By 1991, Mike Krzyzewski had established Duke as one of the best programs in the country but it had not become iconic. Duke made the Final Four in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990, and getting blown out by UNLV in that one.
There was a sense that Duke was good but not good enough.
But Duke was different too. In 1990, Duke took on UNLV with Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, Alaa Abdelnaby, Robert Brickey and Phil Henderson.
In 1991, Duke started Laettner and Hurley again but would also have Grant Hill and Antonio Lang and would use Thomas Hill, Billy McCaffrey and Marty Clark a lot.