Ranking the title teams

[em0526]

I saw a video on the ACC Network ranking the Duke title teams. Their order was:
1) 2001
2) 1992
3) 2010
4) 2015
5) 1991

I love all 5 of these teams. I thought 1992 would be the clear winner in this argument, but the announcer said that a 2001 Battier could contain a 1992 Laettner. Maybe - but who from 2001 guards Grant Hill? A 2010 v 2015 game would also be fun to watch. Could Smith/Scheyer contain Cook/Jones? How would Singler match up with Winslow?

[NM Duke Fan]

I saw a video on the ACC Network ranking the Duke title teams. Their order was:
1) 2001
2) 1992
3) 2010
4) 2015
5) 1991

I love all 5 of these teams. I thought 1992 would be the clear winner in this argument, but the announcer said that a 2001 Battier could contain a 1992 Laettner. Maybe - but who from 2001 guards Grant Hill? A 2010 v 2015 game would also be fun to watch. Could Smith/Scheyer contain Cook/Jones? How would Singler match up with Winslow?

Some very tough calls to make there, that is for sure! I don't have much time right now, but my order would be more like this roughly:

1 92
2 01
3 15
3 91
5 10

What jumps out at me is the difficulty of guarding Jah and Winslow for most anybody. but maybe this is what is known in the trading world as the "recency factor."

[OldPhiKap]

Until someone shows me that they can beat Hurley, Grant and Christian -- they win.

But love all five equally.

[Edouble]

I saw a video on the ACC Network ranking the Duke title teams. Their order was:
1) 2001
2) 1992
3) 2010
4) 2015
5) 1991

I love all 5 of these teams. I thought 1992 would be the clear winner in this argument, but the announcer said that a 2001 Battier could contain a 1992 Laettner. Maybe - but who from 2001 guards Grant Hill? A 2010 v 2015 game would also be fun to watch. Could Smith/Scheyer contain Cook/Jones? How would Singler match up with Winslow?

LOL, Battier had trouble containing Loren Woods. Are you kidding me?

[flagellaman]

2001...1992...2001....1992....ooooo, hard to say.

If you will, examine the rotation of the two teams:

1992 - Laettner, Davis, G Hill, T Hill, Hurley, Parks and Lang were the top seven rotation players, Clark the 8th.

2001 - Battier, Boozer, Dunleavy, Williams, Duhon, James, and by necessity, Sanders and Love and Christensen.

Many remember the 1992 team going wire-to-wire ranked #1 in the polls, which in itself, is an outstanding achievement. The 1992 team had 5 players averaging double figures, Davis 11.2, Hurley 13.2, G Hill 14, T Hill 14.6 and Laettner 21.5.

The 2001 team also had 5 players average double-figures, James 12.3, Dunleavy, 12.6, Boozer 13.3, Battier 19.9 and Williams 21.6. Duhon averaged 7.2, but with 4.5 assists and 2 steals per game.

Both teams averaged 18-ish assists per game. 2001 averaged 38 rebounds to 34 for 1992. Even though 1992 averaged 43.4% on 3's, 2001 shot 2.5 times more 3's at a 38.5% clip. 2001 FG% was 48.1%, but 1992 blistered at 53.6%.

2001 averaged way more blocks and steals than 1992. And 2001 average 90.7 points per game, 1992 averaged 88.0.

If I were deciding based on both inside and outside firepower (whatever firepower means), I think I would go with 2001. 5 players on the 2001 team attempted at least 122 3's, while 1992 only had one exceed 100 3's (Hurley's 140, while T Hill 97 and Laettner 91 were the only other significant threats from 3's). How do you night in and night out defend a team that kills you both inside and outside?

But if my angle is efficiency, I think I would go with 1992. 1992 had 100 more made free-throws (and a higher percentage) as well higher percentage shooting in general.

In case you forgot, 2001 bounced around the top 4 all season, starting at 2 and ending at 1.

I think if you rolled the names of the top seven/eight in the rotation to a random sample of sports fan, there's more name recognition of the 2001 roster making it to the NBA than the 1992 team.

[gurufrisbee]

92
91
01
15
10
16

[ice-9]

92
91
01
15
10
16

I don't know, that 2016 team is awful good. First team to go undefeated since Indiana. Beat all opponents in the NCAA tournament by double digits too -- including 20 points over the Cheats in the championship game.

[duke blue brewcrew]

2001...1992...2001....1992....ooooo, hard to say.

If you will, examine the rotation of the two teams:

1992 - Laettner, Davis, G Hill, T Hill, Hurley, Parks and Lang were the top seven rotation players, Clark the 8th.

2001 - Battier, Boozer, Dunleavy, Williams, Duhon, James, and by necessity, Sanders and Love and Christensen.

Many remember the 1992 team going wire-to-wire ranked #1 in the polls, which in itself, is an outstanding achievement. The 1992 team had 5 players averaging double figures, Davis 11.2, Hurley 13.2, G Hill 14, T Hill 14.6 and Laettner 21.5.

The 2001 team also had 5 players average double-figures, James 12.3, Dunleavy, 12.6, Boozer 13.3, Battier 19.9 and Williams 21.6. Duhon averaged 7.2, but with 4.5 assists and 2 steals per game.

Both teams averaged 18-ish assists per game. 2001 averaged 38 rebounds to 34 for 1992. Even though 1992 averaged 43.4% on 3's, 2001 shot 2.5 times more 3's at a 38.5% clip. 2001 FG% was 48.1%, but 1992 blistered at 53.6%.

2001 averaged way more blocks and steals than 1992. And 2001 average 90.7 points per game, 1992 averaged 88.0.

If I were deciding based on both inside and outside firepower (whatever firepower means), I think I would go with 2001. 5 players on the 2001 team attempted at least 122 3's, while 1992 only had one exceed 100 3's (Hurley's 140, while T Hill 97 and Laettner 91 were the only other significant threats from 3's). How do you night in and night out defend a team that kills you both inside and outside?

But if my angle is efficiency, I think I would go with 1992. 1992 had 100 more made free-throws (and a higher percentage) as well higher percentage shooting in general.

In case you forgot, 2001 bounced around the top 4 all season, starting at 2 and ending at 1.

I think if you rolled the names of the top seven/eight in the rotation to a random sample of sports fan, there's more name recognition of the 2001 roster making it to the NBA than the 1992 team.

I loved this post, brings back some great memories of the past! For me, I think the deciding factor here is Christian Laettner. Arguably the greatest college basketball career of the modern era. To your point about efficiency, Laettner would be hell do deal with both inside and out. I think he would get Boozer in foul trouble pretty quickly inside, and Battier would have a hard time stopping him outside. Hill I believe wins the battle against Dunleavy and everything else is potentially a wash. There is an interesting discussion to be had about the '91 v. '15 teams. I would love to see an analysis of that match-up.

My thoughts on how to rank the five are (wow this is hard!)

1. '92
2. '01
3. '15
4. '91
5. '10

[NM Duke Fan]

I loved this post, brings back some great memories of the past! For me, I think the deciding factor here is Christian Laettner. Arguably the greatest college basketball career of the modern era. To your point about efficiency, Laettner would be hell do deal with both inside and out. I think he would get Boozer in foul trouble pretty quickly inside, and Battier would have a hard time stopping him outside. Hill I believe wins the battle against Dunleavy and everything else is potentially a wash. There is an interesting discussion to be had about the '91 v. '15 teams. I would love to see an analysis of that match-up.

My thoughts on how to rank the five are (wow this is hard!)

1. '92
2. '01
3. '15
4. '91
5. '10

I see we have the same order! And in my case I also felt Christian was just too much, and Grant also would have been a challenge. The 91-15 matchup indeed is intriguing, and it was so difficult to call that I called it a tie with both listed as 3 in my list posted above. If strongly pressed on the issue, I guess I would give a very slight edge to 15, due to Jah and Winslow being a bit physically stronger/more muscular.

[duke blue brewcrew]

I see we have the same order! And in my case I also felt Christian was just too much, and Grant also would have been a challenge. The 91-15 matchup indeed is intriguing, and it was so difficult to call that I called it a tie with both listed as 3 in my list posted above. If strongly pressed on the issue, I guess I would give a very slight edge to 15, due to Jah and Winslow being a bit physically stronger/more muscular.

Agreed. Jah would be defenseless on the perimeter against Laettner, so the '15 defense would really have to attack the passing lanes to prevent Christian from getting the ball as much as possible. Christian has shown he can beat big physical players like Jah - see LSU's Shaquille O'Neal. Hill v Winslow is a VERY interesting match-up. Hurley/McCaffery v. Jones/Cook also incredibly intriguing. That leaves the 4 match-up which is a variable. Davis for the '91 team, and does '15 go small with M. Jones or traditional with Jefferson? I can only assume that bench depth is another factor to consider.

[Edouble]

Agreed. Jah would be defenseless on the perimeter against Laettner, so the '15 defense would really have to attack the passing lanes to prevent Christian from getting the ball as much as possible. Christian has shown he can beat big physical players like Jah - see LSU's Shaquille O'Neal. Hill v Winslow is a VERY interesting match-up. Hurley/McCaffery v. Jones/Cook also incredibly intriguing. That leaves the 4 match-up which is a variable. Davis for the '91 team, and does '15 go small with M. Jones or traditional with Jefferson? I can only assume that bench depth is another factor to consider.

Winslow wins this matchup easily, with Hill believing that Justise is the greatest defender ever at Duke. Grant fails to score or get a rebound in the game.

[NM Duke Fan]

Winslow wins this matchup easily, with Hill believing that Justise is the greatest defender ever at Duke. Grant fails to score or get a rebound in the game.

Very funny! I guess that would be Justise for his enthusiastic comment during the moment, one which he will never be able to live down...

[MCFinARL]

I don't know, that 2016 team is awful good. First team to go undefeated since Indiana. Beat all opponents in the NCAA tournament by double digits too -- including 20 points over the Cheats in the championship game.

Yet another poster who got lost on the way to the Optimist thread. I like the way you think, though.

[fuse]

Any list that does not have the 1991 team as first is flawed.
I pull the Star Wars / Empire Strikes Back correlary as you can't have the second without the first.

[sagegrouse]

I'm a little late to this party, but I have a question: "Do you rank your children or grandchildren?"

[Reilly]

I'm a little late to this party, but I have a question: "Do you rank your children or grandchildren?"

All the time. And I don't think they care for it all that much, but like I tell them: "sometimes the truth hurts."

[Kdogg]

Honestly, I can not see how 1992 isn't number one on everybody's list. That team was a machine and would wipe the floor with 2015, 2010 and 1991. The 2001 team would give them a game but 92 wins. I have to agree with previously post order of:
1) 1992
2) 2001
3) 2015
4) 1991
5) 2010 - I love this team but the gap is pretty big between them and the next on the list.

[-jk]

Honestly, I can not see how 1992 isn't number one on everybody's list. That team was a machine and would wipe the floor with 2015, 2010 and 1991. The 2001 team would give them a game but 92 wins. I have to agree with previously post order of:
1) 1992
2) 2001
3) 2015
4) 1991
5) 2010 - I love this team but the gap is pretty big between them and the next on the list.

I like your '92 story. Not so sure about your '10 basement... Those guys were solid. Clutch, even. (If not glamorous...)

-jk

[weezie]

^^^ what jk said. Clutch is the word. That's why I think Kyle could have defended Winslow very effectively. Kyle was such a superb blanket defender, just a tormenter. Justise would have had to work pretty hard for his shots. But on talent I'll take hhhmmmm 2001-2015 toss up.

Isn't this a fun thread?!!!!!

[wilson]

^^^ what jk said. Clutch is the word. That's why I think Kyle could have defended Winslow very effectively. Kyle was such a superb blanket defender, just a tormenter. Justise would have had to work pretty hard for his shots. But on talent I'll take hhhmmmm 2001-2015 toss up.

Isn't this a fun thread?!!!!!

Here's another fun question...what if we gave "at large bids" to the three best non-title teams and played an 8-team tournament? I'd be willing to bet that consensus for the at-large teams would be '99, '86, and '66 (or maybe '78), but how do you seed it?