SI's All-Decade College BB Team

[roywhite]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...=si_topstories

Some familiar names.

Jason Williams
JJ Redick
Shane Battier
Tyler Hansbrough
Emeka Okafaor

This should create a stir among the anti-Duke fans.

Maybe Steph Curry belongs in there somewhere?

[dukelifer]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...=si_topstories

Some familiar names.

Jason Williams
JJ Redick
Shane Battier
Tyler Hansbrough
Emeka Okafaor

This should create a stir among the anti-Duke fans.

Maybe Steph Curry belongs in there somewhere?

Wow - three Duke starters and coached by Ol' Roy. Who was on the all decade team in the previous decade? Had to be a few Duke players on that as well.

[shoutingncu]

The links at the bottom of the article are pretty cool, too.

Highlights and Lowlights:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...hts/index.html

Signature Moments:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...nts/index.html

[nmduke2001]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...eam/index.html

Three Devils in the starting five...

[UrinalCake]

Hard to argue with that list; all of the guys either won a national championship or had amazing individual achievements. Durant is a guy I might have left off, since he was only in school for a year and didn't do much in the tourney, but I'm hard-pressed to think who I'd replace him with. Maybe Curry.

[uh_no]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...eam/index.html

Three Devils in the starting five...

I find it amusing that just about every list of best games/moments in the decade, whether just basketball or overall feature the huskies twice....losing both times.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

That's got to be a tough list to come up with. I can't say I disagree with any of his picks. Gotta like the 3 Dukies and 4 ACC players in the starting 5 though!

[Richard Berg]

The lists look about right to me.

[juise]

The links at the bottom of the article are pretty cool, too.

Highlights and Lowlights:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...hts/index.html
[/URL]

Biggest recruiting bust: Shav

Ouch. I'm not sure how the 14th highest rated recruit could be the bust of the decade (I realize he was rated higher in the fall of his senior year). The guy ranked ahead of him couldn't qualify for UCLA and then spent one year at San Diego State. How is that more valuable (to UCLA or San Diego St.) than what Shav gave Duke? I would never let Michael Jordan put on one of my t-shirts... expectations just go crazy.

[huied]

I find it funny that the headline is that Hansblah leads the team when it's dominated by Duke players. UNC bias anyone?

[Acymetric]

I find it funny that the headline is that Hansblah leads the team when it's dominated by Duke players. UNC bias anyone?

Not really, the they say he leads the team because, at least according to them he was the best player. It may be UNC bias to say he's the best player (I don't think it is, there are legitimate arguments for him among several others), but once you say that it only makes sense to say he leads the team.

[huied]

Not really, the they say he leads the team because, at least according to them he was the best player. It may be UNC bias to say he's the best player (I don't think it is, there are legitimate arguments for him among several others), but once you say that it only makes sense to say he leads the team.

Gotcha. I actually didn't read his section, it's still too painful to read about him.

I also don't think he was the best player among the class - I don't even think he was the best player on his team. UNC was clearly a different team with Lawson off the floor. I can't say the same for Hansblah.

[dukelifer]

Biggest recruiting bust: Shav

Ouch. I'm not sure how the 14th highest rated recruit could be the bust of the decade (I realize he was rated higher in the fall of his senior year). The guy ranked ahead of him couldn't qualify for UCLA and then spent one year at San Diego State. How is that more valuable (to UCLA or San Diego St.) than what Shav gave Duke? I would never let Michael Jordan put on one of my t-shirts... expectations just go crazy.

I would go with Kelvin Torbert. He was the number 2 player out of high school in 2001. But if you look closely at that group- not many of them really did much at any level. Hodge and Lee had decent college careers and only Lee is really a consistent NBA player from that group. Interesting.

Eddy Curry
Kelvin Torbert
Dejaun Wagner
Tyson Chandler
Ousmane Cisse
Kwame Brown
Julius Hodge
Desanga Diop
Rick Rickert
David Lee
Jawad Williams
Carlos Hurt
David Harrison

[Bostondevil]

Much as I love Duke, I am not exclusive when it comes to watching games. I am a college hoops junkie to the core. Sure, football on Thanksgiving is nice, but the best part of the week is the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout. I watched both the Michigan State/Gonzaga 3OT and the Syracuse/UConn 6OT games live. The whole games.

[JasonEvans]

I've been having an interesting discussion via email with some friends about the choice of UNC as Team of the Decade. I initially felt Carolina was a solid choice, but the more I think about it the more I feel it is a choice that reflects a strong bias toward the past few years versus looking at the big picture of the entire decade.

It is a pity the early-mid decade dominance by Duke did not translate into more Final Fours. I actually think Duke from 1998-2006 was as good a run as any team has had since the UCLA teams of the 1960. I am not talking only about NCAA tournament success, but about the whole package -- regular season, conference tourney, and NCAA tourney. We were freaking off the charts during that run... we just had an inordinate number of seasons end in shocking NCAA losses.

Sadly, it seems that NCAA success is all anyone cares about when reflecting on seasons and that is a shame. If Indiana, LSU, or the absurd UConn ref-stealing game turn out differently, it likely would have added greatly to Duke's post-season resume and given us a very strong case (IMO) for team of the decade.

It is also worth noting that we never had a "down" year this decade as compared to other Team of the Decade contenders. Our worst year, we still went 22-11. Carolina had a 3 year run where they failed to win 20 games each year. I see that as a big, big black mark against them -- especially when you consider how bad one of those years was. Michigan St had 2 sub-20 win seasons and was bounced from the NCAA tourney in the first round 3 times this decade. Don't even get me started on Florida. Aside from their back-to-back titles (which is impressive) they missed the NCAA tourney twice and did not advance to the Sweet 16 any other times. Heck, they only won their DIVISION of the SEC three times this decade. They are not even in the conversation.

Actually, if I take off my Duke blinders for a moment, I think the Team of the Decade should probably be Kansas. Their worst season was 24-9. They won the Big 12 regular season 7 of the 9 years and were 2nd the 2 years they did not win it. They made 3 Final Fours and 2 more Elite Eights-- that is really impressive. And they did it while not missing a beat after getting the shaft from their longtime coach mid-decade. They close out the decade as the clear #1 team in the land too, presumably on their way to another deep post-season run.

Being truly objective and looking at the entire body of work -- not just national titles won and not just the past 4 or 5 years -- I think the list should be: Kansas, Duke, and then UNC.

--Jason "Duke is a lot closer to Kansas than UNC is to Duke... if you catch my drift" Evans

[mapei]

Yeah, but in the media and in most fans' minds - even here, frequently - it is about the tournament. I don't like that, but Google the phrase "come March" in the basketball context and you'll be overwhelmed with hits.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Like the choices for team of the decade. That said, I really think that Hansblah is the player of the decade. It makes sense: broke the ACC record, went to multiple FFs, led his team in scoring for 4 straight years, won a NC, always played hard - he has a similar profile to Battier, except much less defense and more offense. And considering that more people like offense, it makes sense to put him ahead.

The Shav pick, while it hurts, also makes some sense. It was an enormous recruiting battle with Duke vs UNC at the forefront. To many, he was the "prize" of our amazing recruiting class. When he didn't fulfill expectations, everyone was shocked (I was a freshman at Duke in 2003-2004, when Shav just didn't improve and the student body gave up on him and moved to Luol and JJ).

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

If JJ won an NC he would have been the player of the decade.

[JasonEvans]

Like the choices for team of the decade.

Are you saying you like my choices or that you like the choice SI made?

If JJ won an NC he would have been the player of the decade.

Concur. Pity. Not sure which hurt worse, the UConn game or the LSU game. Grrrrr.

-Jason

[yancem]

If JJ won an NC he would have been the player of the decade.

Had Duke won the nc in 2002 or if Jason Williams had come back for his senior year, he would have been player of the decade. Of course there are several what if scenarios that could have lead to other pod selections.

I'm not sure about May as a reserve. His selection is based almost entirely on the championship game. I would say that Baxter for MD, Boozer for Duke, Dunleavy for Duke, Lawson for UNC (heck maybe even Ellington for UNC) would be more deserving. There are probably some other non acc players but my mind is drawing a blank.

I kinda question Noah as well because his numbers were not that impressive but he did win two nc's so I guess you have to include someone from that team.