Favorite Player Poll #4 of 8 (multiple choice)

[JasonEvans]

You should know the drill by now. You can vote for as many players as you like and the top 4 in this poll will move on to the Round of 32. See the stickied Ultimate Poll thread at the top of the board for more info.

--Jason "this is a tough round, some real studs in this grouping!!" Evans

[Bob Green]

...is the player who led Duke to their 1968 triple overtime victory over UNC when star Mike Lewis was in serious foul trouble & fouled out.

I am of the opinion that older players are at a disadvantage in this poll, but Fred Lind's single game performance is legendary!

Vote for FRED!

[throatybeard]

Why no love for Kevin Strickland?

[Lord Ash]

First off because he dated my ex before I did and threatened to beat me up.

Secondly, because next to Shane there IS no favorite Duke player.

There can be only one.

Shane Battier.

[johnb]

Shane is great, but one could make a case that Danny Ferry is the single most important Duke player in the modern era. He was the top player in his high school class before we were typically in the running for such players and demonstrated that we could outrecruit Carolina--and everyone else to get a great player whose father also happened to run an NBA team. He was an important part in the '86 team and was player of the year by the time he graduated. And after 83 years in the NBA (more or less), he is now among our most influential alumnus in sports. And, from a great distance, he has always seemed like a standup guy.

I personally wouldn't make that case but would instead go for either Banks or Dawkins as most crucial recruit, but purely for 'favorite,' Ferry is in my top 3 or 4 overall (even ahead of Mr. Battier).

[VaDukie]

this early numbers make it pretty clear that Battier is the frontrunner

[Jumbo]

This is easily the toughest group so far. Carrawell and Battier might make my Final Four, I absolutely loved Thomas Hill, and how could I not include Ferry? I hate that I had to leave off Phil Henderson. How are you deciding on the player groupings, anyway?

[Lord Ash]

The thing with Shane is not only did he bring us a title, not only did he win THREE national defensive players of the year (as a K guy, I do love my D!) and not only was he a shining example of intellect and experience, but he also stayed four years and REALLY developed, as a player, from year one to year four more than any player I can think of.

I love Shane Battier.

[phaedrus]

This is a shocker. 6.12% of voters aren't voting for Battier?

[monkey]

Battier/Carrawell '07 :D

[dukestheheat]

Phil Henderson-

Kudos to The Phil for throwing down THE BEST DUNK in Duke history; over Zo Mourning and the Hoyas. That was an amazing move and I can still see him going up; it really looked like he got into an elevator, punched the fifth floor, and then went right up, kind of standing straight up.

Can anyone post that dunk here?

dth.

[throatybeard]

This is a shocker. 6.12% of voters aren't voting for Battier?

I never vote for the favorite because I know everyone else is going to, and that extra vote may make the difference for a THill or a Brian Davis or a Robert Brickey or a Jim Spanarkel or a Tate Armstrong. Evans says the more people you vote for, the less each vote counts.

This doesn't mean I don't like Grant Hill.

Wait, I think I voted for Battier despite my above philosophy.

Yeah, Jason, the groups are really unbalanced.

PS -- what JonB said about Ferry. I have an artist's rendering of the history of Duke MBB in a matted frame that my grandfather bought me just before he died. Ferry's in the front of it. It doesn't include the I-just-jumped-on-the-bandwagon-in-2002 era, but it's got everybody back to Werber. Ferry was tremendously important at the time. I recall a media poll in the early-mid 90s where he was picked as one of the top 5 (the Big F) in all ACC MBB history, even over Laettner. It was like Ford, DT, Bias, Ferry, and some center I forget. At that time.

[merry]

throaty's approach is one I had not thought of.

My thought was, if you can vote for up to 4 why not just have 4 votes. In other words I could vote for Ferry 4 times rather than dividing up my vote.

[JasonEvans]

throaty's approach is one I had not thought of.

My thought was, if you can vote for up to 4 why not just have 4 votes. In other words I could vote for Ferry 4 times rather than dividing up my vote.

The polling program does not work that way. Sorry. It would be kinda cool.

As for how the groups got decided, it was a random sort with a couple adjustments for a group or two that were waaay too loaded. Phil Henderson is a victim.

-Jason

[Jumbo]

Send me your upcoming groups. I think we need a check/balance system. ;)

[madscavenger]

Phil Henderson-

............THE BEST DUNK in Duke history........

dth.

Absolutely - THE BEST.

[throatybeard]

You know what, the center may have been Tree Rollins. Tim Duncan was still swimming in the Virgin Islands, after all.

[EarlJam]

Let me be an advocate for and put in a good word for Antonio Lang.

Dude was always smiling and worked his butt off. He provided me with a wonderful image that will last a lifetime. He was under the basket when Laettner hit the big shot in 1992 vs. Kentucky. As soon as the shot went in, he threw his fist down towards the court in celebration and fell to the floor. I just loved that reaction.

Same thing (lasting image) can of course be said for Thomas Hill after those shots. Those two, Hill and Lang, were my favorite non-megastars (Hurley, Laettner, GHill) on that team.

-EarlJam

[monkey]

I never vote for the favorite because I know everyone else is going to, and that extra vote may make the difference for a THill or a Brian Davis or a Robert Brickey or a Jim Spanarkel or a Tate Armstrong. Evans says the more people you vote for, the less each vote counts.

This doesn't mean I don't like Grant Hill.

Wait, I think I voted for Battier despite my above philosophy.

Yeah, Jason, the groups are really unbalanced.

PS -- what JonB said about Ferry. I have an artist's rendering of the history of Duke MBB in a matted frame that my grandfather bought me just before he died. Ferry's in the front of it. It doesn't include the I-just-jumped-on-the-bandwagon-in-2002 era, but it's got everybody back to Werber. Ferry was tremendously important at the time. I recall a media poll in the early-mid 90s where he was picked as one of the top 5 (the Big F) in all ACC MBB history, even over Laettner. It was like Ford, DT, Bias, Ferry, and some center I forget. At that time.

Given that Battier is the far and away leader, a vote for Battier isn't a vote against, e.g., Phil Henderson. But the current numebr 4 in the poll is Thomas Hill. Since you have to be in the top four, a vote for Thomas Hill at the moment really is close to a vote against Phil Henderson, unless you think, of course, that both can beat out one of Chris Carrawell or Danny Ferry....

[trinity92]

Seems like I have kindred spirits here. I didn't vote for Grant Hill, even though he may be my favorite devil of all, so I could throw my weight behind Robert Brickey.

I immediately clicked on Phil Henderson and Thomas Hill, but just couldn't avoid a click for Battier.

Let me make my case for Henderson and hope to sway some youngsters-- he has shown, by far, the greatest improvement over 4 years of any Duke player I have seen in the last 20 years. He was the most unlikely guy to be a star, yet went from being a nice complementary player to team leader in a huge leap (lol) from Jr. to Sr. year.

Here are his stat lines over 4 years:

Phil Henderson

1987: FG 55.6% 3pt 69.2% FT 60.0% 7.3 ppg -- 8 games, 0 starts
1988: FG 42.9% 3pt 26.8% FT 73.3% 5.9 ppg -- 34 games, 1 start
1989: FG 52.5% 3pt 38.7% FT 76.4% 12.7 ppg -- 36 games, 36 starts
1990: FG 47.3% 3pt 41.4% FT 83.6% 18.5 ppg -- 37 games, 37 starts

Undersized for the 2 at about 6-3, he fell victim to Rodney Monroe disease and never made the pros. He was an amazing, exciting player, and while I don't know how highly ranked he was as a recruit, if we were able to develop these McDonald's guys like we did Phil, it would really be something.

And the Mourning dunk was just about the best I've seen, although Grant's alley-oop against Kansas is right up there. The GT game was better overall, though, and was a big upset at the time.

Show the original hendo some love!

[throatybeard]

The original Henderson is David, probably my favorite player on the 86 squad, if it isn't Alarie, or if it isn't Bilas, or if it isn't Weldon Williams, or if it isn't Amaker, or...

Jason, can the 86 squad be combined to one favorite player?

Phil Henderson was a very likable Blue Devils as well. And IIRC, he's the one who gave that speech that supposedly rallied the 1990 team post-ACCT.

[JasonEvans]

Jumbo, the groupings are contained in the stickied thread at the top of the board. Thety are on page 2 of that thread. I am of the belief that if you cannot make the top 4 of one of these polls you really do not have all that much of an argument about being wronged. Sure, there will be a couple guys who are deserving of making the top 32 who will not because they were in a tough group-- one or two guys in this group for example -- but they would likely not have made it past the round of 32 anyway. It is like the NCAA tourney, sopmetimes you get a tough draw and sometimes you get an easier one. But the best seem to find a way to make it through regardless.

Also, the original Hendu is David Henderson from the 1986 team. A real stud!!

--Jason

[cspan37421]

Glad PH was a blue devil, but:

the best Dunk was Grant Hill's. He snagged that ball one-handed at the edge of the backboard and, in the same motion, threw it down. PH's dunk was straight on, it only required that 'Zo miss the block, so a little fakery on PH's part or clumsiness on 'Zo's part is all that was required - nothing truly extraordinary like Grant's dunk vs. Kansas.

Second, I had PH in one class and missed about 2/3rds of the classes. He was mailing it in, at best. A friend of mine sat next to him during our final exam and told me immediately afterwards that PH spent about 5 minutes looking through it before turning it in blank. He did not fail out that semester. Perhaps you're allowed one F and can still be eligible, but overall I was not impressed with the student part of him as a student-athlete, as folks like him leave Duke open to the criticism that we recruit all the same guys as any state school, and can claim nothing special about our players being real students as well.

Now I don't believe that to be true - look at Shane and many others. But there are Duke players (Joe Cook, Wm. Avery) whose academic record leaves us open to the accusation of hypocrisy.

I had Strickland in class too. Unimpressive. But Billy King was in it too, and he knew what was going on.

[monkey]

20 people as of now have vote for J Capel. Good coach. Decent career as a Blue Devil, including one of the most memorable shots I've ever had the privilege of witnessing. Still, he's outpolling, among others, Phil Henderson (who seems to have a number of vocal supporters). And, no offense, he's the only player I can recall having been booed at Cameron.

[VaDukie]

This poll has 4 clear winners - the masses demand a new poll!

[CameronBlue]

I voted for Jeff. In addition to the shot against the Tools, during the 94 run to the finals he delivered a wicked behind the back pass to Chief for a slam against Florida IIRC. I think it was Grant who credited JC as being the team's most valuable player during the 94 tourney. Much of the criticism directed at Jeff came from folks who IMHO had no idea what was expected of him, nor much of a clue about basketball generally. He, Collins, Chief and others were left with the impossible task of upholding the Duke tradition when K was out with back surgery. People should cut him some damn slack.

[throatybeard]

Much of the criticism directed at Jeff came from folks who IMHO had no idea what was expected of him, nor much of a clue about basketball generally.

Often the case when fans pile on an amateur athlete.

[VaDukie]

I voted for Jeff. In addition to the shot against the Tools, during the 94 run to the finals he delivered a wicked behind the back pass to Chief for a slam against Florida IIRC. I think it was Grant who credited JC as being the team's most valuable player during the 94 tourney. Much of the criticism directed at Jeff came from folks who IMHO had no idea what was expected of him, nor much of a clue about basketball generally. He, Collins, Chief and others were left with the impossible task of upholding the Duke tradition when K was out with back surgery. People should cut him some damn slack.

1994 was the first season I can really remember; Capel had some nasty slams in the regionals that year. I'm pretty sure he was all South(east?) regional that year. I voted for him too.

[CameronBlue]

Often the case when fans pile on an amateur athlete.

and there's this close analogue: Fans boo and no fan base is without their forever disconsolate faction. But the level of "booing" has been exaggerated many times on fan boards. More urban myth than fact.

[Truth]

I never vote for the favorite because I know everyone else is going to, and that extra vote may make the difference for a THill or a Brian Davis or a Robert Brickey or a Jim Spanarkel or a Tate Armstrong. Evans says the more people you vote for, the less each vote counts.

Keep in mind that you can vote for MORE than four people, its simply that only four will make it to the next round. Point-being, a vote for your top five will have the same impact for each player as if you voted for four players and excluded the front-runner. If you want a certain player to beat another certain player, the key is to vote for your desired player, but avoid voting for his nearest competitors. In that context, a vote for Battier is not a wasted vote at all. (As if a vote for President Battier could ever be considered a waste!?)

I had hoped to see a unanimous 100% vote for both Battier and JWill.

[EarlJam]

This poll continues to be fun and brings back a lot of memories. I wonder if any former Duke players are checking this out.

Meanwhile, a suggestion: Can the next exercise be to conduct a most disliked Tar Heel poll? It would be a king of an event, worth its weight in rice.

-EarlJam

[cspan37421]

where can we Reid about this poll, EarlJam?

[77devil]

And the Mourning dunk was just about the best I've seen, although Grant's alley-oop against Kansas is right up there. The GT game was better overall, though, and was a big upset at the time.

Show the original hendo some love!

The dunk alone was enough for one of my votes. Wish the video was readily available. Some things you just can't watch too much.