Greatest Duke Basketball Clutch Athlete Ever

[Verga3]

I stole this thread idea from the Off Topic board and Indoor66's great thread, "Greatest Clutch Athlete." Tiger, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, CHRISTIAN LAETTNER (thanks, CathyCA) among others get a mention. Check it out.

But, how about a Top 5 for Duke Basketball, all-time? This is a tough one, depending on what you think the word "clutch" means. I took a glance at the Duke Basketball statistics database and my head started hurting as I was trying to compare players' postseason (crunch time) stats with the overall numbers.

Please help on this...I've got Laettner there for sure, but who else, all-time?

At first blush, I've got:

Christian Laettner
Jim Spanarkel
Jason Williams
Johnny Dawkins
Shane Battier (defense counts at Duke)

The guys above were really, really good in big games, but my all-time clutch game (sorry, Christian) will always go to Fred Lind for his unfathomable performance in that sublime 87-86, 3-OT 1968 classic in Cameron (then Duke Indoor Stadium) against our special friends from Chapel Hill...because it's always better to beat Carolina...

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Please help on this...I've got Laettner there for sure, but who else, all-time?

At first blush, I've got:

Christian Laettner
Jim Spanarkel
Jason Williams
Johnny Dawkins
Shane Battier (defense counts at Duke)

The guys above were really, really good in big games, but my all-time clutch game (sorry, Christian) will always go to Fred Lind for his unfathomable performance in that sublime 87-86, 3-OT 1968 classic in Cameron (then Duke Indoor Stadium) against our special friends from Chapel Hill...because it's always better to beat Carolina...

Fred Lind had a great time, coming through in the clutch for sure. But Duke's all-time clutch player had GOT TO BE Christian Laettner. Two game winning NCAA tournament shots, highest scorer in the FF ever (well, he did go to 4 of them, but so did his classmates and they aren't the leading scorer, Christian is), best refuse to lose player we've ever had. Shane is a close second on that count.

[DevilCastDownfromDurham]

10-10 from the field, 10-10 from the line. Biggest NCAA game-winning shot in history. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never seen anyone close in terms of clutch performance in the college game.

[billybreen]

10-10 from the field, 10-10 from the line. Biggest NCAA game-winning shot in history. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never seen anyone close in terms of clutch performance in the college game.

Indeed. I assumed this thread would be "Second Greatest Duke Basketball Clutch Athlete Ever," as it should be.

[CathyCA]

I voted for him on the OT board as the greatest clutch athlete of all time, so I suppose that also counts as Duke's greatest clutch athlete:

Christian Laettner.

I even named my child after him.

[Ignatius07]

Agreed that it should be about the second-greatest clutch player, but I'm not sure how Jason Williams makes that list. As much as I love him, "clutch" to me implies not only making (a) big shot(s) at the end of a game, but on the biggest of stages. Remember, his last collegiate play was a missed free throw to tie...

[Orange&BlackSheep]

For me, not having Bobby Hurley on this list makes no sense. His "Damn, we're down five ... wait, down two!" pull up three-pointer against UNLV was as clutch as it gets. Think of all the end of game, ball-distribution decisions he made throughout his four years (with each year better than the previous one).

And I love JayWill as much as the next guy, but other than the "Gone in 50 Secs" game, I don't have memories of him as being extraordinarily clutch.

Orange&BlackSheep

[dukeENG2003]

Agreed that it should be about the second-greatest clutch player, but I'm not sure how Jason Williams makes that list. As much as I love him, "clutch" to me implies not only making (a) big shot(s) at the end of a game, but on the biggest of stages. Remember, his last collegiate play was a missed free throw to tie...

How many players could even PUT themselves at the line for a potential 4 pt play, team down 4 pts in the final seconds though?

I'm admittedly a big J-Wil fan though, I can understand where you're coming from, and I'd put Hurley ahead of him as well.

[Edouble]

How many players could even PUT themselves at the line for a potential 4 pt play, team down 4 pts in the final seconds though?

I agree. Getting himself into the situation in the first place, plus the Maryland game, plus the length of the court drive that got the ball up on the rim that Nate put in, in the 2001 ACC Tourney Final, make him clutch in my book. If Boozer had taken his time putting the ball in the basket after he got the rebound in the Indiana game, others might remember Jason Williams as more clutch.

Laettner, of course, is #1.

[ugadevil]

If Boozer had taken his time putting the ball in the basket after he got the rebound in the Indiana game, others might remember Jason Williams as more clutch.

I'm surprised Boozer didn't end up with a dislocated shoulder on that play with Jeffries trying so hard to pull his arms down.

[hurleyfor3]

Jason Williams over Hurley? You're not serious, are you?

[balkan boy]

For me, not having Bobby Hurley on this list makes no sense. His "Damn, we're down five ... wait, down two!" pull up three-pointer against UNLV was as clutch as it gets. Think of all the end of game, ball-distribution decisions he made throughout his four years (with each year better than the previous one).

Orange&BlackSheep

I'm with you, Orange&BlackSheep -- Laettner hit all the last second shots (and he deserves the top spot on this list), but I sure remember Hurley hitting a lot of clutch treys (and not just against UNLV) towards the end of games when it looked like the game might be just getting out of reach.

BalkanBoy

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

10-10 from the field, 10-10 from the line. Biggest NCAA game-winning shot in history. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never seen anyone close in terms of clutch performance in the college game.

"The Man Couldn't Miss"

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...3607/index.htm

[Uncle Drew]

Someone define "clutch". If by clutch you mean game winning baskets then it's all Laettner, all the time. And while he hit plenty of momentum changing shots there are a ton of Duke guys who fill that category.

Mike Dunleavy against Zona in 01 with his three's, particularly the one where he fakes the pass and nails it.

Shane Battier with his backhand tip in same game.

J Williams vs. MD in the miracle comeback hit several HUGE shots.

Chris Duhon against Wake on two seperate occassions had in your face dunks that I thought changed the game. And his drive / reverse layup to beat UNC in the Dean Dome wasn't too bad either.

It all depends on ones meaning of "clutch".

[Tom B.]

"The Man Couldn't Miss"

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...3607/index.htm

And it wasn't just that one game. You want clutch? Check out Laettner's career field goal and and free throw percentages in NCAA Regional Final games. In four career games with trips to the Final Four on the line, Laettner shot an utterly astonishing 91.17% (31-for-34) from the floor and 91.89% (34-for-37) from the free throw line (oh yeah, his team won all of those games, too). Kentucky was just the icing on the cake. Remember his 24 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman against Georgetown and Alonzo Mourning? Or the overtime buzzer-beater against UConn in 1990? The man absolutely owned the NCAA Regional Finals like no one before or since.

His Final Four performances weren't too shabby, either. There was his 28-point performance against UNLV in 1991, which included the two game-winning free throws with 12.7 seconds left. Fighting through exhaustion to post a double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds, including 12-for-12 from the free throw line) in the title game two nights later against Kansas. Shaking off a bad first half and coming back to score 19 in the 1992 title game against Michigan. He even played OK in the disastrous 1990 final against UNLV (15 points, 9 boards), to go along with the 19 and 14 he posted in the semifinal win over Arkansas.

As far as I'm concerned, the conversation begins and ends with Laettner and everyone else is fighting for a not-all-that-close second place.

[Uncle Drew]

And it wasn't just that one game. You want clutch? Check out Laettner's career field goal and and free throw percentages in NCAA Regional Final games. In four career games with trips to the Final Four on the line, Laettner shot an utterly astonishing 91.17% (31-for-34) from the floor and 91.89% (34-for-37) from the free throw line (oh yeah, his team won all of those games, too). Kentucky was just the icing on the cake. Remember his 24 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman against Georgetown and Alonzo Mourning? Or the overtime buzzer-beater against UConn in 1990? The man absolutely owned the NCAA Regional Finals like no one before or since.

His Final Four performances weren't too shabby, either. There was his 28-point performance against UNLV in 1991, which included the two game-winning free throws with 12.7 seconds left. Fighting through exhaustion to post a double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds, including 12-for-12 from the free throw line) in the title game two nights later against Kansas. Shaking off a bad first half and coming back to score 19 in the 1992 title game against Michigan. He even played OK in the disastrous 1990 final against UNLV (15 points, 9 boards), to go along with the 19 and 14 he posted in the semifinal win over Arkansas.

As far as I'm concerned, the conversation begins and ends with Laettner and everyone else is fighting for a not-all-that-close second place.

Thanks for the post Tom. You know I think we all tend to forget how freakin' awesome CL was for whatever reason. Those stats, though I am sure I have seen them many, many times are unbelievable. And I'm not really a stat kind of guy because I think they can be skewed to show various opinions. But those are just amazing. And correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't he still hold the best shooting percentage from three at Duke EVER??!! A lot of people remember how tall he was and tend to think most of his points came around the basket but the guy had eyes from long range too. Thak God he missed those freethrows against Sean Elliot's Arizona team his freshman year at the Meadowlands to keep him humble .

[Tom B.]

And correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't he still hold the best shooting percentage from three at Duke EVER??!!

I believe that's correct, at least among Duke players with 100 or more career three-point attempts. His career three-point shooting percentage is 48.46% (79-for-163). He took more than half of his career three-point attempts in his senior season, and he shot 55.67% (54-for-97) from three-point range that year. I'm pretty sure no other Duke player has surpassed either of those marks since then.

[duketaylor]

While I'll not disagree about CL, one of the clutchest performances I saw was Tinkerbell hitting a shot from the top of the key at the buzzer to tie unc, then scoring the winning basket in OT. Plus I was an impressionable J-frosh at the time, but unc was loaded in 1981 and that was about as clutch as it gets. Awesome game, then Bruce in Greensboro that night-what a feakin' day.

[Cali-Duke]

Am I the only one who thinks that Grant Hill should be added?

Hill took on the responsibility of the throwing the inbounds pass for "The Shot." He asked for it, and then through the perfect pass. He did this as an underclassmen. That is pretty clutch.

I guess you could argue that he didn't necessarily take over games, but he always seemed to make the right play when it was needed (especially his last season at Duke)

[Carlos]

10-10 from the field, 10-10 from the line. Biggest NCAA game-winning shot in history. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never seen anyone close in terms of clutch performance in the college game.

In terms of "something like it" I think you would have to include Bill Walton's 21 of 22 from the field in the 1973 National Championship victory over Memphis (Memphis State at the time). Walton's accomplishment deserves consideration because he took more shots and because he did it in a championship game.

But even with all of that you still have to give the nod to Laettner's performance not just because he was perfect from the field and the line (Walton was also 2-2 from the FT line) but also because Walton's feat was done on shots closer to the basket. Oh yeah, there was also that thing about the game winning shot.

First runner-up in my book would be Battier who made so many plays in that 2001 run.