A SEASON IS A LIFETIME

Here, the Duke Blue Devils' back-to-back NCAA basketball championships (1991-92) are given superficial treatment by Brill, past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Devils coach Krzyzewski. When, after a bitter loss to archrival North Carolina, Krzyzewski (``Coach K'') told his team that not only would they make the Final Four but they were destined to win the 1991 NCAA title, players Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Billy McCaffery, Grant Hill, and Brian Davis took him at his word. Following their stunning 79-77 upset of heavily favored University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the Devils' victory over Kansas in the final was anticlimactic. With the heart of his squad returning for 1992, Coach K admonished his players that ``we're not defending a national championship. We are pursuing a national championship.'' The year started badly, with McCaffery, the team's second-highest scorer, transferring to another school. Brill touches only lightly on this and other controversial matters, including the well- publicized friction between Laettner and some of his teammates. As in 1991, the most exciting games of this year's tournament were played prior to the final, this time with Kentucky taking the Devils into overtime after Laettner's technical foul for kicking an opponent. But with less than a second on the clock, Laettner came up with ``the shot'' once again, clinching a Final Four berth. The Devils went on to take Indiana, and they captured the national title by beating Michigan's five talented freshmen. More or less a long press release for Coach K and Duke, as Brill mechanically recounts events, taking almost everything said by the coach at face value. (B&w photos—not seen.)