Shortest Duke team that can win the title this year.

[proelitedota]

Title is self explanatory.


Some rules:

1. Height is defined as average of all players playing double digit minutes.
2. No more than 13 scholarship players.
3. Players can be current or ex. Ex players can be taken from any of their scholarship years. I.e. junior Singler.
4. Player heights are their pre-draft measurements WITH SHOES. If they don't have those, the goDuke measurements for their scholarship year will suffice.

Think about the potential matchups thats unique to this year's pool of competitors.

My team.

Elton Brand 6'9
Gerald Henderson 6'5
Demarcus Nelson 6'2
Jason Williams 6'2
Chris Duhon 6'1


Bench:

Shane Battier 6'8
Justice Winslow 6'5
Quinn Cook 6'1
Steve Wojo 5'10

[CDu]

I think this is suffering some recency bias. Art Heyman (6'5") and Dick Groat (5'11") should absolutely be on any of these lists. Certainly ahead of someone like Wojo and Nelson.

[UrinalCake]

I would go with Winslow rather than Henderson at the 4. Measured at 6'6.5" in shoes at the pre-draft but strangely only 6'4.5'' without shoes, so I tend to think that 6'6" is a fair number to use. He more than proved he can guard the position, moreso than Henderson.

[dukelifer]

Title is self explanatory.


Some rules:

1. Height is defined as average of all players playing double digit minutes.
2. No more than 13 scholarship players.
3. Players can be current or ex. Ex players can be taken from any of their scholarship years. I.e. junior Singler.
4. Player heights are their pre-draft measurements WITH SHOES. If they don't have those, the goDuke measurements for their scholarship year will suffice.

Think about the potential matchups thats unique to this year's pool of competitors.

My team.

Elton Brand 6'9
Gerald Henderson 6'5
Demarcus Nelson 6'2
Jason Williams 6'2
Chris Duhon 6'1


Bench:

Shane Battier 6'8
Justice Winslow 6'5
Quinn Cook 6'1
Steve Wojo 5'10
Wait what? No Johnny Dawkins? He almost won one by himself.

[proelitedota]

I think this is suffering some recency bias. Art Heyman (6'5") and Dick Groat (5'11") should absolutely be on any of these lists. Certainly ahead of someone like Wojo and Nelson.

A different era of basketball and I can't say for sure if the skill set of the players during that time translates to modern basketball. In addition with the fact that I have cursory knowledge of the players of that time since I am a lazy millennial, I left those players out of convenience.

It was a mistake though to leave out Johnny D.

[OldPhiKap]

Wait what? No Johnny Dawkins? He almost won one by himself.

Amaker, Dawkins, Billy King. Pick your short front court, that 1-3 wins.

[sagegrouse]

This is a topic for May, after basketball season is over.

[6th Man]

Bobby Hurley, Johnny Dawkins, Art Heyman, Chris Carrawell, Robert Brickey

[devildeac]

Patrick Davidson.

[Indoor66]

Tony Barone. Nuff said.

[Skitzle]

Shortest team?

As in Bench wise?

8 is enough :D

[flyingdutchdevil]

Shortest team?

As in Bench wise?

8 is enough :D

Hey, maybe 6 is enough ;)

[CDu]

A different era of basketball and I can't say for sure if the skill set of the players during that time translates to modern basketball. In addition with the fact that I have cursory knowledge of the players of that time since I am a lazy millennial, I left those players out of convenience.

It was a mistake though to leave out Johnny D.

In general, I'd say that you should always start with the guys whose jerseys are hanging in the rafters. Especially over other guys who never played in a Final Four.

[yancem]

I think this is suffering some recency bias. Art Heyman (6'5") and Dick Groat (5'11") should absolutely be on any of these lists. Certainly ahead of someone like Wojo and Nelson.


In general, I'd say that you should always start with the guys whose jerseys are hanging in the rafters. Especially over other guys who never played in a Final Four.

While I definitely agree with your basic point, I do think that you have to also consider how the game has changed, specifically in terms of the training and athleticism of more recent athletes. Basketball is a difficult sport to compare era to era because the competition is never the same and success is largely governed by the competition. But if you look at track and field, it is easier to make a comparison between eras. For example, Jesse Owens was the best athlete of his day winning gold metals in the '36 Olympics in the 100m at 10.3 seconds and long jump at 26'5". The current world records are 9.58 seconds and 29'4 1/4' respectively. Those are both measurable and significant differences. Now I'm sure that things like shoes and track conditions make up some of the difference but Owen's numbers wouldn't have gotten him out of the 1st round in the 110m of the 2012 Olympics.

So, even though Dick Groat was an amazing player in his day but how would he compete today? He was before my time so I'm not really qualified to say but I would guess that he would struggle against some of the hyper athletic guards in today's game. Maybe if he lived today and had access to modern training methods and equipment the gap would be less noticeable, I don't know. From what I know about Heyman, I think your argument is stronger. IDK if he could run/jump with a guy like Miles Bridges but he would certainly out tough him. I guess one question that would need to addressed is at what point did "pure athleticism" start to take over the game? Wilt was a freak athlete in the 60's and I think that he would certainly be considered athletic even by current standards but how many other players in the 60's fit that mold? The 70's gave us Thompson, Kareem and Dr. J to name a few and certainly by the 80's and the Jordan era athleticism was a huge part of the game. It's an interesting debate.

As for my team, I would go with:
Amaker
Hurley
Dawkins
Winlsow (over King only because he can shoot a little bit)
Brand

[mkirsh]

As for my team, I would go with:
Amaker
Hurley
Dawkins
Winlsow (over King only because he can shoot a little bit)
Brand

Replace Amaker with JWill and I think you have a winner.

[yancem]

Replace Amaker with JWill and I think you have a winner.

I thought about that but since we are looking at such a short team I was thinking the max ball pressure would take some pressure off the post. Opposing centers will find it hard to score if no one can pass them the ball! Although I guess a smaller team might have to simply try to outscore the opponent which would mean JWill would be the better option.

[InSpades]

Frank Jackson
Luke Kennard
Matt Jones
Grayson Allen
Amile Jefferson

Not sure why you guys keep posting about guys who have exhausted their eligibility!

[rsvman]

This is a topic for May, after basketball season is over.

I'm in total agreement with this.


The topic is fine, just misplaced in time.

[NSDukeFan]

I'm in total agreement with this.


The topic is fine, just misplaced in time.

I'm amphibious. I can think about the current team and season AND think about other topics as well.

[OldPhiKap]

I'm in total agreement with this.


The topic is fine, just misplaced in time.

Doe that make this the Billy Pilgrim of threads?

[devildeac]

Doe that make this the Billy Pilgrim of threads?

Only if Montana Wildhack will appear. :o

[JBDuke]

Yeah, this is something that can wait for when there aren't real games going on. The mods have discussed it, and this thread is now closed.