Dewey Defeats Truman, 1999

April 7, 1999

Sports

Dewey Defeats Truman, 1999

by Alexander Nazaryan

“Dewey defeats Truman,” glared the Chicago Daily Tribune. In one of the most famous media blunders in history, the paper mistakenly went by an exit poll that had favored presidential candidate Thomas Dewey defeating Harry Truman.

Sports journalism suffered through similar embarrassment after this year's college basketball season. It all started with confident, almost liturgical belief that Duke would romp throughout the regular season and NCAA tournament and win the title with brilliant ease. ESPN Magazine featured Duke All-American center Elton Brand on the cover — the accompanying article proclaimed that Brand, along with point guard William Avery and three-point specialist Trajan Langdon would be unstoppable.

November 28: Duke Falls in Alaska

Despite the praise Duke received, the team could not get around an unforeseen roadblock during the Great Alaska Shootout: a street-tough Cincinnati team unafraid of Duke's nefarious reputation. The Bearcats never quite relinquished their lead, winning the game on a spectacular, last-second dunk.

At the same time, the University of Connecticut was crowned atop the polls (AP and USA Today/ESPN) as it slayed opponents en route to a 19-0 start. But UConn never received the cloying praise of their counterparts. Though a good team, UConn was not spectacular and flashy like Duke. There were grumblings that the Blue Devils should regain their No. 1 position in the polls. When asked which team was the best in the land, ESPN analyst Digger Phelps replied, “Sorry Jim Calhoun, but...Duke is.”

February 1: UConn Loses Top Spot

Duke fans rejoiced when UConn, bereft of two starters, lost to a fiery Syracuse team. But the game was not even close, as the listless Huskies suffered a 17 point trouncing, their worst of the season.

The New York Times ran an article entitled “UConn is Injured, Disheveled and Bowed,” calling the loss a “very bad sign and a very bad scene.” Even a defeat of mighty Stanford later that week could not defend UConn's No. 1 ranking, and Duke became the much-prophesied king of the hill. The media was ready to jump back on the its bandwagon. Duke continued to win, defeating ACC foes Maryland and UNC to end their regular season undefeated in the ACC.

This was another easy story for the media, and gushing sportswriters began comparing the `98-99 Duke team to the classic `91 and `92 championship-winning squads, both among college basketball history's best. Sports Illustrated noted that Duke was now playing with a confident swagger in an article entitled “Preppies no More: The Blue Devils are on Top Again – but Now They are Nasty” — that is, gentlemen like Grant Hill and Christian Laettner by thugs like Brand and Avery, who had been bluntly told by Coach Mike Krzyzewski on a recruiting trip two years ago that he didn't have good enough grades to get into Duke.

Meanwhile, UConn lurked in the shadows. A home loss to Miami did not corroborate their bid for the top spot in the polls. Miami and St. Johns now became the teams to beat in the Big East. Richard Hamilton, a pre-season pick for Player of the Year was slumping noticeably after his return from a deep thigh bruise.

March 4- 27: Duke Dominates the Post-Season

Calmly, confidently and impressively Duke accumulated victories, going through the ACC Tournament without a challenge. The NCAA Tournament came around, and Duke received the top spot in the East Regional, an easy regional that UConn had badly wanted. Talks of greatness continued. Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy proclaimed, “This is not the year [for UConn] to be there. UConn used Duke's year to construct its finest team. Oops.” ESPN Magazine, a bastion of sophomoric sports writing, proclaimed that Duke was unstoppable, declaring that the opponents may as well not show up. Sports Illustrated, though much more responsible in its remarks, ran an article entitled “Can Anyone Beat Duke?,” analyzing how the other top teams in the tourney could stop this juggernaut. According to SI, they couldn't. “We like the Blue Devils [to win the title]. We like them a lot.”

Duke continued winning. Their victories in the east Regional were of unprecedented magnitude, and not one team put a decent fight. The tournament had been called the Duke Invitational, a mere formality in which teams beside Duke played insignificant roles. And now, two games away from being crowned national champions, the Dukies were ready to make this prediction come true.

March 29: The Game

If fans were tired of hearing of Duke's supposed greatness, the media did not know it. Analysts conceded that though Duke could theoretically lose, they would not, realistically, even come close to doing so. Coaches of teams who had lost to Duke proffered similarly, and Temple coach John Chaney suggested that the only way Duke could lose was by falling flat on its face.

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said that the two best teams in the country were Duke and its bench. Online polls showed that an overwhelming majority of fans believed that Duke would win the tournament (73% on ESPN.com). The fans were sold into the media's overtures. Meanwhile, UConn also happened to show up at the Final Four, seemingly unfazed by the heavy odds against them.

As fate would have it, the two teams were slated to meet in the tournament final. Duke confidence flared when, after beating Michigan State, they partied on the beach until 3am, canceling next day's critical practice. No major analysts (save Len Elmore and Dick Vitale of ESPN.com, who deftly predicted a UConn victory) gave UConn a chance against mighty Duke. After all, this was a team laden with high school All-Americans, the best player in the country (Elton Brand), and future superstars like Corey Maggette. As Sportsline.com put it, “Any other team would lose to UConn in this one. Duke won't.”

Yet the Blue Devils, in fact, did precisely that, contrary to all the confident declarations of Duke supremacy. In what is being viewed as one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history, Connecticut defeated Duke 77-74. This was no upset. UConn was at least Duke's equal and was actually superior in a few notable categories.

But a better story for the media was to portray Duke as a team for the ages, as this would clearly force people to tune in and watch history in the making. The media acted rashly and prematurely in crowning Duke the champion long before it even reached the championship game. Though a fairly good team, it was never the caricature of itself hyped by the media.

In retrospect, it is hard to believe that UConn never took all this to heart— indeed, their great season was overshadowed by exaggerated praise for Blue Devils. But as outspoken guard Khalid El-Amin proclaimed, “We wanted to shock the world.” Mission accomplished. Tired of hearing how much better Duke was, they took matters into their own hands.

After the game, the media retracted its earlier adulation of Duke. Though only hours ago they had written about Duke's greatness, they were now talking of UConn's valiant effort.

Those who had written about Duke's invincibility were now expounding on its vulnerability. The same DeCourcy who had predicted that “this was not UConn's year” now proclaimed that, “[UConn coach] Jim Calhoun has the guts, and a national championship and the respect of anyone who's paying attention.” Despite the belated praise, neither he nor any other sports writer has admitted their erstwhile heralding of Duke. This was probably just fine with the Huskies, who were celebrating their first championship in school history.