Philadelphia Freedom

Duke’s appearance in Philadelphia for tonight’s game with Temple is stoking memory banks and spawning retrospectives from Independence Hall to the Triangle.

Last Sunday night, prompted by a question from a reporter from Penn’s student newspaper, Mike Krzyzewski spoke glowingly about the city’s rich history of college basketball.

The Big Five schools – Penn, Temple, Villanova, St. Joseph’s and LaSalle – all play Division I, all take the game seriously and all used to gather for games at the Palestra. At least one of the Big Five teams has made the NCAA Tournament for 34 consecutive years.

While Duke will play Temple at the Wells Fargo Center, which the 76ers and Flyers call home, Krzyzewski appreciates the Palestra from his playing and coaching days at Army in the 1960s and 70s.

“It’s a place where when you walk in and there’s nobody in it, you feel like something good has happened here,” Krzyzewski said. “Kind of like our place. There have been a lot of great, great games in that arena.”

Of course, Krzyzewski and Duke have special memories from another Philadelphia basketball venue, even though that building no longer exists. We’re approaching the 20-year anniversary of the Duke-Kentucky NCAA Tournament East Regional final in March 1992 that was decided in overtime by Grant Hill’s pass and Christian Laettner’s famous shot.

A book written by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, The Last GreatGame, is available for sale tomorrow. It chronicles the years leading up to Duke-Kentucky to add perspective and breaks down the game in-depth. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy. It’s a terrific read.

Meanwhile, in Philly, Daily News columnist Dick Jerardi takes the opportunity of Duke’s presence to pay tribute to the career leader in Division I men's basketball coaching wins.

As for tonight's game with Temple, it's a chance for Duke point guard Quinn Cook to continue his fine play against a higher level of competition.