25 Points and 11 rebounds a game in his senior year and he played in Uruguay last summer on the . Junior National team that won the world championship. Plus he has played aau Ball each summer in of the country since Junior High. So he came to Duke As a not so fresh freshman. A playing in Uruguay with Guys like Derek Martin of Urcla helped me a lot a he said. A they told me what to expect in College. Its a lot tougher and a lot More in that Duke Georgia tech game in january Thomas Hill canned 20 Points off the Bench and converted the game winning Layup off a Zap pass from Bobby a Bart Many Hurley at the Buzzer for Dukes 77-75 win in front of a Rowdy Alexander memorial coliseum record crowd of 10,113. Techs super guard heels. A a a a a a a a a it a a map. A a a v. A a a map Hubert Davis has helped shoot North Carolina into the final four. Grant Hill has boosted Duke near the top. Kenny Anderson breezed in 32 Points to Lead All scorers. Thomas Hill who played in the Albert Schweitzer youth tournament in 1989 in Mannheim Germany has since replaced Bill Mccaffery As Dukes starting shooting guard. The teams were tied atop the acc at 5-2 going into that game. But the teams went in opposite directions from there. Duke won six of its last seven acc games losing Only at Wake Forest. Duke won at North Carolina to Clinch the acc regular season title at 11-3 and the first seed in the acc tournament. Georgia tech lost six of its last seven conference games but copped a big no conference win Over Arizona at the Mead lowlands to snare an Mcaa at Large bid. Tech lost to Ohio state in the second round. Palmer has come along More slowly. Cock k had expected him to Start by now and he was disappointed that Palmer chose to spend last summer studying in Moscow without working to improve his game. Palmer now works in the rotation with Brian Davis to rest laettner. Davis is similar to Grant Hill except that Davis went to Carolina. He also went to College with a 25-Point scoring average out of Lake Braddock playing mostly Small Forward. He also signed Early with Dean Smith to follow in the footsteps of his Uncle Walter Davis who is now with the Portland Trail blazers. Hubert Davis moved to Point guard after signing to get ready for guard duty in Chapel Hill. Davis had to make do with limited playing time in Smiths deep system during his first two years. But he really improved As he became a Junior starter at the shooting guard position opposite Point guard King Rice. A a. three Point marksmanship and split legged double clutch jumpers have become a trademark of the Carolina offence. Davis and Rick Fox were Carolinas leading scorers in the rout of Duke in the acc tournament championship game. Fox leads Carolina with a 17.0 average. Davis is averaging 13 Points a game while shooting 51,8 percent from the floor 152 for 293 and 82,6 percent from the foul line 76 for 92. Davis is the Best three Point shooter in the final four. He a shooting 48.8 percent from the arc 62 of 127eclipsing in Lvi Sanderson Hunt 40 percent on 101 for 252kansas Terry Brown 40.7 percent on 106260 and Dukes Hurley 33 percent on 61-180. Balanced scoring is the name of the game at Duke. V a in the coaches system we have so Many guns we can go to a Grant Hill said. A whoever is on that a who we go Dukes Young guns posed in West Ern style garb for the Blue devils annual promotional poster laettner leads Duke with a 19.6-Point average followed by Thomas Hill at 11.9, Mccaffery 11.7, Hurley 11.7 Points and 7.4 assists and Grant Hill 11.2 and 5.0 rebounds. Quot now at 30-7, Duke has played almost half an Aba season to get to the final four for the fourth straight time. Only to face univ the team that dogged them last year 103-73 in the most lopsided championship game in Mcaa tournament history. My sentimental Choice to win this final four is Duke. But both Hills will have to take their game to a higher level and laettner will have to play the game of his life for Duke to beat Las vegas. As you watch the final four this weekend remember it can happen. Vegas could play a bad game after winning 45 in a Row despite being holed up in a hotel. After All notre Dame did snap Urcla s 88-game winning Streak in 1974. Also remember Villanova Georgetown 1985, North Carolina state Houston 1983the Start and str Paasuke Blue Over hotel yet glad to land in indy Indianapolis a pukes quest for the National championship reached Indianapolis on thursday but not quite the Way coach Mike Krzyzewski 030 in mind. Quot Krzyzewski wanted his team to be housed in a hotel close to the heart of the notion in downtown Indianapolis. Most of he hotels for the Media and school Fosters Are across the Street from the of ser dome site of this years final however the Blue devils Are in a. Rote i near Indianapolis International port about a 20-minute bus ride from e Center of town and away from the hoopla Jewski wanted his kids to soak up excitement of the schools fourth it might final four and fifth in the last Lex years. But he was generally satisfied when he got off the bus around 5 30 . _ a sometimes when you re far away from the Center of things the kids never get an appreciation for that a Krzyzewski said in front of about a dozen television cameras and among several dozen Well wishers and hotel employees. A this is a Nice Welcome. It was a terrific the Blue devils and their Crew were greeted by a hotel staff wearing Duke to shirts. The registration desk was decorated in Blue and White streamers and posters cheering Duke on to take its first National championship. The team was greeted by the Lawrence North High school Pep band which played the Duke fight song and a Aback Home in Lawrence North is the High school that produced North Carolina freshman Center Eric Montross. The students in the band get to see their native son however the tar heels weren to scheduled to arrive in Indianapolis before 11 . Thursday. Krzyzewski gave his team monday and tuesday off from practices putting them through drills wednesday and thursday prior to their 3 . Flight out of Raleigh Durham International Airport. The Lone setback was Reserve Marty Clarks sprained ankle which Krzyzewski said left his status in doubt for saturdays semifinals against univ. A a he son crutches and i feel bad for him a Krzyzewski said. A the might get into a game but even if he did no to play just to do warmups and shoot i Hope he a Well enough to at least participate in that aspect of the game. But i doubt very seriously if hell be ready to sprained it pretty Krzyzewski said he thinks the team got most of its preparations completed in Durham. The players say they re eager to get on with the semifinals. A fall along in be been waiting for that game on saturday a freshman Forward Grant Hill said. A a in be just been very anxious and ready to go. 1 wish the game was played after the St. Johns Brian Davis says the Blue devils Are staying away from the a a re word. A coach would never let us use revenge As a motive a Davis said. A teams that use revenge As a motive Arentt Good teams. We want to play Well because we re a Good team. We done to want to play Well because someone beat us. You can lose a lot of games because you done to have the Correct a
