WashPaRick wrote:

in 1977 Norm Nixon scored 27 pts. to lead the Dukes over Villanova 57-54 to secure a berth in the NCAA tourney. Anybody make it to that game?

I watched it on tv. We caught a real break when Villanova's best player, Keith Herron, suffered a severely sprained ankle in the semi finals. He tried to go, but couldn't play. Who would have thought that we'd still be waiting for our next NCAA trip 36 years later?

I was not at the A-10 Championship game, but was at the NCAA game against VMI at Raleigh NC.  It was a great trip; really had a good time.  VMI played pretty well in that game, and Carter was very good; but they were beatable by the Dukes, who just came up short.  The next game would have been against NC State on their home court, so I don't think we would have survived beyond that game.

duq81 wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

I was not at the A-10 Championship game, but was at the NCAA game against VMI at Raleigh NC.  It was a great trip; really had a good time.  VMI played pretty well in that game, and Carter was very good; but they were beatable by the Dukes, who just came up short.  The next game would have been against NC State on their home court, so I don't think we would have survived beyond that game.

Actually, the next game would have been against Kentucky. UNC, not NC St. was in our bracket. Led by Phil Ford, Carolina went all the way to the final, where they lost to Marquette in Al McGuire's last game as coach. NC St. wasn't in the field that year.

I met Ron Carter at a wedding several years ago. He had many funny stories about his time playing on the Lakers with Norm, Kareem, and Magic.

You are correct, it would have been Kentucky; I didn't bother to look it up; but do recall that we played at NC State, kind of a shabby old place.   I was probably pretty intoxicated by game time; recall loading our Winnebago with Dukes fans for the ride from the hotel to the arena.

LaurenB wrote:

One good thing about being a Duquesne fan, we don't have too many memorable games to reminisce   about,

Some do.

Wasn't that the game where Norman threw down a, then illegal,  360 dunk as his last play at the Arena?  

I usually post as Mike Ignelzi, but couldn't break through this site under that name -- probably one of you monitors were thrown out of the V. B. years ago.  So I'll be Jules over here.   Anyway, there was mention of a Winnebago from a hotel in North Carolina...    For those of you who were on-board for the entire trip, and are now worried about getting into heaven, I'll only say that it was all good, clean fun.  Well, most of it.  Some of it?  And we got screwed by the refs in that game.  Ben Drieth, an NFL ref, hosed us, and I told him so.  Directly.  Which caused a stir.  Norman gave me good advice at that moment.  He said, "Run!"  And I did.  And live jail-free to tell the tale.