Duke Basketball: Top 10 game-winning shots of the Coach K era

4. Christian Laettner vs. Connecticut

Date: March 24, 1990

Place: Izod Center

Final Score: Duke 79, Connecticut 78 (OT)

This was the first time I ever experienced the unrivaled thrill of a game-winner from a Duke basketball player.

And this was the first time I began dreaming that Christian Laettner would be the one to take the program to the promised land — aka, its first national title. Although a title didn’t come until a year later, the shot from the then-sophomore big man against Connecticut in the ’90 Elite Eight was a precursor to the abundance of gleeful moments in years to come.

Down one with 2.6 seconds to play, Krzyzewski noticed what the Huskies’ defense was doing to keep the ball out of the Blue Devil guards’ hands and yelled instructions to Laettner, who was about to inbound the ball from the sideline in front of Duke’s bench, with one word:

“Special.”

That meant for Laettner to pass it into his roommate, Brian Davis, who would immediately toss the ball right back to Laettner.

And the feeling from the result mirrored the name of the play:

Special.

A clutch 14-footer from Laettner. A statement:

Mr. Clutch had arrived…