Last Sunday’s incredible comeback win by UConn over Duke in the Elite 8 was a full-circle moment for USA Basketball Men’s National Team director Grant Hill.

Three decades ago, Hill was part of the 1992 Duke Blue Devils team that beat Kentucky in the East Regional on a last-second shot by Christian Laettner. Last weekend, he was calling the March Madness game for CBS on the sidelines and watched courtside how his alma mater blew a 19-point first-half lead and lost to Connecticut on a 35-foot 3-pointer by freshman Braylon Mullins.

During his recent appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show”, Hill compared the two iconic games.

“We were No.1, and Kentucky were kind of upstarts,” said Hill. “They weren’t even picked to go as far as they did. And that game was just one incredible play after incredible play, and it was back and forth, and we just happened to have two seconds left and we were able to execute a play at the buzzer.”

In 1992, Kentucky walked off the court proud

As Grant said, the 1992 Wildcats coached by Rick Pitino finished the season ranked just 6th in the final AP Poll. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were the defending champions and were a 34-2 team that year, including 14-2 in their conference. Duke entered that game as 7.5-point favorites to win. However, Kentucky was ready to flip the script.

Led by Jamal Mashburn’s 28 points, Sean Woods’ 21 and Dale Brown’s 18 off the bench, the Wildcats looked like they had the Blue Devils on the ropes up by one point, 103-102, with two seconds left and Duke inbounding at the opposite end of their basket. Hill threw the perfect pass to Laettner from three-quarters of the length of the court and the rest was history.

But while that 1992 game was also in the Elite 8 and it was decided in the last second with a win-or-go-home basket, Hill says the difference is how the fans went home after the game.

“I think they walked out of there disappointed obviously, but I’m sure the Kentucky faithful was proud of that group and felt they were worthy of winning it and just came up short. I think in this case, I don’t think the Duke faithful walked out proud. I think that they felt like we let that one slip away. It was in our hands, and it was a meltdown. And I don’t think the same amongst the Duke fans compared to that of Kentucky,” Hill added.

Duke made history

Like in 1992, the 2026 Duke team was the top-ranked team in the final AP Poll rankings, while the 2026 UConn squad was ranked No.7. The Las Vegas betting line was a lot closer in 2026, with Duke just a 4.5-point favorite over Connecticut. And early on, the Blue Devils were having their way over the Wildcats. They held UConn to 29 first-half points and were up 15 at the break.

At that point, no No.1 seed had ever lost a game when up by 15 or more points at the half. With top seeds having a 134-0 record under those circumstances, Duke was supposed to be headed to Indianapolis this weekend. But as they say, there is always the first time. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they were on the wrong side of history.

And so yes, there were plenty of feelings hurt with that loss. And while everybody tried to put on a brave face, the historic collapse was so severe that it was hard to find a silver lining. As Grant said, it was an epic choke job that hurt to the core.