The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball

by Gene Wojciechowski

Overview

New York Times bestseller

"A compelling narrative about the people who produced the most spine-tingling moment in modern college basketball history.” –Seth Davis, Sports Illustrated and CBS

March 28, 1992. The final of the NCAA East Regional, Duke vs. Kentucky. Millions could say they witnessed the greatest game and the greatest shot in the history of college basketball. But it wasn’t just the final play—an 80-foot inbounds pass with 2.1 seconds left in overtime—that made Duke’s 104-103 victory so memorable. Each player and coach arrived at that point with a unique story to tell.

In The Last Great Game, ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski turns the game we think we remember into a drama filled with suspense, humor, revelations, and reverberations. Not just for Duke or Kentucky fans, this acclaimed New York Times bestseller is for everyone who appreciates the great moments in sports.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780452298958
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/29/2013
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	122,098
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior national columnist for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Prior to joining ESPN in 1992, he worked as a sports reporter for publications including the Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, and the L.A. Times. He has received four Associated Press Sports Editors National Writing Awards, among other honors, for his work. He has also authored and co-authored various sports books, including The Bus, a bestselling biography of Jerome Bettis. A former Duke hater, Wojciechowski has made peace with the Blue Devils. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“You think you know all the stories? So did I. But I had not heard these.”
- Louisville Courier-Journal

Editorial Reviews

A compelling narrative about the people who produced the most spine-tingling moment in modern college basketball history.” -Sports Illustrated

“[R]ecaptures the energy of one of sport’s greatest moments….A fitting, illuminating tribute to a game that many believe was the best ever.” -Kirkus

“Wojciechowski offers a nice blend of past and present perspectives as he tells the story of how an unlikely classic came to be, how it played out, and how it lives on.” -Christian Science Monitor

"It's Wojciechowski's eye for the people on the edges that make the account especially compelling." -The New Yorker

“[A] fascinating portrait ….This thoroughly enjoyable book will attract college basketball fans across the country, regardless of team loyalties.” -Booklist, starred review

“You think you know all the stories? So did I. But I had not heard these.” -Louisville Courier-Journal

From the Publisher

…The Last Great Game is entertaining, and, in [Christian] Laettner, Wojciechowski has found a character worth building a book around.
—The Washington Post

Sean Callahan

The 1992 NCAA East Regional final between Duke University and the University of Kentucky is considered one of the best basketball games of all time, one that ended with the improbable. With just over two seconds left in overtime, Grant Hill threw a perfect 80-foot inbounds pass to Christian Laettner, who made the game-winning basket over two defenders as time expired. As compelling as this historic game was, so were the backgrounds of the teams involved. Kentucky was thought to be years away from a Final Four berth, but head coach Rick Pitino and his punishing game plan resurrected a scandal-plagued program. Duke, coming off a national championship, was a perennial powerhouse whose driven players were convinced another title was theirs. Wojciechowski, a senior reporter for ESPN.com, traces the two teams’ path to each other and the game’s impact on its participants, but little space is devoted to the hypothesis promised in the title. We never learn how this legendary tilt influenced college basketball or why it’s the defining game in an intensely popular sport. Though fans of both colleges will lap up the locker room tales and glory day remembrances, Wojciechowski’s effort reads too much like a prodigiously reported magazine article. 16-page color insert. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Thorough chronicle of the legendary 1992 NCAA basketball tournament clash between Duke and Kentucky. Duke's last-second triumph over Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East Regional is one of the most indelible moments in the history of college sports. Most college-basketball fans remember where they were when Duke's Christian Laettner sank the miracle game-winning shot. Veteran ESPN columnist Wojciechowski (co-author, with Jerome Bettis: The Bus, 2008, etc.) tells the story of the game, and the two teams' seasons leading up to it, with a newspaperman's eye for detail. Arguably college basketball's most iconic program, Kentucky, under new coach Rick Pitino, wasn't even supposed to be a threat for the championship, just two seasons removed from crippling NCAA sanctions over widespread rules infractions. Duke, the defending NCAA champions, were on their way to becoming a modern dynasty under coach Mike Krzyzewski. The author explores the backgrounds and personalities of the opposing coaches and key players including, Kentucky's freshman superstar Jamal Mashburn and Duke's Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley. Wojciechowski neatly deals with the problem of a book-length exploration of a single game by retelling it twice, once from each team's perspective. Though it obviously cannot compare with the excitement of watching the action, the book ably recaptures the energy of one of sport's greatest moments. In Laettner, a villain to everyone except Duke fans, including some of his own teammates, the author finds a surprisingly complex protagonist, and the story's most intriguing character. A fitting, illuminating tribute to a game that many believe was the best ever.

Kirkus Reviews