Ideal Duke All-Time Starting Lineup
- Thread starter bignish
- Start date
Just about every one you guys are gonna put up is ideal. Seems we have some variation of this thread every year. That's okay because we grow in great players every year. Just in case no one throws this one up here's mine.
PG Hurley
SG Dawkins
C Gminski
PF Laettner
SF G. Hill
My apologies to about 30 other Duke players that could easily be on this team. OFC
PG Hurley
SG Dawkins
C Gminski
PF Laettner
SF G. Hill
My apologies to about 30 other Duke players that could easily be on this team. OFC
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Prepare to have your duke fandom questioned for leaving off st. Hurley
J will
Kyrie
Reddick
Parker
Laettner(and yes I just threw up
Well I threw in one guy from each decade K has been coach so it made it impossible to have 3 guys in the 90s.
I like the idea of one from each title team.
Tyus Jones
Jason Williams
Grant Hill
Kyle Singler
Laettner
Luckily we have those back to back teams and you can have a two-piece of Laettner, Hurley or Hill.
Tyus Jones
Jason Williams
Grant Hill
Kyle Singler
Laettner
Luckily we have those back to back teams and you can have a two-piece of Laettner, Hurley or Hill.
I saw a thread on the TDD where your all-time team couldn't include any players that had their jersey retired, no OADs, no current players. So with that said:
Nolan Smith
Jim Spanarkel
Mike Dunleavy
Gene Banks
Mason Plumlee
One player from each championship:
Jason Williams
Jon Scheyer
Justise Winslow
Grant Hill
Christian Laettner
Nolan Smith
Jim Spanarkel
Mike Dunleavy
Gene Banks
Mason Plumlee
One player from each championship:
Jason Williams
Jon Scheyer
Justise Winslow
Grant Hill
Christian Laettner
No retired jersey, no OAD and not current?
Chris Duhon
Jim Spanarkel
Gene Banks
Mark Alarie
Elton Brand
Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are so close to being on here, but Gene and Mark were just better.
Chris Duhon
Jim Spanarkel
Gene Banks
Mark Alarie
Elton Brand
Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are so close to being on here, but Gene and Mark were just better.
I like this but I might put in Tommy Amaker. Once he showed up Dawkins, Alarie, Henderson and yes Bilas really benefited from his pure point guard skills and he really played that slap the floor D. In fact he picked up a national defensive player of the year award. Why do we tend to forget or at least let them fade into memory guys like Amaker, Alarie and David Henderson? Maybe that would make a good thread. The forgotten. OFC
No current or OAD or jersey retired
Scheyer
Nolan
Dunleavy
Singler
Boozer
Championship
Hurley
Scheyer
Justice
Battier
Laettner
B Hurley
J Williams
J Winslow
K Singler
C Laettner
Or I could put Grant Hill in place of Hurley.
C'mon people. Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow only make sense if you're eight or so.
Duke has been playing basketball a long time.
Long enough to have nine different players named national POY, 13 ACC POYs and 16 consensus first-team All-Americans.
Makes sense to me to start with those guys.
As opposed to a list of greatest players that automically excludes the greatest players.
Rumor has it that Duke even played basketball before Mike Krzyzewski showed up.
Imagine that.
Even if you're just going with a subset of guys from the title teams, then Jones would be trumped by Hurley, Jason Williams and Scheyer and Winslow by Grant Hill, Battier and Singler.
Duke has been playing basketball a long time.
Long enough to have nine different players named national POY, 13 ACC POYs and 16 consensus first-team All-Americans.
Makes sense to me to start with those guys.
As opposed to a list of greatest players that automically excludes the greatest players.
Rumor has it that Duke even played basketball before Mike Krzyzewski showed up.
Imagine that.
Even if you're just going with a subset of guys from the title teams, then Jones would be trumped by Hurley, Jason Williams and Scheyer and Winslow by Grant Hill, Battier and Singler.
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I guess I'll just wait for jimlsumner to tell me what I'm allowed to think.
Nope. I respect your right to express your opinion.
Just as I expect you to respect my right.
As an aside, better Duke shooting guards than Thomas Hill who do not have a retired jersey and were not OAD; Bob Verga, Jim Spanarkel, Trajan Langdon, Nolan Smith, Seth Curry.
In my opinion.
I'll come up with my lists later this evening.
That's only fair.
Here's my all-time Duke teams.
Based solely on Duke career, minimum three years at Duke (sorry Elton).
First Team
C.Laettner
F.Battier
F.Heyman
G.Dawkins
G.Redick
Second Team
C.Gminski
F.G.Hill
F.Ferry
G.J. Williams
G.Groat
Third Team
C.S.Williams
F.Mullins
F.Singler
G.Verga
G.Hurley
Fourth Team
C.Denton
F.Alarie
F.Banks
G.Langdon
G.Scheyer
Fifth Team
C.Lewis
F.Marin
F.Carrawell
G.Duhon
G.Smith
Why five teams? Why not? And it's fun. But it also suggests the depth of Duke's tradition
And we could go much, much deeper. Vince Taylor, Tommy Amaker, Mason Plumlee, Gerald Henderson, Phil Henderson, David Henderson, Steve Vacendak, Tate Armstrong, Ronnie Mayer, Seth Curry, Ed Koffenberger, Bob Fleisher, Steve Wojciechowski, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Thomas Hill, Gary Melchionni, DeMarcus Nelson, Quinn Cook, Joe Belmont, Daniel Ewing, Chris Collins,Jeff Capel, Howard Hurt, Doug Kistler, Bill Mock, Ryan Kelley.
Et. al.
We're 50 deep without talking about the one-and-dones and the two-and-dones and the transfers like McLeod, D. Jones and Hood (Curry meets my three-year threshold).
You get my drift. A lot of really, really good players have played at Duke.
Based solely on Duke career, minimum three years at Duke (sorry Elton).
First Team
C.Laettner
F.Battier
F.Heyman
G.Dawkins
G.Redick
Second Team
C.Gminski
F.G.Hill
F.Ferry
G.J. Williams
G.Groat
Third Team
C.S.Williams
F.Mullins
F.Singler
G.Verga
G.Hurley
Fourth Team
C.Denton
F.Alarie
F.Banks
G.Langdon
G.Scheyer
Fifth Team
C.Lewis
F.Marin
F.Carrawell
G.Duhon
G.Smith
Why five teams? Why not? And it's fun. But it also suggests the depth of Duke's tradition
And we could go much, much deeper. Vince Taylor, Tommy Amaker, Mason Plumlee, Gerald Henderson, Phil Henderson, David Henderson, Steve Vacendak, Tate Armstrong, Ronnie Mayer, Seth Curry, Ed Koffenberger, Bob Fleisher, Steve Wojciechowski, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Thomas Hill, Gary Melchionni, DeMarcus Nelson, Quinn Cook, Joe Belmont, Daniel Ewing, Chris Collins,Jeff Capel, Howard Hurt, Doug Kistler, Bill Mock, Ryan Kelley.
Et. al.
We're 50 deep without talking about the one-and-dones and the two-and-dones and the transfers like McLeod, D. Jones and Hood (Curry meets my three-year threshold).
You get my drift. A lot of really, really good players have played at Duke.
True Jim, but essentially saying things like "Tyus Jones is only relevant if you're 8 (aka a naive idiot)" is really demeaning toward a player who talent and impact-wise was just as important as the all time greats such as Hurley, Williams and Amaker.
I've read your work, I really enjoy it. I own a couple of your books. And your posts on here are extremely valuable. But give us some credit as fans to choose players we feel that we would like to make a part of a team, especially based on parameters such as one per title team only, or not OAD (which obviously excluded Tyus and Justise), or not on the current team, or not with a retired jersey.
We are all fully aware there was basketball before Coach K post Olympics. And there will basketball long after this board has dried up.
Excellent list by the way.
I've read your work, I really enjoy it. I own a couple of your books. And your posts on here are extremely valuable. But give us some credit as fans to choose players we feel that we would like to make a part of a team, especially based on parameters such as one per title team only, or not OAD (which obviously excluded Tyus and Justise), or not on the current team, or not with a retired jersey.
We are all fully aware there was basketball before Coach K post Olympics. And there will basketball long after this board has dried up.
Excellent list by the way.
Agreed. I should have chosen my words more carefully. Mea culpa.
But I do think a lot of younger posters really don't have much of a historical perspective in these matters. Even the early K years and guys like Dawkins and Alarie seem to be increasingly forgotten.
And we'll have to agree to disagree on our perceptions of Ty Jones' overall value relative to that of people like Bobby Hurley or Jason Williams. It's just hard to have that kind of cumulative impact if you only stick around for one season.
YMMV.
But I do think a lot of younger posters really don't have much of a historical perspective in these matters. Even the early K years and guys like Dawkins and Alarie seem to be increasingly forgotten.
And we'll have to agree to disagree on our perceptions of Ty Jones' overall value relative to that of people like Bobby Hurley or Jason Williams. It's just hard to have that kind of cumulative impact if you only stick around for one season.
YMMV.
True. I didn't see Duke play basketball prior to 1987. I was born in '83. It was on me to go back and research guys that came before and listen to stories and read the annals of Duke lore to gain a perspective. And I would hope every other Duke fan would do the same. If not, no harm done.
And I do agree that cumulatively, Tyus isn't on Jason or Bobby's tier. Not in terms of all-time stats and respect.
But his one team won a title, he was MOP of that tournament, and he was arguably the MVP of that season for Duke. So while he doesn't necessarily have a long legacy, he has one and it is impressive. If only he had stayed a while.
But his one team won a title, he was MOP of that tournament, and he was arguably the MVP of that season for Duke. So while he doesn't necessarily have a long legacy, he has one and it is impressive. If only he had stayed a while.
What a great history lesson here. I've been trying for years to point out Duke players of the past. I guess it's a great blessing to be a Duke fan for so long because I and all the other old Duke have the advantage of seeing all these players Jim has listed play the game. I will not let these old players be forgotten. OFC
For that particular list, I was trying to mix it up w/ guys who hadn't played together, so Carrawell eliminated Trajan, and I'd already used the 2010 players, so no Nolan. Additionally, I was limiting myself to K era (Banks was a stretch for me, as I only remember as early as '82-'83), so no Spanarkel or Verga, and 4-year guys, so no Seth. Seth is also dwarfed by Mason and Ryan even in his senior year for me, so I may underrate him.
I've heard different things on Verga: Was he a scoring PG or a SG who ran the O? And I get Verga and Spanarkel confused, their being before my time and all.
Dat Verga was a SG who imo is the best shooter we have ever had.He took the same degree of difficulty shots that JJ did without having to run off screens.If there had been a three point line in his era I think that he would have had 2000 points in slightly over eighty games and probably have the highest per game average in our history.He more than any other player in our history should have his jersey in the rafters followed closely by Banks and Alarie
He could shoot the eyes out of it and he would shoot it from anywhere. Wish all of you guys could have seen him. OFC