Duke Basketball: 100 Seasons: A Legacy of Achievement

by Bill Brill, Mike Krzyzewski (Foreword)

No college in America has dominated the basketball scene over the past 20 years like Duke has. The Blue Devils have been to 10 Final Fours under Coach Mike Krzyzewski, winning the national championship three times. They played in five consecutive Final Fours and for four consecutive years finished the season ranked number one in the country. Duke won five consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships through 2003, and since 1986, the Blue Devils have had six national players of the year. No other school has had more than one. As Duke enters its 100th season of basketball, it will be the 25th year for Hall of Fame coach Krzyzewski. He has been honored 12 times as national Coach of the Year and is acknowledged as the top man in his profession. Duke has had numerous other famous basketball names, including coaches such as Vic Bubas and Eddie Cameron and All-Americans Dick Groat, Art Heyman, and Jeff Mullins. The Blue Devils play in Cameron Indoor Stadium, which has become a basketball shrine. The vociferous student body, the Cameron Crazies, camp out before home games in a tent city they call Krzyzewski-ville. From the first game in 1906 through yet another Final Four appearance following the 2003-04 season, 100 Years of Duke Basketball provides fans with an insider’s look at Duke basketball and the people who have made it a national legend.

Genres: Sports

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

William "Bill" Brill was an American sportswriter and author. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent his youth in Middlesex County, Virginia. Brill attended Duke University before began his sports writing career with the Covington Virginian in 1952. Brill joined The Roanoke Times in 1956 and was named sports editor in 1960, before retiring in 1991.

Brill had something of a "love-hate" relationship with his readers, who generally recognized him as a talented writer and reporter, but often felt he favored universities in North Carolina over Virginia Tech and Virginia. The Roanoke Times promoted its college football prediction contest as an opportunity to "beat Brill."

When Virginia Tech was invited to join the ACC in 2004, the now retired Brill predicted that the Hokies would not win an ACC championship during his lifetime. However, Virginia Tech's football team won the ACC championship in their first season in the conference, prompting calls and letters to Brill from Virginia Tech fans.

Brill wrote a sports column for the Durham Herald-Sun from August 1992 through April 1994. He served as President of the Atlantic Coast Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association (ACSWA) from 1982 to 1984, named the Virginia Sportswriter of the Year in 1991, and President of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters from 1993 to 1995. Brill was the 1995 recipient of the Jake Wade Award for lifetime contributions to college athletics from College Sports Information Directors. Brill has covered a total of 35 Final Fours, more than any other sports writer.

The USBWA president in 1980-81, Brill began his career with the Roanoke Times and World News in 1956 and served as the paper's executive sports editor and columnist through 1991. Following retirement, Brill settled in Durham, North Carolina, remaining a regular contributor to several publications until his death, at age 79, due to esophageal cancer, on Sunday, April 10, 2011. Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyewski visited him at Duke Med the morning of April 10.