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jaytoc
11-16-2013, 11:22 AM
Randy Denton, anyone? Sheesh!

jimsumner
11-16-2013, 11:30 AM
Randy Denton, anyone? Sheesh!

A little context might be helpful.

jaytoc
11-16-2013, 11:48 AM
As is not unusual, I presume too much.

Front page DBR article mentions a couple of Duke big men, G-man, Mike Lewis, Brand, etc., suggests there have been relatively few in our basketball history, and asks who may have been overlooked.

As you, Jim, could better and more accurately recount, Randy Denton was a 6' 10" back-to-the-basket center who played 68-71. May have averaged a double-double in either or both of his last two years. A beast, with a great touch from the foul line.

DBR may have forgotten some other very good bigs, e.g. Cherokee Parks, but Denton seems a glaring omission to me.

jimsumner
11-16-2013, 11:58 AM
As is not unusual, I presume too much.

Front page DBR article mentions a couple of Duke big men, G-man, Mike Lewis, Brand, etc., suggests there have been relatively few in our basketball history, and asks who may have been overlooked.

As you, Jim, could better and more accurately recount, Randy Denton was a 6' 10" back-to-the-basket center who played 68-71. May have averaged a double-double in either or both of his last two years. A beast, with a great touch from the foul line.

DBR may have forgotten some other very good bigs, e.g. Cherokee Parks, but Denton seems a glaring omission to me.

Okay, that helps.

You're preaching to the choir here. I've long maintained that Denton is the most overlooked player in Duke history. He did way more than average a double-double. For his three seasons at Duke he averaged 19.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. Those stats rank sixth and first respectively in Duke history.

This was in an era when big men ruled and folks stuck around. So, he didn't get as much A-A recognition as the stats would suggest, because he was competing for recognition against people like Lew Alcindor, Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, Bob Lanier and Jim McDaniels.

Denton was a member of Vic Bubas' last great recruiting class, along with Dick DeVenzio, Rick Katherman and Brad Evans. He played one year for Bubas and two for Bucky Waters and led Duke to two NIT appearances, back when it meant something.

So, yes, he absolutely should be on any short list of quality Duke big men. Randy still lives in his native Raleigh and certainly is the best Duke player ever from the state of North Carolina.

arnie
11-16-2013, 12:01 PM
As is not unusual, I presume too much.

Front page DBR article mentions a couple of Duke big men, G-man, Mike Lewis, Brand, etc., suggests there have been relatively few in our basketball history, and asks who may have been overlooked.

As you, Jim, could better and more accurately recount, Randy Denton was a 6' 10" back-to-the-basket center who played 68-71. May have averaged a double-double in either or both of his last two years. A beast, with a great touch from the foul line.

DBR may have forgotten some other very good bigs, e.g. Cherokee Parks, but Denton seems a glaring omission to me.

Good post - to include Thornton, Wojo, Bender, Harrell as point guards and then exclude Denton and Parks as centers is absurd. Denton was dominant - we just couldn't win in the ACC tourney back then. I would add Willie Hodge to an expanded list.

duke blue brewcrew
11-16-2013, 01:06 PM
Good post - to include Thornton, Wojo, Bender, Harrell as point guards and then exclude Denton and Parks as centers is absurd. Denton was dominant - we just couldn't win in the ACC tourney back then. I would add Willie Hodge to an expanded list.

I completely agree with all the names that have been mentioned in this post. I've been reading a lot of recent articles written about the few great big men in Duke history lately. That said, Christian Laettner - a two time National Champion and two time National Player of the year who played in four Final Fours is almost never mentioned as a great big man at Duke. In addition, Danny Ferry and Carlos Boozer are never mentioned in that discussion. Can someone help me with why that is?

jimsumner
11-16-2013, 01:07 PM
Good post - to include Thornton, Wojo, Bender, Harrell as point guards and then exclude Denton and Parks as centers is absurd. Denton was dominant - we just couldn't win in the ACC tourney back then. I would add Willie Hodge to an expanded list.

Willie Hodge was mainly a power forward to Bob Fleischer's center. Hodge started at center in 1976, between Fleischer and Gminski.

Duke actually had a pretty good run of solid to great centers, starting with Jay Buckley, then running through Hack Tison, Mike Lewis, Denton, Alan Shaw, Fleischer, Hodge and Gminski.

That's almost two decades.

That came to a screeching halt with the Mike Tissaw-Todd Anderson era.

theAlaskanBear
11-16-2013, 01:21 PM
I going to write a post about this article.

I am shocked and disappointed people have so quickly forgotten Shelden Williams. How he could be excluded from this list is beyond me and undermines the credibility article. He may have had a disappointing NBA career, but Shelden is a Duke and NCAA great. If you are going to include a great 2-yr player like Brand...how is Williams overlooked. 2 time National DPOY, all-time Duke rebounding leader, all time Duke blocks leader, only 150ish points from being top-10 scorer...

Can you look at these stats are argue anything differently? http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/shelden-williams-1.html

I am a bit offended at this oversight.

dukechem
11-16-2013, 01:22 PM
Here are a couple of pics of Randy Denton from the Alabama game in Dec. 1968 or 1969.36853686

jimsumner
11-16-2013, 02:51 PM
Here are a couple of pics of Randy Denton from the Alabama game in Dec. 1968 or 1969.36853686

December 1968. My first game in Cameron.

75Crazie
11-16-2013, 03:01 PM
I would add Willie Hodge to an expanded list.
Willie Hodge to me is still the Duke player that played the furthest below his capability, throughout his Duke career. He was an immense talent who just didn't seem to want to give the effort, or at least that was how it appeared to me. And Waters' last recruiting class (I think, might not have that right) of Hodge and Dave O'Connell was probably the most disappointing, because they were both talented and both under-performed (although in O'Connell's case, he was betrayed by possibly the worst pair of knees to ever arrive at Duke).

gurufrisbee
11-16-2013, 08:18 PM
You were expecting Alaa?

Richard Berg
11-16-2013, 08:55 PM
I still think Josh McRoberts was undervalued in his brief stint here. He could've easily gone pro a year or two earlier, leaving us to struggle for .500 in the ACC.