European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 6, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 b the stars and stripes monday april 6,1992 Hurley shows Duke s More than Christian s shoulders a Bobby Hurley works the crowd on his Way to the showers on saturday in Minneapolis. By Michael Wilbon the Washington Post Minneapolis a two years ago in the final four Dukes Bobby Hurley a and there a no delicate Way to say this a lost his lunch. Against univ in the title game. Feverish and queasy Hurley needed a cup of nyquil but the Only thing he got was dose after dose of Anderson Hunts jump shot. That was Hurley the puny whiny freshman. Saturday with hoosiers crawling ail Over him Hurley proved his game has reached manhood. He scored 26 Points and along with Grant Hill was enormously responsible for Duke advancing to the title game for the third consecutive year. If you thought All the defending champions had was Christian Quot big foot Quot laettner you Haven to been paying attention. Laettner shot 2 for 8 for the game. He was a non Factor nothing. Brian Davis the other senior was 1 for 3 and left in the second half with a sprained ankle. Duke was Down 12 a couple of minutes before halftime and Indiana coach Bob Knight looked As if he was reaching for a shovel. But Hurley pulled his teammates out. The Little Point guard hit seven of 12 shots six of nine from three Point Range. A couple of times when Duke have dropped a goofball in the Basket Hurley dribbled Down and fired As if to say a hell with laettner ought to have carried Hurley a bags Back to the hotel. If you think that Kentucky kid who got a foot in the stomach last week has problems with laettner you should talk to Hurley. Hurley is probably As Tough As laettner but at 5-foot-ll, his Chin comes to about laettner a swinging elbows. The two often meet in practice. There is no love fest Between Hurley and laettner. The fact is Duke is pretty Tough to beat when either of the two is on. Most of the sea soft its been laettner. Saturday it was Hurley. Shooting dishing. He had a most willing partner in Grant Hill who hit six of nine shots before fouling out in the final two minutes. Of course nothing that happens the first 39 minutes of these games seems to matter. It Isnit a tournament game unless it comes Down to somebody shooting a three in the final 20 seconds. Duke was up eight with 46 seconds to play. That a when somebody named Todd Leary came off the hoosiers Bench and started hitting threes. Indiana scored nine Points in 22 seconds and you started thinking about Kentucky last week. You also had to think of Indiana being outscored 21-3 at the Start of the second half. About the hoosiers making one Basket the first nine minutes after intermission. About the 12-Point Lead Indiana blew. About the technical foul assessed Indiana and the two free throws that might have made All the difference in the game. It came less than two minutes into the second half Indiana up 42-39. Knight said he got the technical a because the Bench jumped. That is the first and Only time that i have Ever been assessed a technical because the Bench jumped its Nice to know that chickens still come Home to Roost. Maybe this one was for All the ones that should have been called and weren to. From up three Indiana was Down one after two Hurley technical free throws and a Grant Hill Layin Courtesy of Hurley on the automatic Possession. Rather than hear Knight raving for another two Days most of us rather think of Duke and Michigan clearly they Are the two Best teams in the tournament with the possible exception of Kentucky. Rebound and protect the Ball that s what Michigan had to do. Cincinnati had won four games in the tournament because teams would take one look at the bearcats maddening press and just hand Over the Ball. Ana because the bearcats even without a True Low Post player had their hot breath All Over the Glass every time a shot went up. Theirs or yours. But then there a Michigan the team that might have the antidote for any Poison. Above All the wolverines needed to handle the Ball without error. After 13 goof ups the first half they made Only four the second. And then they needed to rebound so they kill Cincinnati on the Glass by a 46-30 margin. And just when you thought nobody above the age of 18 was allowed to Wear a Michigan uniform Here comes James Voskuil a 6-foot-8 Junior Forward. Hey Why does no to this Guy go play with people his own age the thing you forget about Michigan is they be got four other players no were front liners a year ago people who thought they a be taking the bows themselves before the diaper brigade showed up in Ann Arbor. Anyway this Voskuil dude shows up with about 13 minutes to play the kiddie corps Down four and guess what happens. He hits two free throws to Cut the Cincinnati Lead to two. Voskuil floating Down the Lane daydreams he a Tom Chambers and Banks one in while being fouled. His three Pointer makes it 61-58, and Michigan Nevers Trail again. Just to solidify the Story line Michigan let Cincinnati tantalizingly close at 65-63, then turn to Chris Webber no. Jalen Quot magic Rose no. Jimmy King Ray Jackson or Juwan Howard no no no. Rose finds Voskuil who jacks up a three to help Michigan pull away again. A they its not like we found him on the Street and dragged him in Here a Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. A the can As Webber explained a one of the big reason for our Success this season is people done to cry and moan. They play the roles they re asked to and play like or to read Between the Iines a Little the upperclassmen remain seen but not heard until absolutely necessary. Commentary big is carried winners by Mike Rabun United press International yes the Michigan wolverines have All those great freshmen but the formula that led to their admittance to the final two saturday night required a Liberal helping of experience. Without that essential ingredient the wolverines instead of being the proud owners of a 76-72 Mcaa semifinal Victory would have been watching the Cincinnati bearcats play the Duke Blue devils for the Mcaa championship tonight. That Duke will be in the title game instead of the Indiana hoosiers can be attributed to the simple fact that to Start the second half of their confrontation the Blue devils played like a team is supposed to play. There is Likely no videotape of the halftime lecture delivered by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski saturday night which is a shame. It was probably worthy of being placed in the basketball Hall of Fame immediately after his team fought off the hoosiers 81-78. A Quot i told the players at halftime that everybody had to raise their game up to the level that Bobby Hurley had played up to them Quot is How Krzyzewski put it. His players did better than that. Whether a College basketball team is playing its first game of the season or in the National semifinals it is always encouraged by its coach to play hard and play smart. But Seldom has a team played As hard or As smart As the Blue devils did to Start the second half against Indiana. There was Little technical reason the Blue devils scored 13 Points while Indiana scored Zero. It would be hard to explain it ail on a chalkboard. The reason had to do with Effort pure and simple. It was the kind of Effort that teams Are supposed to put Forth at this time of season. And when championship Caliper teams do so they win championships. During their March to a conference championship and into the final four meanwhile Cincinnati frustrated one opponent after another with its trapping defense. When their press is at its Best the bearcats truly appear to have seven players on the floor at one time. And that was the Way they looked against Michigan for most of the first half saturday night in the first of the National semifinal showdowns. Michigan a highly publicized and highly emotional freshmen were throwing the Ball into the crowd of photographers along the Baseline. They were throwing it into the hands of the bearcats and they were throwing it at the Basket with general inefficiency. Cincinnati outscored the wolverines 23-7, during one stretch of the first half. The freshmen had lost their poise and turned the Ball Over 12 times. That a when Michael Talley and James Voskuil both juniors helped Michigan a freshmen get their poise Back in the second half. Their contribution was invaluable Talley a experienced Ball handling slowed Down Michigan a turnover bleeding and Voskuil provided a stabilizing Force in the Middle a giving an outlet for the rest of the wolverines to find when they needed to escape Cincinnati pressure. The freshmen finally relaxed in the second half. Analysis
