1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team

The 1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represented Duke University. The head coach was Bill Foster. The team played its home games in the Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They advanced through the NCAA tournament to the championship game, where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 94–88.

1977–78 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
NCAA tournament, runner-up ACC Tournament champions
National Championship Game, L 88-94 vs. Kentucky
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 7
Record	27–7 (8–4 ACC)
Head coach	Bill Foster (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Bob Wenzel Lou Goetz Ray Jones
MVP	Jim Spanarkel
Captain	Jim Spanarkel
Home arena	Cameron Indoor Stadium
Seasons ← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 16 North Carolina	9	–	3		.750			23	–	8		.742
No. 7 Duke †	8	–	4		.667			27	–	7		.794
NC State	7	–	5		.583			21	–	10		.677
Virginia	6	–	6		.500			20	–	8		.714
Wake Forest	6	–	6		.500			19	–	10		.655
Maryland	3	–	9		.250			15	–	13		.536
Clemson	3	–	9		.250			15	–	12		.556
† 1978 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
November 26, 1977*		Johns Hopkins	W 95–49	1–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
November 29, 1977*		Washington College	W 110–66	2–0	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
December 2, 1977		vs. No. 2 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	L 66–79	2–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, N.C.
December 3, 1977		vs. No. 18 Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 97–84	3–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, N.C.
December 8, 1977*		at SMU	W 91–67	4–1	Dallas, Texas
December 10, 1977*		at Southern California	L 81–87 OT	4–2	Los Angeles, Calif.
December 13, 1977*		Chicago	W 99–61	5–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
December 28, 1977*		vs. Duquesne	W 74–65	6–2	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, N.C.
December 29, 1977*		vs. Saint Joseph's	W 74–61	7–2	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, N.C.
January 2, 1978*		at Virginia Tech	W 86–79	8–2	Blacksburg, Va.
January 4, 1978		at Maryland	W 88–78	9–2	College Park, Md.
January 7, 1978		at NC State	L 50–74	9–3	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, N.C.
January 9, 1978*		Lehigh	W 105–63	10–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
January 11, 1978		at Clemson	W 107–85	11–3	Clemson, S.C.
January 14, 1978		No. 2 North Carolina	W 92–84	12–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
January 18, 1978	No. 17	Wake Forest	W 81–72	13–3	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
January 21, 1978*	No. 17	at La Salle	W 91–81	14–3	Spectrum  Philadelphia, Pa.
January 25, 1978	No. 11	at No. 18 Virginia	L 73–74	14–4	Charlottesville, Va.
January 28, 1978*	No. 11	East Carolina	W 105–82	15–4	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 2, 1978	No. 17	at Wake Forest	L 60–79	15–5	Winston-Salem, N.C.
February 8, 1978		No. 13 Virginia	W 100–75	16–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 11, 1978		Davidson	W 104–88	17–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 15, 1978	No. 20	NC State	W 76–64	18–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 18, 1978	No. 20	Maryland	W 81–70	19–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 22, 1978	No. 13	Clemson	W 78–62	20–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, N.C.
February 25, 1978	No. 13	at No. 8 North Carolina	L 83–87	20–6	Chapel Hill, N.C.
March 1, 1978	No. 15	vs. Clemson ACC tournament	W 83–72	21–6	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, N.C.
March 2, 1978	No. 15	vs. Maryland ACC Tournament	W 81–69	22–6	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, N.C.
March 4, 1978	No. 15	vs. Wake Forest ACC Tournament	W 85–77	23–6	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, N.C.
March 12, 1978*	No. 8	vs. Rhode Island NCAA East First round	W 63–62	24–6	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, N.C.
March 17, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 20 Pennsylvania NCAA East Regional semifinal	W 84–80	25–6	Providence Civic Center  Providence, R.I.
March 19, 1978	No. 7	vs. Villanova NCAA East Regional Final	W 90–72	26–6	Providence Civic Center  Providence, R.I.
March 25, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 6 Notre Dame NCAA Final Four	W 90–86	27–6	Checkerdome  St. Louis, Mo.
March 27, 1978*	No. 7	vs. No. 1 Kentucky NCAA Championship	L 88–94	27–7	Checkerdome  St. Louis, Mo.
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source: Duke Athletics[2][3]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

No one from the men's basketball team was selected in the 1978 NBA draft. However, Jim Spanarkel was drafted 16th overall in the 1979 NBA draft. Also, Mike Gminski was picked 7th overall in the 1980 NBA Draft, and Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard were picked 28th and 78th in the 1981 NBA draft, respectively.^[4]