I think he has a better chance of having his jersey retired than Shavlik Randolph does.
He's no Brian Bersticker, though
I dunno how much stats actually play in here. JJ scored a ton because the team's offense was built to get him open shots. I'm not saying he's not a GREAT offensive player, he's actually one of favorite dukies ever, but he's still more of a pure shooter than a complete offensive player. If you want to go off pure offensive ability, I gotta go with Christian Laettner. Laettner was a nightmare of a matchup because he was 6'11 and had an unbelievable shooting touch for a big man. He could post you up with his back to the basket game, he could face you up and drive past you or shoot over you, he was just unstoppable. He also had a nasty competitive attitude too.
I think he has a better chance of having his jersey retired than Shavlik Randolph does.
He's no Brian Bersticker, though
A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
---Roger Ebert
Some questions cannot be answered
Who’s gonna bury who
We need a love like Johnny, Johnny and June
---Over the Rhine
Some numbers from the goduke stats database ...
Johnny scored 18 pts/35 minutes as a frosh
Johnny scored 20 pts/33 minutes as a senior (his minutes went down over career)
JJ scored 15 pts/30 minutes as a frosh
JJ scored 27 pts/37 minutes as a senior
Ferry scored 22.6 pts/33 minutes as a senior
Laettner scored 20 pts/30 minutes one year; 21.5 pts/32 minutes another
Two guys who seemed to me to be pretty good scorers:
Maggette scored 10.6 pts/17.7 minutes. That's a pace better than Dawkins' and JJ's 1:2 frosh pace.
Also, Will Avery scored 15 pts/31 minutes as a sophomore; on pace with Johnny and JJ's frosh paces.
It's amazing to me that JJ averaged 27 pts/gm as a senior without being able to drive on people consistently. I suppose he got a few extra points at the end of games shooting free throws but still, what an amazing feat.
With regards to the Harrison Barnes comparisons, I wonder if Austin is stronger than Barnes mentally. He's always described as a "killer" by scouts. It seems that he has that drive/confidence/ego that Christian had. When you combine that kind of mental game with his physical skills, the sky's the limit.
I know Barnes has hit some big-time shots but he seems a bit introverted/deferring to me. He kind of reminds me of Chris Webber in the sense that they are super-talented and sometimes act the part of a gangsta but they never seem totally comfortable in the spotlight, leading a team.
Hmm. My memory of his senior year is different than yours. The leap in his game from junior to senior year as I recall was his new ability to attack the rim. This is what led to so many foul shots. It also is what led to our pain in the last tournament game when he was hammered so much on drives and no longer got the calls.
Art Heyman averaged 25 ppg for three seasons, without a shot clock or a three-point shot.
Just saying.
No one mentioned Austin's defense. We all know that he won't be on the floor as much if his defense isn't solid. Kyrie came in with the whole package and might have been our leading freshman scorer of all time had he been healthy all season.
The best possible scenario for Duke is that Kyrie come back and play a year with Austin. That would be a backcourt the likes of which would become legendary.
I would have to give that question an unequivocal NO. To be the best scorer, you would need to play 4 seasons. I seriously doubt, given what we have seen of Rivers already, that he will be at Duke for 4 years.
Now if you asked "Could he be the best scorer?" Then I would say, possibly -- if he stayed 4 years.
I don't think a freshman Austin Rivers will be the best scorer in Duke history, but I disagree that you have to play for four years to earn that title. Kyle had more career points than Nolan, but Nolan was a better "scorer" in their junior and senior years. Likewise, Jason Williams was a better scorer than both of them, but stayed only three years. Would you exclude him from the greatest scorer in Duke history because of that?
On a different note, I'm hesitant to use the term scorer when talking about Austin Rivers (or Kyrie for that matter) because it makes them seem too one dimensional. When I hear scorer, I think of guys like Allen Iverson or Tracy McGrady, who score a lot of points, but need a lot of shots to do it and don't always make their teammates better because of it. On a college level, I'd put Jimmer Fredette, Adam Morrison, and Steph Curry in this group as well. (I'm not saying those guys didn't help their teams or win games with that style, only that sometimes scoring a lot of points comes at the expense of the team as a whole.) If the team is better off with Austin scoring 20, while taking a ton of shots, then I'm all for it, but if Duke is better with him scoring an efficient 15 PPG with 4-5 assists and solid defense, I'd take that every day of the week.
pretty sure the OP meant "best scorer, post college career included." For instance, MJ was easily the best scorer to ever play for UNC, but he didn't play 4 years. How will Austin do in the NBA? Nobody knows for sure. He could go on to become the best offensive player to ever play at Duke, or he might not. We haven't seen him play in college. I personally think Grant Hill was THE greatest talent to ever play in a Duke uniform, but he's not necessarily a record holder for a ton of stats at Duke.
I was actually only thinking about Austin next year at Duke, but it is another interesting question that you pose. And of course, how you define "scorer" can be pretty varied and subjective, which makes the discussion all the more interesting. I certainly wouldn't limit the criteria to statistics. We have to also consider efficiency, how many different ways a player can score, context of era and team, etc.
And I don't want people to get too worked up about ignoring the team concept and the priority of winning over individual accolades. This is just for fun, since we are fans after all. The coaches will take care of all the important stuff.
I would have to agree that JJ's senior year really was pretty amazing. Not only did he get to the rim more but his mid range game became unstoppable. I always think of the game vs Texas when he put up 41 and could not be stopped. The shots he was taking were fade aways, off screens, etc. So I would definitely add JJ senior year to the list of unstoppable players but I guess the LSU game seems to dispel that notion.
I hope Rivers becomes one of the best scorers in Duke history and leads teams to multiple National Championships.
But speculation about him becoming "the best scorer ever" reminds me of Hank Aaron's prediction that Brad Komminsk would be a super star.
There's a nice article up on espn's recruiting page comparing the current crop of McDonald's kids to their NBA counterparts. Austin was compared to Kobe and once again, that word "killer" comes up. Maybe this is some good karma coming our way since Kobe's always saying how he wish he could have played a season for coach K at Duke.
And Quinn is compared to Darren Collison and Marshall to Aldrich. Not bad.