March Rewind: Duke Makes '64 Final Four, Gets Knocked out in '96 First Round

What's March without Duke Tournament basketball? With this year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments cancelled, we'll go back in time to look at the top Blue Devils postseason games from each date in March and early April. Special thanks to SportsReference.com for boxscores and the Duke Library for the newspaper archive.

Duke made it two straight trips to the final four with a win over UConn in the 1964 East Regional Final. The Blue Devils overwhelmed the Huskies, 101-54, behind 30 points by Jeff Mullins. Steve Vacendak and Hack Tison each added 14 and Jay Buckley had 12. Duke moves on to face Michigan in Kansas City.

The 1996 Blue Devils saw their March Madness run cut short. Eastern Michigan knocked off 8-seed Duke in the opening round, 75-60. Duke had just six healthy scholarship players for the game. Point guard Steve Wojciechowski sat out the game with an ankle injury. Senior Chris Collins was slowed by a bad cold but played 39 minutes, scoring 11.

Jeff Capel and Greg Newton both scored a team-high 15. Taymon Domzalski struggled to a 1-of-6 day from the field for three points. “It seems like I wasn’t there tonight,” he said afterward.

In 1997, Duke opened up in Charlotte with a 71-68 squeaker over 15-seed Murray State. Capel led the way with 25 points.

Top-seeded 1999 Duke cruised into the Sweet 16 with a 97-56 win over Tulsa in Charlotte. William Avery had a team-high 19. Elton Brand added 17. Corey Maggette scored 11 with six rebounds and four assists off the bench.

Top-seeded 2002 Duke opened its run in Greenville, SC with a 84-37 blowout of Winthrop. Carlos Boozer and Jason Williams tied for team high with 19 points. Mike Dunleavy Jr. added 18.