1978–79 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

1978–79 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
1978–79 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
ACC regular season co-champions
NCAA Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 11
Record	22–8 (9–3 ACC)
Head coach	Bill Foster (5th season);
Assistant coaches	Terry Chili; Steve Steinwedel; Bob Wenzel;
MVP	Jim Spanarkel
Captain	Jim Spanarkel
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 North Carolina †	9	–	3	.750	23	–	6	.793
No. 11 Duke	9	–	3	.750	22	–	8	.733
Virginia	7	–	5	.583	19	–	10	.655
Maryland	6	–	6	.500	19	–	11	.633
Clemson	5	–	7	.417	19	–	10	.655
NC State	3	–	9	.250	18	–	12	.600
Wake Forest	3	–	9	.250	12	–	15	.444

† 1979 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represented Duke University during the 1978-79 college basketball season.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	20	Gene Banks	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Philadelphia, PA
F	33	Kenny Dennard	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Walnut Cove, NC
F	24	Larry Linney	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Asheville, NC
G/F	30	Jim Suddath	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	East Point, GA
G	12	Vince Taylor	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Lexington, KY

Head coach

Bill Foster

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
November 25* no, no	No. 1	at Western Kentucky	W 78–53	1-0	Bowling Green, KY
November 27* no, no	No. 1	SMU	W 86–80	2-0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 1* no, no	No. 1	vs. No. 6 North Carolina State Big Four Tournament	W 65–63	3-0	Greensboro, NC
December 2* no, no	No. 1	vs. No. 14 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	W 78–68	4-0	Greensboro, NC
December 5* no, no	No. 1	La Salle	W 66–42	5-0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 13* no, no	No. 1	No. 12 Southern California	W 79–65	6-0	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
December 29* no, no	No. 1	vs. Ohio State ECAC Holiday Tournament	L 84–90	6-1	New York, NY
December 30* no, no	No. 1	vs. St. John's ECAC Holiday Tournament	L 66–69	6-2	New York, NY
January 2* no, no	No. 1	at Davidson	W 77–59	7-2	Davidson, NC
January 5* no, no	No. 5	vs. No. 15 Long Beach State Holiday Doubleheader	W 79–78	8-2	Raleigh, NC
January 6* no, no	No. 5	vs. Tulane Holiday Doubleheader	W 74–64	9-2	Raleigh, NC
January 10 no, no	No. 7	Clemson	W 73–54	10-2 (1-0)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 13 no, no	No. 7	at No. 3 North Carolina	L 68–74	10-3 (1-1)	Chapel Hill, NC
January 18 no, no	No. 8	Wake Forest	W 81–69	11-3 (2-1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 21 no, no	No. 8	at No. 14 North Carolina State	W 75–69	12-3 (3-1)	Raleigh, NC
January 24 no, no	No. 7	at Virginia	W 84–66	13-3 (4-1)	Charlottesville, VA
January 28* no, no	No. 7	No. 13 Marquette	W 69–64	14-3 (4-1)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
January 31 no, no	No. 3	at Wake Forest	W 75–60	15-3 (5-1)	Winston-Salem, NC
February 3 no, no	No. 3	No. 17 Maryland	W 87–78	16-3 (6-1)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 6 no, no	No. 3	Virginia	W 64–63	17-3 (7-1)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 10* no, no	No. 3	Pittsburgh	L 69–71	17-4 (7-1)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 14 no, no	No. 5	North Carolina State	W 66–48	18-4 (8-1)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 16 no, no	No. 5	at Maryland	L 68–70	18-5 (8-2)	College Park, MD
February 18* no, no	No. 5	vs. No. 9 Louisville	W 88–72	19-6 (8-2)	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 21 no, no	No. 6	at Clemson	L 49–70	19-7 (8-3)	Clemson, SC
February 24 no, no	No. 6	No. 4 North Carolina	W 47–40	20-6 (9-3)	Cameroon Indoor Stadium Cameron, NC
ACC Tournament
March 1* no, no		vs. Wake Forest ACC Tournament • Quarterfinals	W 58–56	21-6	Greensboro, NC
March 2* no, no		vs. North Carolina State ACC Tournament • Semifinals	W 62–59	22-6	Greensboro, NC
March 3* no, no		vs. North Carolina ACC Tournament • Final	L 63–71	22-7	Greensboro, NC
NCAA Tournament
March 11* no, no		vs. St. John's NCAA Tournament • Second Round	L 78–80	22-8	Raleigh, NC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[1]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	1	1	1	1	1	1	5	7	8	7	3	3	5	6	5	6	11
Coaches	1	—	—	1	1	1	7	7	9	6	4	3	6	7	6	7	Not released

^Coaches did not release Week 1 or Week 2 polls.

References

^ 1978-79 schedule. GoDuke.com Retrieved 2012-11-20.

[1] 1978-79 schedule. GoDuke.com Retrieved 2012-11-20.

[1]

v t e Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
Venues	The Ark (1906–1923) Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (1924–1930) Card Gymnasium (1930–1939) Cameron Indoor Stadium (1940–present)
Rivalries	Maryland Michigan North Carolina (Carlyle Cup)
Culture & lore	Blue Devil Big Four Tournament Blue blood status Cameron Crazies Champions Classic Dixie Classic I Hate Christian Laettner Krzyzewskiville "The Shot" Tobacco Road 1991 UNLV game
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics