Remember the buzz last spring when the ESPN “Fab 5″ documentary premiered? Produced by Jalen Rose, it no doubt had a heavy pro-Michigan Wolverines slant and it got all us college basketball fans talking. Especially about Jimmy King calling Duke Blue Devils stars Grant Hill and Christian Laettner “a bitch.”
And Jalen saying that Duke only recruited “uncle toms,” calling Hill out specifically. Hill published a New York Times op-ed answering Rose. Now it’s time to look at those early 90s Duke teams again- from the Blue Devil point of view.
Former Duke All-Americans Hill and Laettner teamed up for the new documentary Duke ’91 & ’92 which will air on truTV in advance of Turner Sports’ coverage of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
The documentary will revisit 1991-92, when the Blue Devils became the first school to win back-to-back National Championships in nearly 20 years. Duke ’91 & ’92 captures the moments and conversations with members of the two championship squads as they returned to Durham, N.C., in September 2011, on the eve of the Duke Hall of Fame Induction of point guard Bobby Hurley, the Most Outstanding Player of the 1992 Final Four, and Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The documentary features never-before-told stories about what drove their success and, simultaneously, what drove them apart. It highlights the team’s journey to back-to-back NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship titles, including the upset win over the undefeated UNLV Runnin’ Rebels in the 1991 Final Four, Laettner’s buzzer-beating jump shot against Kentucky in the East Regional Final in 1992, the repeat national title win over the “Fab Five” of Michigan and the emotional 20-year reunion at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Nearly 20 years ago, Duke Basketball was embarking on defending its national championship after beating UNLV and Kansas in the 1991 NCAA tournament,” said Hill in a statement.
“I was a sophomore and little did I know how transforming winning back-to-back NCAA Championships would be for me personally, as well as for the Duke Basketball program. In making this documentary, co-produced with my teammate Christian, we wanted to tell the stories of our teammates’ shared experiences of this defining moment in our lives and Duke Basketball.”
The documentary is produced and directed by Amy Unell and Madeleine Sackler.
Hopefully, they’ll have lots to say about that showdown with Michigan’s Fab 5.