By Ron Griffitts

Contributing columnist

On March 31, 1986 at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas the Duke Blue Devils (37-2) coached by Mike Krzyzewski met the Louisville Cardinals (31-7) coached by Denny Crum in a battle between two future Hall of Fame coaches.

Duke had gotten to the final by defeating Mississippi Valley State 85-78, Old Dominion 89-61, DePaul 74-67, Navy 71-50, and in the Final Four semifinal Kansas 71-67 to get to the final.

They were led by 6’ 2” guard Johnny Dawkins (20.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.2 apg), 6’ 8” forward Mark Alarie (17.2 ppg, 6-2 rpg), 6’ 5” guard Dave Henderson (14.2 ppg, 4.8 ppg), 6’ guard Tommy Amaker (6.0 apg), 6’ 10” forward Danny Ferry (5.5 rpg) and 6’ 8” center Jay Bilas (4.9 rpg). Five players on the Duke roster would go on to play in the NBA.

Louisville got past Drexel 93-73, Bradley 82-68, UNC 94-79 and Auburn 84-76 to get to the NCAA Final Four and defeated LSU 88-77 in the semifinal.

The Cardinals were led by 6’ 7” forward Billy Thompson (14.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.9 apg), 6’ 5” guard Milt Wagner (14.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.2 apg), 6’ 9” center Pervis Ellison (13.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg), 6’ 7”forward Herbert Crook (11.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and 6’ 4” guard Jeff Hall (10.3 ppg).

In a game that was close throughout, Duke led at halftime 37-34. But, were outscored 38-32 in the second half for a 72-69 Louisville win.

Led by Pervis Ellison’s 25 points and 11 rebounds, Louisville had a 58 % to 40.3 % field goal percentage advantage and outrebounded the Blue Devils 38 to 23. Duke, however, had 5 more free throws and 12 more field goal attempts than the Cardinals.

For Louisville, Herbert Crook had 12 rebounds and Billy Thompson added 13 points while Johnny Dawkins paced Duke with 24 points, Dave Henderson added 14, Mark Alarie 12 and Tommy Amaker 11.

Denny Crum spent 30 seasons at Louisville, compiling a 675-295 record and two NCAA titles. Mike Krzyzewski coached for 47 years at Navy and Duke with a 1202-766 record and five NCAA titles.

Statistics for this article were from sports-reference.com.