Duke Cheers Champs

Nearly 6,000 Duke students and Blue Devil fans crowded into Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday to welcome back the national champion men's basketball team and revel in Monday night's hard-fought 82-72 victory over the University of Arizona in Minneapolis.

The victory, Duke's third NCAA basketball championship in 11 years, triggered a massive bonfire celebration by thousands of cheering students on West Campus that went on into the early hours of the morning. There were only three minor injuries and Coach Mike Krzyzewski praised the students for celebrating safely.

"I thought our students showed as much class as the basketball team," said Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president for student affairs. "They really showed the entire country how to celebrate a national championship. I would approach the next bonfire, the next national championship bonfire, with absolute eager anticipation. Bring it on. I can't wait to win another."

Krzyzewski and his tired team arrived more than an hour late for the homecoming celebration, but few seemed to mind. When the triumphant Blue Devils bounded onto the Cameron floor, cheers erupted and hardly abated for the entire 40-minute ceremony.

"I bleed Duke blue. I wouldn't have missed this for anything," said Paul Bundy, who drove more than three hours from Richmond, Va., to Durham with his son on Tuesday morning to take in the festivities. "I've been a fan of Duke ever since I was old enough to know anything about college basketball."

Bundy and his son, sporting new "NCAA 2001 National Champions" sportswear along with many others in the crowd, were in good company.

The Balla family loaded their Duke blue van - complete with license plates proclaiming "5 DUKIES" - early Monday for a nearly five-hour drive from Silver Spring, Md. They checked into a Durham hotel room to watch the game and on Tuesday made a beeline for campus.

"We wanted to be at Duke and in Durham in case the team won the national championship," said Steve Balla, who earned his Ph.D. in political science at Duke in 1995 and now teaches at George Washington University. "It was definitely worth it."

After a round of crowd cheers for the players ‚ running the gamut from "Who's your daddy? Battier" to "We will, we will, rock you!" ‚ Krzyzewski introduced the team's senior co-captains to the crowd.

"This is unbelievable," said Shane Battier, a first-team All American, national player of the year and NCAA tournament MVP. "Thank you so much for your support. You truly are the greatest fans in sports."

Senior tri-captain J.D. Simpson looked out over the crowd and told the seniors present, "You need to congratulate yourselves because you are the ... winningest class in college basketball ever." Duke won 133 games over the past four seasons ‚ one more than the previous record set by Kentucky.

Krzyzewski recounted plays made by all seven players in Monday's night victory. "This truly was a team effort," he stressed.

After Coach K finished, the crowd cheered for Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer, Casey Sanders and Chris Duhon to approach the microphone and address the crowd."I'm just glad we brought the championship back where it needs to be," said Williams, the first team All-American sophomore guard.

"This has been a month for me," said Sanders, the backup sophomore center pressed into service in late February when starter Carlos Boozer broke a bone in his foot. "I just hope I have the opportunity to be here and share this with you guys a few more times."

Fans listened to the Duke pep band, chanted cheers along with the Blue Devil cheerleaders and flipped through souvenir national championship newspapers while waiting for the team to arrive.

Della Martin, a 1984 Duke graduate who worked as a student manager for Coach K during his team's "lean years," took her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter out of school for the celebration.

"This is an educational experience for them. They're learning about leadership," said Martin, who lives in Cary. "It's really good to see how far the program has come. Now I'd like to see some of the naysayers from back in `82 and `83."

Melissa Hales, a 1999 Duke grad, brought her 1-year-old, Alex, to see the team.

"I don't know when this is going to happen again, so I had to bring him," said Hales, who lives in Four Oaks. "And we're going shopping right after this ‚ for him, for me and for the whole family."

Duke junior Susan Jang came with fellow students Kevin Chu and Robert Lee after a night of celebrating Duke's victory. Jang clutched a Tuesday newspaper proclaiming the win. "I'm just here to thank the team and welcome them home," she said.

"It's great to be home," said Krzyzewski, who introduced his two infant grandsons to the crowd. "It's been an amazing season and last night we beat a great basketball team in Arizona. ... Having my family and all of you here, now I actually feel like it is our national championship."

The ceremony capped a hectic three days that saw Battier, Williams and crew overcome a 22-point deficit and whip Maryland 95-84 Saturday and then down Arizona Monday night.

Safe celebrationThe 2001 NCAA National Championship game was watched on an 18- by 24-foot television screen by more than 5,000 students in Cameron. When the victory was finally secured, students stormed onto the main residential quad and ignited the traditional bonfire in a designated area in front of House P.

Three minor injuries were reported. A student was hit by a tossed beer can, another fell down some steps and one twisted an ankle.

Police, reinforced by officers from Durham, made five arrests - two non-Duke men were charged with burglary, and a Duke employee and two non-Duke men were arrested on marijuana-related charges. There were a few cases of students intoxicated but none was taken to the hospital emergency department.

"It's as much as a controlled burn as can be," said Duke Police Chief Clarence Birkhead as the celebration wound down. "Students are being very cooperative. It's really been a good atmosphere. Kids are coming up and thanking us for being out here. They recognize that the measures are in place for their own safety."

Eva Littman, a medical student from New Bern who also was a Duke undergraduate, said the crowd this year was much better behaved than in '91 and '92.

"It's a lot safer, a lot more controlled. Everything at Duke has become a lot more controlled. It's wonderful and history does repeat itself eventually."

Numerous students have been injured in past bonfires, including 13 injuries following the national championship win in 1992 when the university sponsored a bonfire in a controlled setting away from residence halls. Despite safety measures to keep spectators away from the flames in 1992, some students ignored the barricades and ran through the fire. Two students were hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns.

The university's administration and student leaders came up with a coordinated bonfire celebration effort in 1999, following a 1998 foam party that was planned in lieu of a bonfire by student leaders with the support of the administration to celebrate a win over the University of North Carolina. Although the foam didn't materialize as advertised, hundreds of students frolicked in the suds until the party ended about 8 p.m. The situation deteriorated later that night when small bands of students attempted to set benches near residence halls on fire with gasoline. Twenty-two students were arrested in that celebration in 1998.

After that, student leaders and administrators devised the plan that allowed bonfires in the designated area with the permission of the city fire marshal.