Okay, YOUR Duke team

[killerleft]

My five:

Laettner
Dawkins
Ferry
Gminski
G. Hill

Bench (huh?)

Brand Heyman Spanarkel
Hurley Marin S. Williams
Mullins Groat Lewis
J. Williams Redick Verga
Battier Banks .... and about 10 others.

[DukeDevilDeb]

This is the All Time Duke team since I began watching Duke BBall in the late 90's

1ST TEAM

PG- Jason Williams
SG- JJ Redick
SF- Shane Battier
PF- Elton Brand
C- Shelden Williams

2ND TEAM

PG- Steve Wojo
SG- Trajan Langdon
SF- Mike Dunleavy
SF- Chris Carrawell
C- Carlos Boozer

...can you not have Christian in this group? The guy was one of the most consummate college players ever... And NO DAWKINS?

You must be 25 years old or under.

[DukeDevilDeb]

Carlos graduated in 3 years. Mike D. is the one who left unexpectedly and did not graduate with his class. He may have come back later to finish in summer school, but I have no information on that.

Jason Williams graduated in three years. Mike Dunleavy left after 3 but then came back and finished his degree; I know because I was one of his professors. Of all the people who have NOT come back to finish, the two most obvious are Elton and CARLOS. I love Boozer, but I would sure like to be able to claim him as a Duke grad. We're still working on it! He left after 3 years and has not come back to take even one class.

[DukeDevilDeb]

I'm only 23 so please excuse the modern-era bias

Jason Williams (best CBB player I've ever seen - again, pardon the bias)
Johnny Dawkins
Grant Hill
Christian Laettner
Elton Brand

You apparently watched Christian play, so how in the world can you say that Jason was the best ever? I pardon the fact that you are young, but Laettner did it all, including winning back to back championships and being the all-time scoring leader in the NCAA tournament. I love Jason, but I still think Christian (or Ferry as noted above) were better CBB players.

[DukieBoy]

this is going to be very biased to recent teams because im only 17 and haven't really seen much from 90 and 91 teams. However, i have read alot on them; enough to realize how great laettner, hurley, and hill were. So, my team would be:

PG- Bobby Hurley
SG- Jay(son) Williams
SF- Grant Hill
PF- Shane Battier
C- Elton Brand

Bench-
Christian Laettner (extra energy coming off the bench)
Chris Duhon (think he is under-rated and a great leader. he played in the acc tourney in 04 i believe with broken ribs).
J.J. Redick (an amazing shooter).

but is it funny that the majority have the all-time leading scorer in acc history on the bench for the all duke team. i guess that shows you how truly good duke is

[mapei]

Laettner
Brand
Hill
Hurley
Redick

S. Williams
Ferry
Battier
J. Williams
Dawkins

Wish I could find a spot for Duhon in there.
Old-guy team: Verga, Heyman, Mullins, G-Man, Groat

[jzp5079]

I'm counting a guy that would have gone to Duke and has given us great publicity for saying so

PG - Jason Williams
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Grant Hill
PF - Carlos Boozer
C - Elton Brand

Bench

J.D.
C.L.
J.J.R.
S.B.

but if your mad about the bryant thing, I suppose you could slide him out, slide J.D. up, and add Mr. Langdon to the list.

[ricks68]

PG: Hurley
SG: Dawkins
PF: Laettner
SF: Heyman
C: Brand

Bench: Mullins, Hill, Battier

[elvis14]

Starters
PG Hurley
SG Jason Williams
SF Grant Hill
PF Shane
C Laettner

Bench
Dawkins
JJ Redick
Brand

[TwoDukeTattoos]

Starters:

Laettner
Hurley
G Hill
Brand
Battier

2nd Team:

Dawkins
J Williams
Gminski
Maggette (sp?)
Dunleavy

[devildeac]

Patrick Davidson-I don't need anyone else, unless you let me have Jay Heaps for added depth...

[FerryFor50]

I'm counting a guy that would have gone to Duke and has given us great publicity for saying so

PG - Jason Williams
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Grant Hill
PF - Carlos Boozer
C - Elton Brand

Bench

J.D.
C.L.
J.J.R.
S.B.

but if your mad about the bryant thing, I suppose you could slide him out, slide J.D. up, and add Mr. Langdon to the list.

You could also add Shaun Livingston to that list.

[91.92.01DUKE]

What is your all time Duke lineup?

[markbdevil]

By position it would be:
PG - Bobby Hurley
SG - Jason Williams
C - Mike Gminski
PF - Christian Laettner
SF - Grant Hill

Favorites:
PG - Bobby Hurley
SG - Jim Spanarkel
C - Mike Gminski
PF - Gene Banks
SF - Shane Battier

[DevilDan]

Wow, that is a TOUGH ONE. It's like when they ask Dickie V. to pick his 64 teams for March Madness, and invariably, he picks at least "80" if you let him. The list so far is a great one .... BUT, I'd have to go back further and think ART HEYMAN and JEFF MULLINS, just ahead of BOB VERGA as great choices. J.J. REDICK was no slouch, and I get the idea that DICK GROAT had some skills in his day.

This ought to be fun, maybe it would be easier to list the 10 Best alltime. Can't argue with any of Markbdevil's guys.

[91.92.01DUKE]

I'll show my youth(I have little knowledge of any Duke team prior to 1991.), my original team was:


Jay Williams/ Bobby Hurley
JJ/ Carrawell?/ Trajan Langdon
Grant Hill/ Mike Dunleavy
Elton Brand/ Shelden/ Battier
Christian Laettner/ ?

[Uncle Drew]

A Duke fan could look at this from several angles, and for that matter since Duke has often played a G,G,G,F,F lineup you could make cases for addition or subtraction of a number of players.

I have to go with Mike Gminski at center, power forward is a toughie because Elton Brand and Boozer are beasts. I guess I go with Brand even though Carlos got a ring because Elton was POY. Wait I just thought about Danny Ferry, crap! Can I make him my power forward and Brand my small forward? And guard is even tougher, even if you chose a three guard line up. Grant Hill was a point forward, so I guess you could list him as a guard. And it would be hard picking anyone over Hurley at point, but J. Williams was IMO a much better scorer than Hurley. That of course would leave out Dawkins, JJ etc. Okay this sucks! How do you choose player A over B? And by position so many players have been able to play several positions for Duke.

Couldn't you have asked something easy like the 5 UNC players we hate the most!?

[Tappan Zee Devil]

A Duke fan could look at this from several angles, and for that matter since Duke has often played a G,G,G,F,F lineup you could make cases for addition or subtraction of a number of players.

I have to go with Mike Gminski at center, power forward is a toughie because Elton Brand and Boozer are beasts. I guess I go with Brand even though Carlos got a ring because Elton was POY. Wait I just thought about Danny Ferry, crap! Can I make him my power forward and Brand my small forward? And guard is even tougher, even if you chose a three guard line up. Grant Hill was a point forward, so I guess you could list him as a guard. And it would be hard picking anyone over Hurley at point, but J. Williams was IMO a much better scorer than Hurley. That of course would leave out Dawkins, JJ etc. Okay this sucks! How do you choose player A over B? And by position so many players have been able to play several positions for Duke.

Couldn't you have asked something easy like the 5 UNC players we hate the most!?

So - no Laettner???


also nobody before 1986???
There was a Duke before K

Groat, Heyman, Mullins, Verga, Lewis, Tinkerbell all were at least reasonably good players

Jay Buckley is probably the most underappreciated center in Duke history (he is not an all time great BUT he does have almost 1000 points in 3 years and a PhD in physics)


jim
T '70

[Uncle Drew]

So - no Laettner???


also nobody before 1986???
There was a Duke before K

Groat, Heyman, Mullins, Verga, Lewis, Tinkerbell all were at least reasonably good players

Jay Buckley is probably the most underappreciated center in Duke history (he is not an all time great BUT he does have almost 1000 points in 3 years and a PhD in physics)


jim
T '70

I said it's impossible to do. Leaving Laettner off would be insane as probably best Duke player ever. But you factor in how he was in the pros vs. Brand and Boozer and that complicates things too. I can't do it, I can't make an all-time team. There are too many bloody variables. How can you leave off Battier? And I know full well players from the Foster and Bubas era where great and would still be great today. The truth is the only player I am sure about is Gminski and that is only if using a true C,F,F,G,G line up. Because in many ways you could say he was the last dominant center Duke had. Every time I thought of one player I thought of three more at the same position. This was like asking which ex-wife I want to be deported!

Oh and I started watching Duke in 78, I know there was like before Coach K.

[DevilDan]

HA ! See what I mean? It's almost impossible to pick a best five -- biggest reason I stuck Heyman, Mullins & Verga in there is that I am an OLDIE, and a Devil fan since 1958. I temporarily forgot Johnny Dawkins -- a serious omission. Agreed, opinions about a "best 5" have a lot to do with the type of lineup Duke has put out there at different times over the years.

Another observation ... Jack Marin was one of the most solid and dependable Duke forwards ever, who went on to a longer and more productive NBA career than any of the four I mentioned above.

It "just ain't easy" -- but what great memories. Case in point, UCLA had bloodied Duke's nose in the national final, then I think the very next year they came east to play "US" in a sort of marquee doubleheader, one night in Durham, the next night in Charlotte. Sports Illustrated did a feature article on those games, with the cover "Blood on the Carolina Moon". I think the scores were something like 82-66 & 94-75 -- paybacks are tough. Marin kicked some major butt ... again, great memories from the PAST, HA !

No more war stories .. this is a great thread ... keep it going !