YouTube Gold: Duke vs. Temple, 1988
As Mike Krzyzewski worked towards his second Final Four.
In 1988, Mike Krzyzewski had been at Duke long enough to get the team to the 1986 Final Four but it wasn’t yet clear that he would have staying power. People knew he was good - getting to the championship game in 1986 and finishing an historic 37-3 proved that beyond question.
But as impressive as that was, to paraphrase John Wooden, lots of people have gotten to the Final Four. Bobby Cremins made it once. So did Paul Hewitt, Frank Martin, Norm Sloan, Jim Larranaga and a whole host of other people.
Once.
So in 1988, it wasn’t at all clear that Mike Krzyzewski would be a Hall of Famer, much less consider by many to the the GOAT.
And in 1988, John Chaney had built Temple into a real powerhouse. And he had freshman sensation Mark Macon, who Dick Vitale, in a moment of exuberance, compared to Magic Johnson.
He was never that good, but he was pretty good.
Unfortunately for him, Duke had Billy King, a defensive savant. At 6-6, King was able to guard almost every position.
He worked Macon over so hard that Macon cried in the locker room afterwards. He may not have known it at the time, but his aura of inevitably was shattered by King. People never looked at him the same again.
After a marginal professional career, Macon turned to coaching. He flamed out at Binghamton with a 23-70 career record. Currently he is back at Temple, working for head coach Aaron McKie.
Duke made it back to the Final Four, the first of five consecutive trips, as people began to understand that Coach K was a phenomenal talent.