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Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember watching the early stages of this game, thinking Temple had no chance, especially after Duke freshman Corey Maggette had a nasty put-back dunk, causing CBS color man Al McGuire to shout out: "Uh oh, Maggette-os!" I ended up going out with my friends to play some pickup ball with my friends at the park, eventually getting back for the second half of Kentucky vs. Michigan State. I was hardly surprised that Duke won as this Blue Devils team was seemingly a lock for the Final Four and the National Championship Game. I do love this Temple team, though, as the Owls were led by crafty southpaw point guard Pepe Sanchez, small forward Mark Karcher (a precursor to Kawhi Leonard) and big man Kevin Lyde. Head Coach John Chaney had some really good teams during this era, but Temple could not get over the hump, losing to Duke and Michigan State during the Elite Eights of the 1999 and 2001 NCAA Tournaments, respectively. For my money, this Duke team with Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon, Shane Battier, Chris Carrawell, William Avery, Maggette, Chris Burgess and Nate James was the most dominant squad Coach K ever had, national championship or not.
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