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College Basketball: NCAA Final Four: Closeup of Duke Christian Laettner (32) during game vs Indiana at H.H. Humphrey Metrodome. Minneapolis, MN 4/4/1992 CREDIT: John W. McDonough (Photo by John W. McDonough /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X42700 ) | Christian Laettner failed against Arizona as a freshman. He would rarely do so again.
Christian Laettner built an immense legacy as a winner at Duke. He had two great buzzer beaters in the NCAA Tournament, one against UConn, and one immortal classic against Kentucky. He outdueled Shaquille O’Neal twice and did the same to Michigan’s Fab Five, including in the 1992 NCAA championship.
By his senior year, he was the most hated player in America, because people had come to understand that he would not let his team lose.
As closely associated as he is with winning though, that evolved. In his freshman year, #9 Duke played #2 Arizona in the Meadowlands. It was a highly competitive game that came down to the wire.
In fact, Arizona fouled Laettner with just a second to go, and Wildcat coach Lute Olson called a timeout to ice Laettner.
And then perhaps the greatest clutch player in NCAA history stepped up to the foul line…
…and missed.
Right after he missed, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski rushed up to him and basically told him to let it go, next play.
Former president Richard Nixon, who graduated from Duke Law, told him the same thing in the locker room, explaining that he had come back from defeat more than once himself.
Obviously, it was a lesson that Laettner deeply absorbed.
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