An interview with the captains of the 1st Duke national championship team
Greg Koubek and Clay Buckley returned in January and checked out their alma mater take on Boston College in Cameron. After their visit, I chatted with the former Duke teammates about their college memories, Cameron, Coach K and more!
LA: You guys achieved something very special at Duke as captains of the first-ever national championship team. Looking back, are there any special memories that stand out?
CLAY: As far as a “special” memory, winning the National Championship is clearly at the top, however defeating UNLV in the 1991 semifinals was pretty unbelievable on many fronts. The preparation for and execution in that game was as intense as anything I have ever participated in. The build-up was nerve racking dealing with ALL of the skeptics and the intimidation of playing against that team with all of their success, plus their physical prowess. I still remember vividly passing them on the open practice day — we were all buttoned up in our stylish matching warm-ups and they were wearing headphones and sunglasses and ragged T-shirts….and they were huge and confident and seemed a lot older than we were. The elation of capping off that victory was hard to contain — Bobby actually rode off the court on my back we were so happy. Coach K, of course, quickly brought us back down to earth and got us focused on the ultimate achievement — the NCAA Championship.
Another that stands out is winning the ACC Championship our freshman year. That group, including Billy King, Kevin Strickland, Danny Ferry, John Smith and Quin Snyder, was a truly special group of class individuals that I still measure myself against to this day. Our tournament path was grueling, and the victory was truly a team effort.
As for funny memories, there are so many, but most of them group into the collective experiences with the “band of brothers” that were my teammates throughout the four years, with whom I spent as much as eight hours a day for nine months straight. Suffice it to say, that we were all boys, and behaved like brothers, and fought and played like it, many times laughing until we cried. Story-telling by Kevin Strickland during my freshman year stands out in my mind.
GREG: I will never forget the mood in the locker room in 1991 when we beat St. John’s in the Elite Eight to advance to our fourth straight Final Four. You would think that we would be elated to get another crack at winning our first National Championship but we were too busy watching our next opponent celebrate their advancement to the Final Four. That same team beat us by 30 points in the 1990 National Championship game, which is still the most lopsided defeat in finals history. We knew that in order to win a championship, we had to beat powerhouse UNLV. This was the last chance for Clay and me. Coach K could sense the mood in the locker room and stated with confidence that we were going to win that game and the National Championship. I don’t know about everyone else but I only partially believed Coach K at that time. It was not until our first practice where he got all of us to believe that we were going to win. He first showed us the film from the 1990 National Championship game and he pointed out that UNLV went on two runs that really hurt us. Take away those two runs and we played them evenly. He then talked about our game plan and the minor adjustments that we would have to make. He had me front Larry Johnson and Christian play off George Ackles so he could help with Larry. That entire week we were extremely focused and knew that we were going to Indianapolis to win a title. The media thought that the only way we could win was to steal UNLV’s shoes and lock them up so they could not play. We believed in one another and executed the game plan to perfection. It didn’t hurt that we had three of the best players ever to play the college game in Bobby, Christian, and Grant.
LA: The 1991 team’s “Young Guns” poster was memorable and still hangs in our office. What do you guys remember about that?
CLAY: Our poster sittings were like taking the family Christmas picture to the team. Everyone dreaded it. You had to put on funny clothes and pose in crazy positions and it always seemed to take forever. Yet, you were always so glad to have the momento afterwards. When I got my first office, my parents framed the Young Guns poster and gave it to me as a first office gift. I have it hung proudly in front of me now. I keep telling people that I am really not that vain and that it was a gift I feel obliged to display, but truth be told, I love having it up as a constant reminder of the good times we had.
GREG: The only memory that really matters was at the end of the year, when they crossed out ‘guns’ and replaced it with “NCAA CHAMPS”, so it read “Duke’s Young NCAA Champs”.
LA: How has Cameron changed since your playing days?
CLAY: As my predecessors (Alarie, Bilas, Dawkins, Amaker, etc) always (facetiously) said to us, the players today have it very nice and got there on the backs of their success. No longer are players sitting in front of cage lockers, watching film (truly reel film) of games, and working out across the way in the football weight room. The program has really kept up with the times, as it has had to in order to keep up with the competition. The beauty is that the atmosphere in the stadium has remained virtually unchanged, as has the closeness of the teams. Returning for a game is like coming home. You see so many familiar faces, and it is easy to drift into feeling as though you are back on the bench waiting for Coach K to call your name to go into the game yourself.
GREG: Cameron is still one of the most intimate and exciting places to play and watch a basketball game. It is Cameron’s surroundings that have changed; the tower, the practice facility, the locker rooms, etc. I got lost a few times on my last visit. The natural response is to say that these guys have it good and don’t realize how lucky they are. But we had it good and we were pretty lucky to play basketball at Duke University. The facilities are extremely important for player development and recruitment but it is the people that are in the facilities that make Cameron unique. That has not changed — the players have always been surrounded with a team of people who really care about their development on and off the court, regardless if they are stars or role players.
LA: What have you taken with you that you learned from Duke Basketball and Coach K?
CLAY: I am doing a lot of coaching for my kids (Fletcher- 7th grade, Ellie- 5th grade) in which I am using much of what I learned in our practices and games. A man-to-man defense, motion offense, breaking down a team plan into individualized components and creating drills around them, organized and focused use of time (I have my practices scheduled down to the minute like Coach does), are among them. But probably more important than that are the life lessons — things such as to be thankful for the blessings you receive, that it is important to treat everyone with equal respect, and that hard work is a clear path to success. I learned a lot about humility and perseverance that I didn’t come to appreciate until I was a few years removed from playing. My favorite lesson, though, came on the bus ride home from NC State on an evening where we had lost due in large part to an incredible scoring night by Rodney Monroe. Coach K was “lecturing” us about the game, some of our shortcomings, and some things we needed to work on when we got to discussing why we couldn’t stop Rodney Monroe. Coach was met with a number of explanations and excuses from the players which finally caused him to stop the “lecture” and say something like “When are you guys going to learn to take responsibility for your actions and simply work on fixing them. I would love for someone to respond to a failure by simply saying, ‘I have no excuses, sir.’” I have lived by that mantra ever since and share that wherever I go.
GREG: Honesty & Responsibility… I will never forget my senior year when I wanted to quit because I thought Coach K was not giving me enough playing time. He looked me right in eye and stated that I was not getting playing time because Billy, Thomas, Brian, Grant, and the rest of team were all playing better than me. He told me to stop wasting time blaming the coaching staff and start spending more time working on my game. I listened to him and it worked. It is easier for me to take responsibility and understand the power of honesty when dealing with others.
Team Man-To-Man Defense… I have been running basketball camps in upstate NY for 20 years now and have been a volunteer coach in NY and LA. I have always been responsible for teaching the defense. Defense brings everyone together because it is fun and requires trust, communication, teamwork, and hard work. When you have a defensive identity, everyone can get involved and contribute to the team’s success. Defense wins championships (the girls team I assisted on won the NY state championship!!!).
Family… My wife and girls mean the world to me (Helena is three years old and Olivia is a year old). As busy as Coach K was, you knew that Mrs. K and the three girls were the most important in his life. They were always a big part of the Duke program from Day One and can remember telling Mrs. K that I was coming to Duke before I told Coach K. No matter how busy I get, my girls will always come first.
LA: Do you still follow the team?
CLAY: Of course I do. I am thrilled to see so many big guys (a.k.a. Footers) in the group and Coach dusting off the old playbook to use some old plays with two in and three out. I have the fortune of sitting with Duke legends, Mark Alarie, Tate Armstrong, Terry Chili and John Feinstein, about once a month and discussing the team’s exploits and prospects. It usually quickly drifts towards stories of the Golden Years and to most of us sitting and listening to John talk, but it is a really fun way to get many perspectives on the team and stay close with the Duke family.
GREG: With a young family, I don’t watch as many games as I would like, but I always manage to read Mike Cragg’s updates (thank you Mike) and ESPN.com to get the latest updates. Clay and I remain very close and see one another 2-3 times a year (he brings his two kids to my overnight camp every year). We always start out our conversations with the state of the Duke program. I also play basketball with Lee Melchionni in LA (that guy can shoot) and we also talk about our alma mater. It is my hope that when my girls are old enough, I can take them to a Duke game once a year.
Greg and Clay at Greg’s annual summer basketball camp
LA: As roommates, who was the clean one and who was the dirty one?
CLAY: I was definitely the clean one. I think it is something in my genes that I inherited from my parents (Pepper, Duke ’65 and Jay, Duke’64). I just can’t stand to have things sit around messy. You can ask my wife, Kerry…I still behave that way. I remember times that I would test Greg to see if he would clean up. I would let the dirty dishes pile up in the sink until they were overflowing onto the floor, and refuse to take out the garbage until the corner was stacked high. It was totally disgusting. I can’t remember a time that he broke and I didn’t end up cleaning up the mess. Since then, Greg has grown much more responsible, and I believe he actually picks up after himself once in awhile.
GREG: Clay was the clean one (just not as clean as he thinks he was). I would get bursts of energy to clean about once every two weeks but other than that, we would let it go…
THE CLAY & GREG FILE
*Duke teammates from 1988-1991
*Reached Final Four all four years at Duke
*Captains of Duke’s first NCAA title team
*Both played forward position
Greg and Clay at our office during their recent visit to Duke
Where Are They Now?
*Clay is set to start a new job as Chief Revenue Officer for Tech Forward (company provides buybacks on consumer electronics with a 100% recycle/re-use policy). He and wife Carrie Buckley have two children (Fletcher- 7th grade, Ellie- 5th grade), and the family lives in Virginia.
The Buckley family!
*Greg has been working with the YMCA for 11 years and running his annual hoops camp after playing overseas for seven years (Hungary, Turkey, Japan and South Africa). He and wife Natalie Shum have two daughters (Helena- age 3 and Olivia- age 1), and reside in California.
The Koubek family!
Laura Ann Howard is now in her 19th season as administrative assistant in the Duke Basketball office. She works closely with our assistant coaches, coordinates player autographing, keeps tabs on former players, staff and managers, and delivers smiles at our offices on the fifth floor of the Schwartz-Butters Center. The Roxboro, NC native shares one of her updates in LA’s Corner as part of every issue of Blue Planet.
