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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Tate Armstrong and David Henderson won more than a few games at the buzzer.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Tate Armstrong and David Henderson won more than a few games at the buzzer.
    In the NCAA tourney? To make the Final Four? Twice?

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Papa John,

    I believe the OP asked for clutch players in addition to Christian Laettner. I believe Armstrong and Henderson qualify.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by Latta6970 View Post
    You know I think we all tend to forget how freakin' awesome CL was for whatever reason.
    Not me. Never. Laettner was the greatest.

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Papa John,

    I believe the OP asked for clutch players in addition to Christian Laettner. I believe Armstrong and Henderson qualify.
    Indeed... So does Duhon... Remember that drive to stick a dagger into the heart of Heels fans up in Chapel Hill? Awesome stuff!

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lompoc, West Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by Latta6970 View Post
    Thak God he missed those freethrows against Sean Elliot's Arizona team his freshman year at the Meadowlands to keep him humble .
    Thank God he used "The Miss" as an incentive to not let it happen again.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Durham

    Tate Armstrong is the Man!

    As a former Cameron Crazy who has had the pleasure (and angst) of watching Duke dramatics since the early 1960's, I have seen tons of clutch plays.

    Without doubt, Laettner had the greatest NCAA Tourney game of all time, even better than UCLA's Bill Walton because of his perfect shooting and grace under pressure.

    Other great plays come to mind, like Gene Banks blocking James Worthy's last-second shot at the top of the key and Jeff Capel thundering in the shot near half-court.

    Other great clutch players include Bob Verga, Jeff Mullins, Jack Marin and, of course, JJ.

    But the only Duke player EVER who could be told to go out and get 40 and still play the best defense on his team was Tate Armstrong.

    Tate was the closest we have ever had, or will have, to Pistol Pete Maravich.

    Sure, the Crazies go wild now while we have great teams but in the days when we were still looking for respect, those of us on the floor in Cameron stood in stunned silence as Tate went 25 to 30 to 35 to 40 points with the game in the balance, while the opponents did everything they could to hurt him just to get him to stop scoring. We just couldn't believe the string of 30+ games he put up. It seemed like it would never end.

    And then came the greatest clutch performance in Duke basketball history.

    You can ask Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel about that, who had 20 and 19, respectively.

    Against a tough Virginia team, Tate broke his wrist just minutes into the game. He kept playing. Then, without the 3-point shot, he went 13 of 23 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line with 3 assists, 1 steal and just 1 turnover. It was his last game, Tate scored 33 points (31 AFTER breaking his wrist) and Duke won 82-74 in OT.

    That is what I call clutch.

    And that is why Tate Armstrong is the Man!

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2007

    Cool Just one for me

    I suppose I'll get criticized for posting just one, but I've only been following seriously since about 1980.

    1. Laettner

    2.

    3.

    4.

    5. Whoever's next

    I mean, c'mon. Laettner, Laettner, Laettner, Laettner, Laettner, Laettner.

    Laettner!

  9. #29

    Thumbs up Hurley hit the most clutch 3 pointer in DU history

    down 5 to UNLV (to that moment, the greatest NCAA bball team ever) National semis, with a couple of minutes left, miss we probably lose, and he drilled it. That CLUTCH shot allowed us to win our first NC, and that shot alone gets Bobby H. on the list!

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    As much as I loved Tate (and the heart failure he induced with the last second shots that inevitably spun on the rim), I have to give it to Christian. He hit the shots in the NCAAs where the pressure was way higher. Tate never had that kind of pressure.

    -jk

  11. #31
    What about Redick, he is not clutch because he didn't produce in the tournament? I thought he was pretty clutch...

  12. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    Fred Lind had a great time, coming through in the clutch for sure. But Duke's all-time clutch player had GOT TO BE Christian Laettner. Two game winning NCAA tournament shots, highest scorer in the FF ever (well, he did go to 4 of them, but so did his classmates and they aren't the leading scorer, Christian is), best refuse to lose player we've ever had. Shane is a close second on that count.
    Ozzie: Thanks for injecting a note of sanity here. How could anyone think that ANY Duke basketball player was more clutch than Laettner? His Connecticut and Kentucky shots are always remember... as are the winning free throws against UNLV and on and on... he was and is and always will be THE MAN!
    DukeDevilDeb

  13. #33
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lewisville, NC
    I hesitate to leave Art Heyman and Jeff Mullins off a list like this.

    But for discussion's sake, naming the top 5 in the K era:
    Laettner
    Hurley
    Dawkins
    Jason Williams
    Battier

    Entering the discussion---Gerald Henderson

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by banneheim View Post
    What about Redick, he is not clutch because he didn't produce in the tournament? I thought he was pretty clutch...
    The "clutchiest" games are in the tournament. Time after time, JJ went bust. Never was so much expected from a Duke player who, in key situations, didn't do it!

    I remember a Dean at the school saying to me, I wonder why JJ never hit a shot to win the game.

    Perhaps because he was not a clutch player?
    DukeDevilDeb

  15. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    I agree. Getting himself into the situation in the first place, plus the Maryland game, plus the length of the court drive that got the ball up on the rim that Nate put in, in the 2001 ACC Tourney Final, make him clutch in my book. If Boozer had taken his time putting the ball in the basket after he got the rebound in the Indiana game, others might remember Jason Williams as more clutch.

    Laettner, of course, is #1.
    pretty sure that was the '01 ACC semifinal, right? The 'Holes had the #1 seed that year because Doherty was the best coach in the country, so Duke and Maryland met as #'s 2 & 3.

  16. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom B. View Post
    And it wasn't just that one game. You want clutch? Check out Laettner's career field goal and and free throw percentages in NCAA Regional Final games. In four career games with trips to the Final Four on the line, Laettner shot an utterly astonishing 91.17% (31-for-34) from the floor and 91.89% (34-for-37) from the free throw line (oh yeah, his team won all of those games, too). Kentucky was just the icing on the cake. Remember his 24 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman against Georgetown and Alonzo Mourning? Or the overtime buzzer-beater against UConn in 1990? The man absolutely owned the NCAA Regional Finals like no one before or since.

    His Final Four performances weren't too shabby, either. There was his 28-point performance against UNLV in 1991, which included the two game-winning free throws with 12.7 seconds left. Fighting through exhaustion to post a double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds, including 12-for-12 from the free throw line) in the title game two nights later against Kansas. Shaking off a bad first half and coming back to score 19 in the 1992 title game against Michigan. He even played OK in the disastrous 1990 final against UNLV (15 points, 9 boards), to go along with the 19 and 14 he posted in the semifinal win over Arkansas.

    As far as I'm concerned, the conversation begins and ends with Laettner and everyone else is fighting for a not-all-that-close second place.
    Earlier that season ('91-92) I was at the PMAC in Baton Rouge to watch Duke play LSU and Shaquille O'Neal. If my memory serves me, Bobby Hurley was recently injured and Grant Hill played point guard. Duke trailed late in the game and appeared to be on the verge of a loss when Laettner hit two three-point daggers. Man, he was cold-blooded and seemingly without emotion, like an assasin. Duke won the game in large part because of Laettner, although Shaq's horrendous free throw shooting down the stretch did not help the LSU cause. (can you say hack-a-Shaq).

  17. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by TimHuff1978 View Post
    As a former Cameron Crazy who has had the pleasure (and angst) of watching Duke dramatics since the early 1960's, I have seen tons of clutch plays.

    Without doubt, Laettner had the greatest NCAA Tourney game of all time, even better than UCLA's Bill Walton because of his perfect shooting and grace under pressure.

    Other great plays come to mind, like Gene Banks blocking James Worthy's last-second shot at the top of the key and Jeff Capel thundering in the shot near half-court.

    Other great clutch players include Bob Verga, Jeff Mullins, Jack Marin and, of course, JJ.

    But the only Duke player EVER who could be told to go out and get 40 and still play the best defense on his team was Tate Armstrong.

    Tate was the closest we have ever had, or will have, to Pistol Pete Maravich.

    Sure, the Crazies go wild now while we have great teams but in the days when we were still looking for respect, those of us on the floor in Cameron stood in stunned silence as Tate went 25 to 30 to 35 to 40 points with the game in the balance, while the opponents did everything they could to hurt him just to get him to stop scoring. We just couldn't believe the string of 30+ games he put up. It seemed like it would never end.

    And then came the greatest clutch performance in Duke basketball history.

    You can ask Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel about that, who had 20 and 19, respectively.

    Against a tough Virginia team, Tate broke his wrist just minutes into the game. He kept playing. Then, without the 3-point shot, he went 13 of 23 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line with 3 assists, 1 steal and just 1 turnover. It was his last game, Tate scored 33 points (31 AFTER breaking his wrist) and Duke won 82-74 in OT.

    That is what I call clutch.

    And that is why Tate Armstrong is the Man!
    Tate Armstrong was a very good player and a prolific scorer at Duke. However, to compare his game to that of Pete Maravich is a bit of a stretch. Maravich put up gaudy scoring numbers (averaging almost three times as many ppg as Tate). However, it was his style of play and his unique dribbling, ball-handling, and passing skills that separate him and may never be seen again.

  18. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by ugadevil View Post
    I'm surprised Boozer didn't end up with a dislocated shoulder on that play with Jeffries trying so hard to pull his arms down.
    I remember that like it was yesterday. I was so upset at the missed FT and the no-call. I had to leave the house and slammed the back door hard enough to break stuff. My wife got mad at me and my sister in law and brother in law who were in the room were just speechless. Of course there was a few choice words yelled before I left! Not my finest moment, but even now when I think about that no-call it pisses me off!

    Quote Originally Posted by fogey View Post
    down 5 to UNLV (to that moment, the greatest NCAA bball team ever) National semis, with a couple of minutes left, miss we probably lose, and he drilled it. That CLUTCH shot allowed us to win our first NC, and that shot alone gets Bobby H. on the list!
    Bobby Hurley had this knack for hitting a shot when we needed it. It wasn't always obvious like at the end of a game. If a team was making a run and it looked like the momentum was about to change, Bobby always seemed to be the guy to hit a big shot or make a play to turn the tide. If we were on the verge of putting a team down for good, Bobby always seemed to take the shot that was the dagger! He was clutch because of the timing of his shots.

  19. #39
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Close to the Gothic Playground!
    I take Christian Laettner. We need a couple buckets, some attitude, some verve, a will to win and the know how to do it, needing one win, he is the player.

    Dukestheheat

  20. #40
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Fairfax County, Virginia
    My head says Laettner, but my heart says Battier.

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