View Poll Results: What are Duke's 5 most accomplished recruiting classes?

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  • 1948 Groat et al.

    2 2.67%
  • 1959 Heyman et al.

    5 6.67%
  • 1960 Mullins et al.

    6 8.00%
  • 1977 Banks et al.

    5 6.67%
  • 1982 Dawkins et al.

    47 62.67%
  • 1985 Ferry et al.

    2 2.67%
  • 1988 Laettner et al.

    30 40.00%
  • 1989 Hurley et al.

    10 13.33%
  • 1990 Hill et al.

    19 25.33%
  • 1994 Langdon et al.

    0 0%
  • 1997 Battier et al.

    54 72.00%
  • 1999 J. Williams et al.

    47 62.67%
  • 2002 JJ et al.

    29 38.67%
  • 2006 Scheyer et al.

    8 10.67%
  • 2007 Singler et al.

    17 22.67%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Halifax, Nova Scotia

    Top 5 Duke Recruiting Classes

    Top 5 Duke Recruiting Classes

    I really like this year’s recruiting class and think it might have a great impact and accomplish a lot in their time at Duke, though I don’t know how many of them will make huge contributions this year. I started wondering whether this might be one of Duke’s best recruiting classes ever and if this class might be one of the five most accomplished at Duke ever. The short answer is I doubt it.

    There are many ways of measuring success of a recruiting class including rankings, players drafted in the NBA and NBA success, etc. but I thought I would look more specifically at accomplishments at Duke. I have listed many of Duke’s top recruiting classes below and all of the most recent ones (thanks to http://www.rscihoops.com/ ) I also listed some of each class’ accomplishments (points scored, POYs, championships (ACC, regional, national) and bolded retired jerseys to help you in your decision making. I hope this might lead to some discussion during these summer days as we wait for November. Feel free to correct me on recruiting classes as well, as I just went by the first year a player was listed on the roster from http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/seasons/

    *1948 (soph) Dick Groat, Dayton Allen, Dick Crowder, John Engberg, Bill Fleming, Red Klpan, Dick Latimer 3783 pts in 3 years
    (produced MLB all-star, national player of the year)

    *1959 (soph) Art Heyman, Fred Cox, Fred Schmidt, Scott Williamson 2414 pts in 3 years
    National player of the year, ACC POY, ACC champs, Final Four

    *1960 (soph) Jeff Mullins, Jay Buckley, Ray Cox, Tom Gebbie, Roger Hamilton, Buzzy Harrison, Bob Jamieson, Bill Ulrich 3648 pts in 3 years
    ACC champs x 2, Final Four x 2, ACC POY

    1962 (soph) Jack Marin, Steve Vacendak, Bill Zimmer, Phil Allen 2293 pts in 3 years
    ACC POY, ACC champs x2, Final Four x 2

    1963 (soph) Bob Verga, Jim Liccardo, Stuart McKaig, Bob Riedy 2680 pts in 3 years
    ACC champs x 2, Final Four x 2

    1975 Jim Spanarkel, Cameron Hall, Steve Gray, Scott Goetsch, Harold Morrison 2800 pts
    ACC champs, Final Four

    1976 Mike Gminski 2323 pts
    ACC POY, ACC champs x 2, Final Four

    *1977 Gene Banks, Kenny Dennard, Jim Suddath 3403 pts
    ACC champs x 2, Final Four

    *1982 Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, David Henderson, Jay Bilas, Weldon Williams 7450 pts
    National player of the year, ACC champs, Final Four

    *1985 Danny Ferry, Quin Snyder, John Smith, George Burgin 3976 pts
    National player of the year, ACC POY x 2, ACC champs x 2, Final Four x 3

    *1986 Alaa Abdelnaby, Phil Henderson, Robert Brickey 3833 pts
    ACC champs, Final Four x3

    *1988 Christian Laettner, Brian Davis, Crawford Palmer 3607 pts
    National player of the year, ACC POY, ACC champs, National Champs x 2 (Jr., Sr.), Final Four x 4

    *1989 Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill, Billy McCaffrey 4016 pts
    All-time NCAA assist leader, ACC champs, National Champs x2 (So., Jr.), Final Four x 3

    *1990 Grant Hill, Antonio Lang, Marty Clark, Kenny Blakeny, Christian Ast 3924 pts
    Retired jersey, ACC POY, NDPOY, ACC champs, National Champs x 2 (Fr., So.), Final Four x 3

    1991 Cherokee Parks, Erik Meek 2256 pts
    ACC champs, National Champs (Fr.), Final Four x 2

    1993 Jeff Capel, Greg Newton, Joey Beard, Carmen Wallace 2714 pts
    Final Four

    *1994 Trajan Langdon, Steve Wojciechowski, Ricky Price, Todd Singleton 3723 pts
    NDPOY, ACC champs (Trajan), Final Four

    1996 Chris Carrawell, Nate James, Mike Chappel 2974 pts
    ACC POY, ACC champs x 2, Final Four

    *1997 Shane Battier, Elton Brand, William Avery, Chris Burgess 4200 pts
    Retired jersey, National Player of the year X 2, ACC POY x 2, NDPOY x 3, ACC champs x 3, National Champs (Sr.), Final Four x 2

    I listed all of the years here from 1998 as RSCI data is available.

    1998 <NR> Corey Maggette (16)
    Final Four, ACC champs

    *1999 <1> Jason Williams (3), Carlos Boozer (8), Casey Sanders (16), Mike Dunleavy (26) 5292 pts
    Retired jersey, National Player of the year X 2, ACC champs x 4, National Champs (So.), Final Four

    2000 Chris Duhon (7), Reggie Love, Andre Sweet


    Team rankings begin at RSCI in 2001

    2001 <NR> Daniel Ewing (29)
    Final Four, ACC champs x 3
    *2002 <1> Shelden Williams (8), J.J. Redick (11), Shavlik Randolph (14), Sean Dockery (21), Michael Thompson (30) 5950 pts
    Two retired jerseys, National Player of the year x 2, ACC POY, NDPOY x 2, ACC champs x 3, Final Four
    2003 Luol Deng (2) 558 pts
    Final Four

    2004 <17> DeMarcus Nelson (18), Dave McClure (71) (just ahead of Joakim Noah) 1614 pts
    ACC champs x 3

    2005 <2> Josh McRoberts (1), Greg Paulus (13), Eric Boateng (39), Marty Pocius (53), Jamal Boykin (60) 2120 pts
    ACC champs x 2

    *2006 <3> Gerald Henderson (10), Lance Thomas (20), Brian Zoubek (25), Jon Scheyer (28) 4548 pts
    ACC champs x 2, National champs (Sr.)

    *2007 <3> Kyle Singler (5), Nolan Smith (19), Taylor King (24) 4489 pts
    ACC POY, ACC champs x 3, National champs (Jr.)

    2008 <11> Elliot Williams (15), Olek Czyz (66), Miles Plumlee (81) 591+ pts
    ACC champs x 3, National champs (So.)

    *2009 <8>, note Andre not included in this ranking> Ryan Kelly (14), Mason Plumlee (18), Andre Dawkins (NR) 1143+ pts
    ACC champs x 2, National champs (Fr.)

    2010 <9> Kyrie Irving (2), Josh Hairston (32), Tyler Thornton 287+ pts
    ACC champs

    2011 <2> Austin Rivers (2), Michael Gbinijie (28), Quinn Cook (31), Alex Murphy (49), Marshall Plumlee (61)

    The last recruiting class that has not had a player become at least a third team all ACC was in 1998 when Corey Maggette went pro after his first year. The 2008, 2009 or 2010 classes have not yet had an all-ACC performer yet. 2011 was the fifth top 3 recruiting class Duke has had since 2001 (11 years.) This does not include the top rated 1997 and 1999 classes. Not bad. So which are the top 5 Duke recruiting classes since 1948?
    Last edited by NSDukeFan; 08-12-2011 at 11:30 AM. Reason: Thanks to Hurley3 for letting me correct the poll.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    I think 4 (82, 97, 99, 02) stand out above the rest and had trouble picking a 5th, but I went with 89.

    -Jason "great idea! Fabulous research" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    San Francisco
    The Brand/Battier/Avery/Burgess class was one of the best, IMHO. Not only were the players good, but it signaled to the rest of the ACC and the world that K was starting a string of recruiting coups.

    From 1997 through 2005, there was probably no better recruiter than K and Co. I'm not sure what was going on behind the scenes, but it certainly seemed like K had switched strategies to attract more athleticism and front court strength.

    I'm also not sure if we will see a better string of frontcourt players than Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer, and Shelden Williams. Let's hope we do.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I think 4 (82, 97, 99, 02) stand out above the rest and had trouble picking a 5th, but I went with 89.

    -Jason "great idea! Fabulous research" Evans
    I agree with the assessment on the top 4. Those were absolutely monster recruiting classes, and the results back it up. For the fifth, I'd say each of the '88, '89, '90, '06, and '07 classes can make an argument. It's tough to choose one among them though, because the success of those 5 classes relied heavily on the success of the classes right around them (the '88-'90 classes combined for the backbone of the '91-'92 titles while the '06-'07 classes were the core of the '2010 championship run).

  5. #5

    recruiting class

    Just a couple of notes before you vote:

    -- the 1982 Class (Dawkins, Alarie and company) is the highest scoring (in terms of career points scored) recruiting class in NCAA history. I believe (but I'm not sure) that it's the only single class to produce two 2,000-point scorers (although Singler/Smith ALMOST did it).

    -- The 1987 Class of Brand, Battier, Burgess and Avery is the only class in NCAA history to produce two consensus national players of the year (Brand in 1999; Battier in 2001)

    -- the 2002 Class is the only class in ACC history to produce two consensus first-team All-Americans in the same year (Redick and Williams). That class is also unique in that (as far as I know) it's the only time in Krzyzewski's tenure that he got every player he targeted ... without exception.

    Of the Bubas classes, I'd give the edge to the Jeff Mullins class. It produced three three-year starters -- Mullins, Jay Buckley and Buzzy Harrison.

    It you are talking about program changing classes, then Heyman, Banks and Ferry (as great as the '02 class was, Ferry was the first time K beat Dean head-to-head for a prospect) and the Williams-Boozer-Dunleavy Class (coming at a time when defections ripped the program) would be my most influencial. I was thinking of including 1997, but remember, Duke won the ACC regular season in the year before they arrived with a young team and finished No. 10 in the nation.

  6. #6
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    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I think 4 (82, 97, 99, 02) stand out above the rest and had trouble picking a 5th, but I went with 89.

    -Jason "great idea! Fabulous research" Evans
    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    I agree with the assessment on the top 4. Those were absolutely monster recruiting classes, and the results back it up. For the fifth, I'd say each of the '88, '89, '90, '06, and '07 classes can make an argument. It's tough to choose one among them though, because the success of those 5 classes relied heavily on the success of the classes right around them (the '88-'90 classes combined for the backbone of the '91-'92 titles while the '06-'07 classes were the core of the '2010 championship run).
    I had 82, 97 and 99 as my top 3 and struggled a bit after that. I was impressed with the 2 titles for '88, '89 and '90 but of course each of those classes helped the others. I may have underrated '02 with the 2 All-Americans and only class with two retired jerseys (so far?) I agree that '06 and '07 also have to be considered.

  7. #7
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    Feb 2007
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    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Just a couple of notes before you vote:

    -- the 1982 Class (Dawkins, Alarie and company) is the highest scoring (in terms of career points scored) recruiting class in NCAA history. I believe (but I'm not sure) that it's the only single class to produce two 2,000-point scorers (although Singler/Smith ALMOST did it).

    -- The 1987 Class of Brand, Battier, Burgess and Avery is the only class in NCAA history to produce two consensus national players of the year (Brand in 1999; Battier in 2001)

    -- the 2002 Class is the only class in ACC history to produce two consensus first-team All-Americans in the same year (Redick and Williams). That class is also unique in that (as far as I know) it's the only time in Krzyzewski's tenure that he got every player he targeted ... without exception.

    Of the Bubas classes, I'd give the edge to the Jeff Mullins class. It produced three three-year starters -- Mullins, Jay Buckley and Buzzy Harrison.

    It you are talking about program changing classes, then Heyman, Banks and Ferry (as great as the '02 class was, Ferry was the first time K beat Dean head-to-head for a prospect) and the Williams-Boozer-Dunleavy Class (coming at a time when defections ripped the program) would be my most influencial. I was thinking of including 1997, but remember, Duke won the ACC regular season in the year before they arrived with a young team and finished No. 10 in the nation.
    The 2002 class almost got two 2000 point scorers as well (with Redick/Williams). The 1999 class would have had an outside shot at three 2000 point guys if for some crazy reason Williams, Boozer, and Dunleavy would have all returned for their senior years (that team, with a freshman Redick and Williams, would have been crazy).

  8. #8
    The question on the poll reads "What are the top 5 most accomplished classes?" I think "accomplished" is an important distinction from "best" or "most important."

    1988 made the Final Four every year, with two national championships, and had one of the best players in the sport's history. Lock.

    1997 had two national players of the year, and Battier winning the 2001 national championship. Lock.

    The rest is a bit harder, but I'd argue 2002 deserves to be there for the individual school accomplishments (Duke's high scorer, rebounder, shot-blocker, etc). 1999 for composing the bulk of (in my opinion) the best team in school history.

    I'd also like to remind everyone that we won a national championship a year ago. I still find Scheyer, Singer, and Smith to be criminally underrated in the mind of many Duke fans. When you have four national championships and you're looking for the five most accomplished recruiting classes, every championship should be represented. I picked Singler's class over Scheyer's because they have more individual awards.

    I do agree with the sentiment that 1982 was Duke's most important class, but objectively speaking they don't have as many accomplishments as some of the others. Neither do any of the pre-K classes.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Wander View Post
    I do agree with the sentiment that 1982 was Duke's most important class, but objectively speaking they don't have as many accomplishments as some of the others. Neither do any of the pre-K classes.
    I'd include "overall impact on Duke basketball" to be part of a class's accomplishments. In that respect there's no denying '82.

  10. #10
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    82, 97, and 99 are all no-brainers.

    For the last two I went with 02 (only class to produce 2 retired jerseys) and 06. 06 was a very sentimental pick, but with 3 starters on a National Championship team and a 4th who left after a very accomplished junior year I think they deserved it.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by NSDukeFan View Post
    *1994 Trajan Langdon, Steve Wojciechowski, Ricky Price, Todd Singleton 3723 pts
    NDPOY, ACC champs (Trajan), Final Four
    The 1994 recruiting class did not make a Final Four. It's the only class between 1981 and 2004 that didn't.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    The 1994 recruiting class did not make a Final Four. It's the only class between 1981 and 2004 that didn't.
    I was wondering how to account for that. Because I included Trajan with this class and he was in the final four in 1999, I said that someone from that class made a Final Four.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    The 1994 recruiting class did not make a Final Four. It's the only class between 1981 and 2004 that didn't.
    Well, Trajan did. He was the only person from his recruiting class to win an ACC Championship as well. Admittedly, counting redshirts is a gray area.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by NSDukeFan View Post
    I said that someone from that class made a Final Four.
    Ah, I see. I should have read the small print.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA

    Just Brand.

    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    -- The 1987 Class of Brand, Battier, Burgess and Avery is the only class in NCAA history to produce two consensus national players of the year (Brand in 1999; Battier in 2001)
    Battier was not a consensus National Player of the Year, as his teammate Jason Williams won the NABC POY award in 2001.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Battier was not a consensus National Player of the Year, as his teammate Jason Williams won the NABC POY award in 2001.
    I believe he was consensus, just not unanimous.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Battier was not a consensus National Player of the Year, as his teammate Jason Williams won the NABC POY award in 2001.
    NSDuke fan got it right ... the NCAA recognizes one player every year as the consensus national player of the year -- he's the player who wins the most recognized POY awards. Sometimes that player is unanimous, but it's like consensus first-team All-American -- the NCAA recognizes a consensus national player of the year and a five-man consensus first-team All-America team every year, even if the vote is split. The ones who get the most awards are regarded as consensus.

    Battier won every recognized (there are a lot of unrecognized awards) NPOY award except the NABC that Jason won. Jason can then claim to be a two-time national player of the year, but only one-time consensus. JJ Redick is also a two-time national player of the year (but only one-time consensus).

    Nine Duke players have won recognized national player of the year awards in 11 seasons (Williams and Redick twice). Of that number , seven are listed as consensus picks by the NCAA -- Art Heyman in 1963, Danny Ferry in 1989 (that's a rare year when the NCAA lists TWO consensus POY picks -- Ferry and Arizona's Sean Elliott split the major awards evenly), Christian Laettner in 1992, Elton Brand in 1999, Shane Battier in 2001, Jason Williams in 2002 and JJ Redick in 2006. There should be an eighth -- but the NCAA doesn't recognize consensus NPOY before 1956. However, Dick Groat won ever recognized NPOY award in 1951 (UPI, Look Magazine and Helms Foundation ... he was also the leading vote-getter on the AP All-America team, although the AP didn't official select a POY in '51).

    Johnny Dawkins won the Naismith Award in 1986, which is a big one, but it was the only one he won.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Johnny Dawkins won the Naismith Award in 1986, which is a big one, but it was the only one he won.
    Trivia time-- who was the consensus POY in 1986. Without looking it up, I am betting it was Walter Berry.

    -Jason "who was the last player to be consensus POY twice in a row? Was it Ralph Sampson?" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  19. #19
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    Feb 2007
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    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    77, 82, 97, 99 and 2006. 82, 97 and 99 are no brainers as mentioned. You youngins have no idea how important getting Tinkerbell (and Kenny Dennard) was to the program in 1977 and what they did for it at that time. And 2006 because, even with the early departure of the best player a year early, they won a National Championship their senior year, with each of the three remaining players starting and playing key rolls.
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  20. #20
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    Coach K would not be where he is without Dawkin, Alarie, Bilas, Hendu, etc.

    Basketball did not start at Duke with K -- but K started at Duke with the '82 class.

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