100 Greatest College Basketball Players of All-Time

[bludvlman]

http://stories.icerocket.com/content...etball-players

There is one particular Duke Blue Devil missing. You know the ACC's all-time leadiing score, NCAA all-time 3 point and foul shooter. Yet TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut make the cut. Also no way Hurley is the second best Duke player.

My top 10 players
1. David Thompson
2. Bill Walton
3. Lew Alcindor
4. Pistol Pete
5. Christian Laettner
6. Bill Russell
7. Larry Bird
8. Oscar Robinson
9. Magic Johnson
10. Bill Bradley

My top 10 Duke Players
1. Christian Laettner
2. JJ Redick
3. Johnny Dawkins (most important Duke player)
4. Grant Hill
5. Jason Williams
6. Bobby Hurley
7. Danny Ferry
8. Shelden Williams (yes he is, most underrated b/c JJ's attention)
9. Art Heyman
10. Gene Banks

[mgtr]

I think the link is broken -- just get garbage.

[willywoody]

G-man would've whooped Shel if they both met in their prime. Elton Brand would, too.

[yancem]

http://stories.icerocket.com/content...etball-players

There is one particular Duke Blue Devil missing. You know the ACC's all-time leadiing score, NCAA all-time 3 point and foul shooter. Yet TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut make the cut. Also no way Hurley is the second best Duke player.

My top 10 Duke Players
1. Christian Laettner
2. JJ Redick
3. Johnny Dawkins (most important Duke player)
4. Grant Hill
5. Jason Williams
6. Bobby Hurley
7. Danny Ferry
8. Shelden Williams (yes he is, most underrated b/c JJ's attention)
9. Art Heyman
10. Gene Banks

I'm not sure how you justify putting JJ number 2 on your list. If you are basing it on his scoring record then by that logic Jason Williams should be ranked higher since he scored 2079 points in his 3 years vs JJ's 1805 during his first 3. Had Jason stuck around for his senior year he would have easily passed JJ's 2769 career points. Jason also won one at least one NPY award as a sophomore and was unanimous NPY his junior year. Oh and he won a NC.

[speedevil]

http://stories.icerocket.com/content...etball-players

There is one particular Duke Blue Devil missing. You know the ACC's all-time leadiing score, NCAA all-time 3 point and foul shooter. Yet TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut make the cut. Also no way Hurley is the second best Duke player.

My top 10 players
1. David Thompson
2. Bill Walton
3. Lew Alcindor
4. Pistol Pete
5. Christian Laettner
6. Bill Russell
7. Larry Bird
8. Oscar Robinson
9. Magic Johnson
10. Bill Bradley

My top 10 Duke Players
1. Christian Laettner
2. JJ Redick
3. Johnny Dawkins (most important Duke player)
4. Grant Hill
5. Jason Williams
6. Bobby Hurley
7. Danny Ferry
8. Shelden Williams (yes he is, most underrated b/c JJ's attention)
9. Art Heyman
10. Gene Banks

Here's an interesting note: there are 8 Duke players in the top 100.

any other schools have more?

[lifelongdevil]

it seems the list loses its quality near the end slightly. Andrew Bogut? Juan Dixon?...comical at best.

[sagegrouse]

http://stories.icerocket.com/content...etball-players

There is one particular Duke Blue Devil missing. You know the ACC's all-time leadiing score, NCAA all-time 3 point and foul shooter. Yet TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut make the cut. Also no way Hurley is the second best Duke player.

My top 10 players
1. David Thompson
2. Bill Walton
3. Lew Alcindor
4. Pistol Pete
5. Christian Laettner
6. Bill Russell
7. Larry Bird
8. Oscar Robinson
9. Magic Johnson
10. Bill Bradley

My top 10 Duke Players
1. Christian Laettner
2. JJ Redick
3. Johnny Dawkins (most important Duke player)
4. Grant Hill
5. Jason Williams
6. Bobby Hurley
7. Danny Ferry
8. Shelden Williams (yes he is, most underrated b/c JJ's attention)
9. Art Heyman
10. Gene Banks

In the first list, do you think you could find room for Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West (and Oscar ROBERTSON)? Pistol Pete never won anything in his life -- but I understand he ends up on a lot of these lists.

In the second, the consensus NPOYs at Duke were:
1. Heyman, 1963
2. Laettner, 1992
3. Brand, 1999
4. Battier, 2001
5. Williams, J., 2002
6. Redick, 2006

The players who won at least one NPOY honor were:
1. Groat, 1952
2. Dawkins, 1986
3. Ferry, 1989

Do you think you could find room for Brand, Battier and Groat on your team? The only one on your list I would challenge is Gene Banks.

sagegrouse

[zingit]

I think it's silly that they have a handful of women's players on the list. I don't mean this as a knock on women's basketball; I just mean that the men and women should be on separate lists. And if you're going to put them on the same list, then the women probably deserve a few more--you could make a case for, say, Candace Parker. But I really don't think you can compare women's basketball players with men's basketball players that easily.

[bludvlman]

In the first list, do you think you could find room for Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West (and Oscar ROBERTSON)? Pistol Pete never won anything in his life -- but I understand he ends up on a lot of these lists.

In the second, the consensus NPOYs at Duke were:
1. Heyman, 1963
2. Laettner, 1992
3. Brand, 1999
4. Battier, 2001
5. Williams, J., 2002
6. Redick, 2006

The players who won at least one NPOY honor were:
1. Groat, 1952
2. Dawkins, 1986
3. Ferry, 1989

Do you think you could find room for Brand, Battier and Groat on your team? The only one on your list I would challenge is Gene Banks.

sagegrouse

man I screwed the pooch by missing Battier I thought I had him on the list.
I didn't put Brand b/c he only played two years.

Pistol Pete averaged 42 points per game the highest in college history. Yet his HS records were broken by Shavlik Randolph

Its only a top ten I couldn't put 15 guys in my top 10!

[bludvlman]

I'm not sure how you justify putting JJ number 2 on your list. If you are basing it on his scoring record then by that logic Jason Williams should be ranked higher since he scored 2079 points in his 3 years vs JJ's 1805 during his first 3. Had Jason stuck around for his senior year he would have easily passed JJ's 2769 career points. Jason also won one at least one NPY award as a sophomore and was unanimous NPY his junior year. Oh and he won a NC.

The reason is JJ is the most unique player I've ever seen in college. His ability to hit 35 feet jumpers alone made him impossible to guard. Jason Williams was great and probably would have the ACC scoring record but JJ's uniqueness sets him alone.

That said both Jason and JJ belong on the top 100.

How are TJ Ford and Jameer Nelson on this list and JJ isn't.

[PURDUE7]

JJ...really?

Groat
Gminski
Brand

P.S. Its Oscar Robertson.

[bludvlman]

JJ...really?

Groat
Gminski
Brand

P.S. Its Oscar Robertson.

I should have put the G-Man there. I will replace Banks with him.

As I said I didn't include Brand b/c I feel that he wasn't at Duke long enough.

[bludvlman]

G-man would've whooped Shel if they both met in their prime. Elton Brand would, too.

Maybe so but Shelden is the school's all-time rebounder and shot blocker plus he is two time national defensive player of the year. I think he is Duke's most underrated player.

[bludvlman]

http://stories.icerocket.com/content...etball-players

There is one particular Duke Blue Devil missing. You know the ACC's all-time leadiing score, NCAA all-time 3 point and foul shooter. Yet TJ Ford and Andrew Bogut make the cut. Also no way Hurley is the second best Duke player.

My top 10 players
1. David Thompson
2. Bill Walton
3. Lew Alcindor
4. Pistol Pete
5. Christian Laettner
6. Bill Russell
7. Larry Bird
8. Oscar Robinson
9. Magic Johnson
10. Bill Bradley

My top 10 Duke Players
1. Christian Laettner
2. JJ Redick
3. Johnny Dawkins (most important Duke player)
4. Shane Battier
5. Jason Williams
6. Grant Hill
7. Bobby Hurley
8. Danny Ferry
9. Shelden Williams
10. Mike Giminski

I added Battier in, can't believe I forgot him and G-Man also.

[willywoody]

Maybe so but Shelden is the school's all-time rebounder and shot blocker plus he is two time national defensive player of the year. I think he is Duke's most underrated player.

i agree that on defense he was probably the best big man Duke's ever had.
problem was/is, he really has a limited offensive game.

[jv001]

I added Battier in, can't believe I forgot him and G-Man also.

I would insert Jeff Mullins for S. Williams. Rest of your Duke list looks good to me. On your college all-time list, I think you definitely got the #1 player correctly. DT was the very best I ever saw play the college game. Go Duke!

[jimsumner]

"I would insert Jeff Mullins for S. Williams"

As much as I like Jeff, he was never a consensus first-team All-American, which I think would be the minimum qualification here.

[jv001]

"I would insert Jeff Mullins for S. Williams"

As much as I like Jeff, he was never a consensus first-team All-American, which I think would be the minimum qualification here.

Mullins was not a consensus first-team All-American as you said Jim, but I was just listing my all-time Duke players. I started to list Tate Armstrong but that would have been stretching it. Mullins played in Art Heyman's shadow for awhile and probably kept him from getting more awards. To me I think Jeff was a better all-around player. Just my opinion. Go Duke!

[jimsumner]

FWIW, one ACC coach from that era told me that his team worried more about Mullins than Heyman. A pretty good tandem, I think we all agree.

For a season and a half, Tate Armstrong played at an exceptionally high level for Duke. But he didn't get it cranked up until his junior year and then he missed half of his senior year after breaking his right wrist. So, looking at the full body of work, it's hard to place him in the highest reaches of the Duke pantheon.

But coming between Bubas and the revival of the program in 1978, Tate's contributions have largely been forgotten. Too bad.

Same can be said for Randy Denton. Try this on for size. Three-time All-ACC. Career scoring average, 20.4 ppg. Career rebounding average, 12.7 rpg (best in Duke history). Yet, Denton is rarely mentioned as an all-time Duke great.

[Slackerb]

I can only laugh when lists like this don't have David Thompson in the top 5...