1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
NCAA tournament, runner-up; ACC Tournament champions
National Championship Game, ; L 88-94 vs. Kentucky
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 7
Record	27–7 (8–4 ACC)
Head coach	Bill Foster (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Bob Wenzel; Lou Goetz; Ray Jones;
MVP	Jim Spanarkel
Captain	Jim Spanarkel
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium
	Seasons ← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 16 North Carolina	9	–	3	.750	23	–	8	.742
No. 7 Duke †	8	–	4	.667	27	–	7	.794
NC State	7	–	5	.583	21	–	10	.677
Virginia	6	–	6	.500	20	–	8	.714
Wake Forest	6	–	6	.500	19	–	10	.655
Maryland	3	–	9	.250	15	–	13	.536
Clemson	3	–	9	.250	15	–	12	.556

† 1978 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represented Duke University. The head coach was Bill Foster. The team played its home games in the Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They advanced through the NCAA tournament to the championship game, where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 88–94.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
November 26, 1977*		Johns Hopkins	W 95–49	1–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
November 29, 1977*		Washington College	W 110–66	2–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
December 2, 1977		vs. No. 2 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	L 66–79	2–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
December 3, 1977		vs. No. 18 Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 97–84	3–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
December 8, 1977*		at SMU	W 91–67	4–1	Dallas, Texas
December 10, 1977*		at Southern California	L 81–87 ^OT	4–2	Los Angeles, Calif.
December 13, 1977*		Chicago	W 99–61	5–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
December 28, 1977*		vs. Duquesne	W 74–65	6–2	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, N.C.
December 29, 1977*		vs. Saint Joseph's	W 74–61	7–2	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, N.C.
January 2, 1978*		at Virginia Tech	W 86–79	8–2	Blacksburg, Va.
January 4, 1978		at Maryland	W 88–78	9–2	College Park, Md.
January 7, 1978		at NC State	L 50–74	9–3	Raleigh, N.C.
January 9, 1978*		Lehigh	W 105–63	10–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
January 11, 1978		at Clemson	W 107–85	11–3	Clemson, S.C.
January 14, 1978		No. 2 North Carolina	W 92–84	12–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
January 18, 1978	No. 17	Wake Forest	W 81–72	13–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
January 21, 1978*	No. 17	at La Salle	W 91–81	14–3	Philadelphia, Pa.
January 25, 1978	No. 11	at No. 18 Virginia	L 73–74	14–4	Charlottesville, Va.
January 28, 1978*	No. 11	East Carolina	W 105–82	15–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 2, 1978	No. 17	at Wake Forest	L 60–79	15–5	Winston-Salem, N.C.
February 8, 1978		No. 13 Virginia	W 100–75	16–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 11, 1978		Davidson	W 104–88	17–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 15, 1978	No. 20	NC State	W 76–64	18–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 18, 1978	No. 20	Maryland	W 81–70	19–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 22, 1978	No. 13	Clemson	W 78–62	20–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, N.C.
February 25, 1978	No. 13	at No. 8 North Carolina	L 83–87	20–6	Chapel Hill, N.C.
March 1, 1978	No. 15	vs. Clemson ACC tournament	W 83–72	21–6	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
March 2, 1978	No. 15	vs. Maryland ACC Tournament	W 81–69	22–6	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
March 4, 1978	No. 15	vs. Wake Forest ACC Tournament	W 85–77	23–6	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
March 12, 1978*	No. 8	vs. Rhode Island NCAA East First round	W 63–62	24–6	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, N.C.
March 17, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 20 Pennsylvania NCAA East Regional semifinal	W 84–80	25–6	Providence Civic Center Providence, R.I.
March 19, 1978	No. 7	vs. Villanova NCAA East Regional Final	W 90–72	26–6	Providence Civic Center Providence, R.I.
March 25, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 6 Notre Dame NCAA Final Four	W 90–86	27–6	Checkerdome St. Louis, Mo.
March 27, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 1 Kentucky NCAA Championship	L 88–94	27–7	Checkerdome St. Louis, Mo.
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source: Duke Athletics^[2]^[3]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

No one from the men's basketball team was selected in the 1978 NBA draft. However, Jim Spanarkel was drafted 16th overall in the 1979 NBA draft. Also, Mike Gminski was picked 7th overall in the 1980 NBA Draft, and Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard were picked 28th and 78th in the 1981 NBA draft, respectively.^[4]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1977-78 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary
^ "2019–20 Duke MBB Media Guide" (PDF). Duke Athletics. Duke University. October 14, 2019. p. 174. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
^ "1977–78 Men's Basketball Schedule". Duke Athletics. Duke University. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
^ "1978 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 18, 2010. Retrieved May 4, 2009.

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[1] sports-reference.com 1977-78 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary

[2] "2019–20 Duke MBB Media Guide" (PDF). Duke Athletics. Duke University. October 14, 2019. p. 174. Retrieved June 30, 2020.

[3] "1977–78 Men's Basketball Schedule". Duke Athletics. Duke University. Retrieved July 4, 2020.

[4] "1978 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 18, 2010. Retrieved May 4, 2009.

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v t e Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
Venues	The Ark (1906–1923) Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (1924–1930) Card Gymnasium (1930–1939) Cameron Indoor Stadium (1940–present)
Rivalries	Maryland Michigan North Carolina (Carlyle Cup)
Culture & lore	Blue Devil Big Four Tournament Blue blood status Cameron Crazies Champions Classic Dixie Classic I Hate Christian Laettner Krzyzewskiville "The Shot" Tobacco Road 1991 UNLV game
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics