Mike Krzyzewski knew his 1985-’86 team was loaded. Duke returned seniors Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, David Henderson and Jay Bilas, junior Tommy Amaker and sophomores Billy King and Kevin Strickland from the previous season. Defensive-oriented forward Dan Meagher was the only graduation loss of consequence but he was more than replaced by the nation’s top prepster, 6-10 Danny Ferry.
Krzyzewski scheduled accordingly. Duke participated in the inaugural pre-season NIT and won the whole thing, defeating home-town favorite St. John’s and Kansas in Madison Square Garden following two wins at home.
He added other tough non-conference teams, like Vanderbilt, St. Joseph’s and Oklahoma.
But he really came up with a unique and challenging wrinkle for the middle of February.
The ACC had Duke visiting NC State on Saturday night, February 15. But instead of taking Sunday off, Krzyzewski invited Digger Phelps and Notre Dame to visit Cameron the following afternoon, less than 24 hours after Duke left Reynolds.
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