Most anticipated players of all time.

[JNort]

Interesting topic on a sports radio show in Charlotte the other day. With Chicago Cubs prospect Kris Bryant making his first start the question was asked who were you most eager to see make their debut? I called in and gave my answer but I am much younger than most fans plus I stuck with my favorite sport (Duke basketball) and said Kyrie Irving. My reasoning was because we hadn't had a true elite point guard in almost 10 years plus that class was shaping up to be the worst in my memory with only Thornton and Hairston committing. His high school videos were the best I've seen from a pg in a while, he could shoot, he was fast, quick, athletic, smart, had crazy handles plus could pass very well.

Other people called in and said people like Reggie Bush in NFL, Mike Vick in NFL, Tiger Woods in PGA.

So who were your most anticipated Dukies coming in? What about other sports?

[CDu]

These things are almost always going to be skewed more towards the current time (especially on the college sports level, because high school sports coverage really didn't take off until much more recently).

Most anticipated Dukies coming in for me were:
- Irving (frowny face for how that turned out)
- Okafor
- Parker
- Rivers
- Deng (would have been higher had he been a frosh in the 2010s instead of the mid-2000s; it wasn't until after LeBron that high school coverage really skyrocketed)

Most anticipated non-Dukies for me included (note: I am a Chicago lean, so this is a Chicago list):
- Michael Jordan's return from baseball
- Derrick Rose's return
- Mark Prior (another frowny face)
- Kris Bryant
- Toni Kukoc
- Kerry Wood (sigh... a lot of frowny faces)

[Mike Corey]

Fun thread.

I'll go with Shane Battier. Three-time state champion at mighty Detroit Country Day.

[COYS]

Jason Heyward with the Braves in 2010. Hands down. It only made it more exciting that he crushed a homer in his first at bat.

[brevity]

Wow, Shane kept a spare headband on his knee. Even in high school, he was smart and resourceful.

I remain mostly ignorant of newcomers until they actually start playing, but I am at least aware that certain ones get more advance hype than others. The following would qualify:

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
Johnny Manziel, Browns
Damon Bailey, Indiana
John Wall, Wizards

Keep in mind that when hype becomes overhype, it sticks in my memory.

[wsb3]

Johnny Dawkins was such a huge arrival during a very down time in Duke Basketball. He made a good recruiting class great. Also Gene Banks.

[wilson]

Jason Heyward with the Braves in 2010. Hands down. It only made it more exciting that he crushed a homer in his first at bat.

...a mere 8 hours or so before the Blue Devils won championship #4. That was the greatest single day of my sports fan life, and there is very little chance of it ever being topped.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Fun thread.

I'll go with Shane Battier. Three-time state champion at mighty Detroit Country Day.

Love the Shane pick, but I was at Duke when Shane was being recruited and I think the excitement was more about the class (particularly him, Brand and Burgess, with Avery to a lesser degree) than one particular guy - Battier was on par with Brand and Burgess, if not even slightly below them. We had had some very down recruiting years that had improved a bit the prior year (Carrawell, Chappell and Nate) but had also had a number of big near-misses (Vince Carter, Shaheen Holloway) so the HS class of 97 really marked the return following Coach K's absence in 1995. In more recent years for Duke, I would like to add Shav to the list, as that was a really heated recruiting battle for a local player.

I think some of the most anticipated players in sports come from SI hyping athletes when they are very young, such as LeBron, Felipe Lopez, Sidney Crosby, Lindros, Jennifer Capriati and Tiger.

[camion]

I'll go with Tinkerbell.


Nationally I'd go with Lew/Kareem.

[roywhite]

Johnny Dawkins was such a huge arrival during a very down time in Duke Basketball. He made a good recruiting class great. Also Gene Banks.

Gotta go with Eugene "Tinkerbell" Banks, the West Philadelphia Speedboys star.

His addition to the promising young players Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel was eagerly anticipated. Especially for us alums who had gone through the early and mid-1970's valley of Duke Basketball.

[Troublemaker]

I didn't really follow recruiting in the pre-Internet days. Didn't read the Poop Sheet or any of that.

So, for me, it would have to be Elton Brand. Because he was my first.

We had gone several years being too small and/or not talented enough in the post to win postseason tournaments (although Coach K did perform a near miracle to get Duke to win the '97 regular season.)

Through DBR, I read about Duke signing a great high school class of Burgess, Battier, Brand, Avery that would be our saviors. And it really was in that order to start with, but Brand just kept dominating high school and AAU and kept rising in regard that, by the time they matriculated, Elton was the most anticipated recruit. He was going to be the monster in the post that we were lacking.

And he did not disappoint.

[jimsumner]

Banks, by a wide margin.

You have to remember the context. Duke was coming off seven mediocre to bad seasons in a row, while Banks and Albert King were considered the top prep players in the country, a smidge ahead of Earvin Johnson.

Banks had picked Duke over North Carolina, Notre Dame, UCLA and local favorite Pennsylvania. He was Duke's first inner-city superstar. The leap of faith Banks took to come from West Philly to a struggling Duke program was astonishing. A transformative recruitment.

Prior to Banks, anyone could buy Duke season tickets and there was a ticket office for single-game purchases. A few weeks after Banks signed, Duke sent out a letter to season-ticket holders informing them that, due to increased demand, season-ticket purchasers would have to join the Iron Dukes. That restriction has remained in force ever since.

Think about that for awhile. That policy didn't change because of Bill Foster or Mike Gminski or Jim Spanarkel. All had been at Duke in 1977, when Duke won 14 games. It was due to one recruit, so eagerly anticipated that Duke had to change its policy for distributing tickets.

[gumbomoop]

1. Grant Hill -- I guess I saw him on TV but once, McDonald's, it must have been, and he was so much more all-around skilled than the others -- smooth athleticism, glide speed, impressive handle, hops, vision -- that I remember thinking that Duke was finally going to win the NC. In 1992. When Laettner would be a senior, when Brian Davis would be a lock-down defender, when Hurley would be a great PG, THill and McCaffrey perfect role players, Crawford Palmer a monster off the bench, topped off by a soph-ready GHill. In spring 1990, I couldn't wait for 1992, when Duke would finally win it ....

2. Elton Brand -- monster class. Began getting hints that Brand was way better than Burgess, which sounded amazing to me then. I remember Brand being asked whether he worried about getting enough minutes. Elton's response was something like, "Maybe the other guys should be worried about me."

3. Kyrie Irving -- more HS TV by then, so I saw him several times. Blown away, and understood why K seemed to back off Brandon Knight, a wonderful prospect. But Kyrie, geez. I remember a small debate on EK about not annointing Kyrie before his first game. Perfectly understandable in normal circumstances, but I saw Kyrie as an abnormal circumstance.

[duke79]

Gotta go with Eugene "Tinkerbell" Banks, the West Philadelphia Speedboys star.

His addition to the promising young players Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel was eagerly anticipated. Especially for us alums who had gone through the early and mid-1970's valley of Duke Basketball.

Totally agree ! I distinctly remember the excitement on campus when it became known (and those were obviously the days before the internet and 24 hour sports saturation on cable) that Gene Banks was coming to Duke. He was, legitimately, a big-time high school superstar. I'm not sure Duke had ever had such a recruit (at least from 1970 on) ?

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Well no list like this is complete without, The debut of Lebron in Clevland. The hype was unreal and he already had a 90 million dollar shoe contract. Followed by Lebron's debut in Miami, followed finally by Lebron's return to Clevland. I'm only mostly kidding but It was really hyped up all three events.

As far as Duke goes, Kyrie, and Jah for me, I was also really excited about Josh McRoberts and thought he was going to be amazing after watching him in the McDonalds game that year.

[Reilly]

Love the Shane pick, but I was at Duke when Shane was being recruited and I think the excitement was more about the class (particularly him, Brand and Burgess, with Avery to a lesser degree) than one particular guy - Battier was on par with Brand and Burgess, if not even slightly below them. ...

Agree on it being the class. I went to Army for the first game ever of Avery, Battier, Brand and Burgess. Bunch of kids walking around with "Peekskill H.S." hoops shirts on (Elton's hometown being not far away). Burgess I believe got the first dunk of the vaunted freshman. And of course we all know who was the first to leave early and go pro from the many talented players who were on that 1997-98 team: Jay Heaps.

That game in November 1997 @Army was not only the heralded class's debut, but also marked the return of Johnny D -- his first as an assistant, I believe. Walked past him on the court and he was wearing a Marvin Gaye-esque leather trench coat after the game.

[Kedsy]

For Duke, I agree with the Gene Banks crowd.

Nationally, can it be anyone other than Sidd Finch?

[sagegrouse]

For Duke, I agree with the Gene Banks crowd.

Nationally, can it be anyone other than Sidd Finch?

I was gonna go with Bill Bradley, but it is too recent and still painful.

[Merlindevildog91]

1. Grant Hill -- I guess I saw him on TV but once, McDonald's, it must have been, and he was so much more all-around skilled than the others -- smooth athleticism, glide speed, impressive handle, hops, vision -- that I remember thinking that Duke was finally going to win the NC. In 1992. When Laettner would be a senior, when Brian Davis would be a lock-down defender, when Hurley would be a great PG, THill and McCaffrey perfect role players, Crawford Palmer a monster off the bench, topped off by a soph-ready GHill. In spring 1990, I couldn't wait for 1992, when Duke would finally win it ....

In spring, 1990, I was thinking exactly the same thing. After the UNLV game of 1990, I thought next year we will get some experience and then come on like gangbusters in 1992.

We were half right.

[OldPhiKap]

Art Heyman -- signed with UNC, switched to Duke.
Gene Banks -- for the reasons already stated.
Johnny Dawkins -- first big K signee.
Danny Ferry -- huge recruit (no. 1 after Davide Rivers got hurt IIRC) -- first of the big forwards with an outside shot for us, True coach's son.
Kyrie -- wow. What was and what could have been.