I hope K took notes.

[DukeHoopsGuru]

It's a different game since 2001 b/c all the best players have to come school for at least 1 year (soon to be 2). It's an athlete's game, and I think that's obvious. UCLA was a slightly better Duke on the West coast. They had 1 maybe 2 athletes tops. And when you don't have a knock down 3 point shooter, this game is no surprise.

It has and will continue to be an athlete's game. As great as Duke 2001 was (one of the most underrated college teams of all time), it really only had 1 superior athlete. I'm not sure you'll see that much more.

[Atlanta Duke]

It's a different game since 2001 b/c all the best players have to come school for at least 1 year (soon to be 2). It's an athlete's game, and I think that's obvious. UCLA was a slightly better Duke on the West coast. They had 1 maybe 2 athletes tops. And when you don't have a knock down 3 point shooter, this game is no surprise.

It has and will continue to be an athlete's game. As great as Duke 2001 was (one of the most underrated college teams of all time), it really only had 1 superior athlete. I'm not sure you'll see that much more.

All 5 starters went to the NBA; it wasn't exactly church league talent out on the floor

[Karl Beem]

It's a different game since 2001 b/c all the best players have to come school for at least 1 year (soon to be 2). It's an athlete's game, and I think that's obvious. UCLA was a slightly better Duke on the West coast. They had 1 maybe 2 athletes tops. And when you don't have a knock down 3 point shooter, this game is no surprise.

It has and will continue to be an athlete's game. As great as Duke 2001 was (one of the most underrated college teams of all time), it really only had 1 superior athlete. I'm not sure you'll see that much more.

Our superior athlete had a mediocre game.

[dukie8]

It's a different game since 2001 b/c all the best players have to come school for at least 1 year (soon to be 2). It's an athlete's game, and I think that's obvious. UCLA was a slightly better Duke on the West coast. They had 1 maybe 2 athletes tops. And when you don't have a knock down 3 point shooter, this game is no surprise.

It has and will continue to be an athlete's game. As great as Duke 2001 was (one of the most underrated college teams of all time), it really only had 1 superior athlete. I'm not sure you'll see that much more.

i'm curious which of the 5 future starters in the nba made your cut as a superior athlete?

[DukeHoopsGuru]

Obviously you didn't read my post. Duke 2001 is arguably the most underrated college basketball champion of all time. They won every tourney game by double digits. However, you can't say that Boozer, Battier, Dun, and Duhon were great athletes.

2001 is a long time ago. Derrick Rose wouldn't be in this game 3 years ago. Think he made a difference? You need athletes. UCLA was the best team in the best conference, and they got run out of the freaking gym by a conference USA team. Why? B/c Memphis was by far the more athletic team.

[ghost]

It's a different game since 2001 b/c all the best players have to come school for at least 1 year (soon to be 2).

did I miss something? are they changing the rules?

[DukeHoopsGuru]

i'm curious which of the 5 future starters in the nba made your cut as a superior athlete?

Jason Williams. Come on guys. Take a chill pill will ya? Duke 2001 was freaking great. Freaking great. But they weren't amazing athletes, they were great basketball players. But remember the Derrick Roses and Kobe Bryants didn't go to college in 2001. Now they have to, and it matters.

It's a different game from just 7 years ago. You're seeing the impact of kids having to go to school for at least 1 year. And when the rule goes to 2 years, athleticism will be at even more of a premium.

[Atlanta Duke]

Obviously you didn't read my post. Duke 2001 is arguably the most underrated college basketball champion of all time. They won every tourney game by double digits. However, you can't say that Boozer, Battier, Dun, and Duhon were great athletes.

2001 is a long time ago. Derrick Rose wouldn't be in this game 3 years ago. Think he made a difference? You need athletes. UCLA was the best team in the best conference, and they got run out of the freaking gym by a conference USA team. Why? B/c Memphis was by far the more athletic team.

Non-superior athlete Boozer is averaging 21 points and 10 boards a game this season -

[DukeHoopsGuru]

did I miss something? are they changing the rules?

David Stern has made it point to get the age limit to 2 years. It will be done. Book it.

[YmoBeThere]

C'mon, Love is a fabulous athle...whoops, he's land bound. Scratch that...

[dukie8]

Obviously you didn't read my post. Duke 2001 is arguably the most underrated college basketball champion of all time. They won every tourney game by double digits. However, you can't say that Boozer, Battier, Dun, and Duhon were great athletes.

2001 is a long time ago. Derrick Rose wouldn't be in this game 3 years ago. Think he made a difference? You need athletes. UCLA was the best team in the best conference, and they got run out of the freaking gym by a conference USA team. Why? B/c Memphis was by far the more athletic team.

obviously i did read your post -- which was why i responded to it. do you mean that rose wouldn't have been in the 2005 ff like marvin williams wasn't in it?

being the best team in the best conference hardly means that you are the best team in the country. unc was the best team in the best conference last year and they didn't even get to the ff.

i'm not sure what game you were watching but love, collison, westbrook and ship all are incredible athletes. they were plenty athletic enough to have won if they would have let love touch the ball on offense within 25 feet of the basket after memphis's bigs had 3 fouls each.

i do agree with your basic assertion that duke needs to upgrade its talent level if it wants to get back in the ff mix but you really cloud it with absurd statements (eg, that the 2001 is arguably the most under-rated champion -- whatever that is supposed to mean -- and that boozer, battier and duhon aren't great athletes).

[moonpie23]

you're not paying attention if you thought battier and williams were not great atheletes.


i remember when battier graduated and before the draft, he was attending all the camps along with that "fabulous high school athelete, KWAME BROWN (#1 pick).

they were in atlanta and the team had them running drills...one of the drills was to stand under the basket and dunk the ball repeatedly until they missed or just got too tired to dunk it..

kwame was on one end of the court, battier was on the other end. Brown could not get above the rim on dunk # 57. battier missed his 129th.

he turned to the teams trainers and said. "i guess i'm in better shape than you thought"

[dyedwab]

Man this is the most sensitive group of people in the history of mankind. People around here can't take truth about their team very well. Duke 2001 in my opinion is one of the best college basketball teams ever. It was a unique team in the sense that it wasn't an overly athletic team. Did they have athletes? Absolutely. But that's not what they were known for.

No sh*t Boozer averages that, but is Boozer known as an uber athlete? There can be exceptions to the rules. Chill the f*** out. It's the same with all the Paulus crap. Get a freaking grip.

..can be defined in various different ways, and we have hashed it over hundreds of times on DBR. But I have always had a hard time with "athletic" being synomous with running and jumping exclusively.

Anyway, it sure didn't seem to me that "athleticism" so defined was the reason for the teams demise this year...

[YmoBeThere]

boozer, battier and duhon aren't great athletes

The contention here would be on hand/foot speed and leaping ability. Given size and strength, I think Boozer rates the best. But none of these three is going to get recognized as a standout athlete. Dahntay and Gerald decidedly so...

[dukie8]

The contention here would be on hand/foot speed and leaping ability. Given size and strength, I think Boozer rates the best. But none of these three is going to get recognized as a standout athlete. Dahntay and Gerald decidedly so...

if that's all it took to be a great basketball player, then carl lewis would have been on the dream team. there's a A LOT more to the game than speed and jumping. btw, boozer was incredibly strong in college and i assume that strength is part of this definition of "athlete."

[pfrduke]

Jason Williams. Come on guys. Take a chill pill will ya? Duke 2001 was freaking great. Freaking great. But they weren't amazing athletes, they were great basketball players. But remember the Derrick Roses and Kobe Bryants didn't go to college in 2001. Now they have to, and it matters.

It's a different game from just 7 years ago. You're seeing the impact of kids having to go to school for at least 1 year. And when the rule goes to 2 years, athleticism will be at even more of a premium.

I think you underestimate Battier's athleticism. In the pre-draft workouts in 2001, in the Superman drills, considered to be one of the better evaluators of athleticism, I know for sure Battier out-performed Jason Richardson (super-athletic himself), and I'm pretty sure had the best performance of anyone in the draft. Shane was not necessarily explosive, but he was incredibly athletic - the backhanded tip in the finals, the block of Dixon in the Gone in 54 Seconds game, running down Forte like a Gazelle at Chapel Hill, etc.

[YmoBeThere]

if that's all it took to be a great basketball player

Never said it was, just trying to interpret the contention being made. Yes, Boozer fares very well, Battier and Duhon less so.

[The1Bluedevil]

Maryland 2002 had Chris Wilcox and no other big time athlete.

[Carlos]

Obviously you didn't read my post. Duke 2001 is arguably the most underrated college basketball champion of all time. They won every tourney game by double digits. However, you can't say that Boozer, Battier, Dun, and Duhon were great athletes.

2001 is a long time ago. Derrick Rose wouldn't be in this game 3 years ago. Think he made a difference? You need athletes. UCLA was the best team in the best conference, and they got run out of the freaking gym by a conference USA team. Why? B/c Memphis was by far the more athletic team.

Is Derrick Rose as a freshman that much more superior as an athlete than Gilbert Arenas as a sophomore? Is Chris Douglas Roberts more athletic than Richard Jefferson?

Maybe that 2001 team faced a couple of athletes of the caliber that Memphis put on the floor tonight.

[MarkD83]

to 2 years in college before going to the league, I think it will help Duke recruiting. Right now the struggle is do you use a lot of effort for a guy that will stay for only one year or do you go after 3-4 year players. If everyone has to stay for 2 years I expect that the effort is worth going after every top recruit.