Later this week, one of the greatest point guards to ever play college basketball, Bobby Hurley, will be inducted to Duke's athletic hall of fame. Some of the younger Dukies might not have had a chance to watch this guy play, but when #11 was on the floor, we were pretty hard to beat. He's easily the best pure point to ever wear the uniform.
I saw a pretty cool video on GoDuke.com about his induction with commentary from Coach K:
http://www.goduke.com//ViewArticle.d...CLID=205265364
And another video with some sick Hurley highlights. You just don't see guys make passes like this anymore. Now, it's all about super athletic and scoring point guards ala Derrick Rose and John Wall. I wish there were more guys like Bobby still playing. He just made everyone better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWehBWJWGKY
Enjoy!
Amen, and amen! Hurley had amazing court vision and passing ability. He was a great competitor, too.
To me, the greatest sports comeback story ever is Hurley against UNLV. Going from having an upset stomach (to put it mildly) in 1990 to being the hero in 1991 against a juggernaut like UNLV. He was amazing and deserves the HOF.
~rthomas
Should have gotten in a long time ago!
I loved to watch him. Those no look passes were awesome. He could shoot from anywhere on the floor. He was a great leader. I kind of thought Paulus was going to be the second coming of Hurley. I liked J Will, Kyrie, William Avery, Wojo, but Hurley was definitely my favorite.
Hurley meant a lot to me growing up. Really happy for him.
http://www.dukehoopblog.com/2011/09/...e-meant-to-me/
I loved watching him play defense. Bobby's d made it a long night on the other teams pg
Just watched the YouTube video. How good would Miles be with someone like Hurley running the point. Dang!
Bobby was a freshman my senior year. I had the privilege of playing ball with him several times. The amazing thing about Bobby is that he did not look remarkable when he came out to play in a pick-p game; if you did not know who he was you probably would not have necessarily picked him that high when selecting teams. But he was so remarkable to play with. At that point he was not such a reliable shooter and it was not a given that he would when a game by himself. But if he had a shooter and a post player, he never ever lost.
I was privileged to be the post player a number of times and I still remember the flavor of his passes. It is tough to describe. Somehow he gave you passes that naturally led you towards making the correct move without really thinking about it. I would find myself going up for a lay-up without hardly realizing I had received the ball. I have played a lot of ball over the years, with some very good players, but have never experienced passing at that level since. He just made you so much better, which really is the sole criterion for a point guard.
Coach K mentioned that Bobby was the best player he has had in terms of pushing the ball. I thought that skill would translate so well to the NBA as 2-4 extra seconds every possession to run your offense would be a tremendous advantage for NBA athletes; his terrible accident seemed to rob him of that edge.
I am glad to see him get his recognition with the HOF. As I have watched the parade of former point guards take their place on the Duke bench, I always hoped to see the best one of all there teaching the new generation. It looks like my wish will not come true, but I wish Bobby the best always as he always gave us his best.
I think Hurley was the best passer off the dribble in Duke history. I can't ever remember a player who could
penetrate and find open players better than Hurley. In fact, one of the problems with him early on was his
tendency to get in the lane without knowing what he was going to do, and then throwing passes that were
either incredible or way off the mark. It was once he took care of the latter (in about the middle of his sophomore
year) that he became the great point guard we remember. I doubt if we will ever see his equal as a passer in a
Duke uniform again.