DURHAM, N.C. — It was Nov. 4, 2010, the first time I visited Duke’s famed Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Now, almost 14 years later, I’m back to cover the Arizona State men’s basketball exhibition Sunday in Durham, North Carolina, as Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley returns to the campus that placed him in the national consciousness.
It was David vs. Goliath
In 2010, I worked for the Southern California Newspaper Group and covered two Division II colleges in the area, one was Cal Poly Pomona, which had won the national championship in men’s basketball the previous March.
Duke had won the Division I national championship and brought in Cal Poly Pomona for an exhibition game to kick off the next season. It was a David vs. Goliath moment, for sure. It’s not often you get the reigning national champions squaring off, even if it is just an exhibition. It was a dream opportunity for Division II players.
Duke had an interesting team that year. It was headlined by Kyrie Irving, then a highly touted true freshman. And there were the Plumlee brothers, Miles and Mason, now a backup center with the Phoenix Suns.
When legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski stepped on the court, it was like the Red Sea parted. There will always be that kind of reverence for him there.
I also had never seen so many “assistant” coaches follow. There must have been a dozen. Who knows how many were actually assistants and which were support staff? But there were a lot more seats on the home bench than I had ever seen before.
Cameron is an old building, having opened in 1940. Yes, there have been renovations, the most recent in 2016 but it still isn’t a spacious venue, seating only 9,000. All the seats are close to the action, so, yes, that’s a huge advantage for the home team because the atmosphere can be loud and intimidating.
Spectators are so close to the press row, they can read the words on your laptop screen. When the Cameron Crazies are jumping up and down, you can feel the building shake.
Every fan base has those who enjoy trying to get under the skin of opposing players. At Duke, the fans are more creative than most in their verbal barbs. They’ll dig up any information they can find on opposing players and use that to their advantage.
Cal Poly Pomona had a 6-foot-9 forward from Germany named Tobias Jahn, who was the biggest target of the Duke students. He wrote an advice column for the student newspaper, and THAT is what they heckled him about for two hours.
Jahn seemed amused about it. He also had a pretty good game, collecting 15 points and eight rebounds.
Cal Poly Pomona hung tough and trailed by six at the half, 39-33, but was outclassed in the second 20 minutes and lost 81-60. Irving scored 13 points in 28 minutes, but the future NBA champion didn’t look like anything special, at least that night.
ASU coach Bobby Hurley and a Duke identity
Hurley and Arizona State march in on Sunday for a 4 p.m. MST (7 p.m. ET) exhibition here, with the proceeds going to Duke Children’s Hospital. There will be festivities on Saturday, open to a select few boosters from each school who will be donating to their respective NIL initiatives.
The game is scheduled to be televised on the ACC Network.
“It’s a great opportunity for our players to experience that environment but it’s also a chance for us to see where we’re at as a basketball team,” he said.
If anyone can prep his team for what it will be facing come game day, it is Hurley, whose performances in a Duke uniform three decades ago are legendary. He still holds a record that likely will never be broken: 1,076 career assists. He won back-to-back championships for the Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992.
It’s safe to say Hurley, whose firstborn daughter, Cameron, is named after the venue, won’t get the same treatment as other visiting coaches.
Hurley doesn’t get back often, mainly because he is busy coaching his own team. He says the last time he was back was for a Duke family weekend when his other daughter, Sydney, was a Duke student 15 or so years ago. He knows there will be emotions involved — he’s returning as coach of the opposing team, not as a parent.
It will also be special because the entire Hurley family will be there. Of course, young Bobby is on the ASU team, but the coach’s wife, Leslie, will be there too.
While Hurley is mindful that much of the focus will be on him, he is excited about the opportunity his players will have in getting to play in a historic venue with great basketball tradition and hopes it will serve as a springboard to a resurgent season.
“It doesn’t get any better than playing here against a team with such great basketball tradition,” he said. “I know people will talk about me coming back here, but I want this to be a great experience for my players. It will be something they’ll never forget.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bobby Hurley leads ASU basketball into big-time experience at Duke
