Mt. Rushmore?

[kcduke75]

We are truly blessed. Will offer thoughts later.

Everyone chew on this one

Mount Rushmore of 1-(or 2 for Brand)-and-done's vs the good-ole days 3-4-and-done's. Splitting the short timers will help with the recency bias.

For the Coach K era. And you only get two teams

One-and-dones
First
Kyrie (what could have been . . . I was lucky to see his first open practice at Duke and I thought he was NBA ready, he was clearly the team leader - Kyle and Nolan etc looked to him, the ball seemed to be on a string, and great 3-level shooter, and #1 NBA pick coming off injury)
Zion
Bagley
Jahlil
Brand

Second
Luol
Wendell
Jayson
Tyus
Brandon

Real students
First
Christian L
Johnny D
Shane B
Grant H
JJ R

Second
Jayson W
Tommy A
Danny F
Bobby H
Nolan S

Discuss . . .

[jipops]

Everyone chew on this one

Mount Rushmore of 1-(or 2 for Brand)-and-done's vs the good-ole days 3-4-and-done's. Splitting the short timers will help with the recency bias.

For the Coach K era. And you only get two teams

One-and-dones
First
Kyrie (what could have been . . . I was lucky to see his first open practice at Duke and I thought he was NBA ready, he was clearly the team leader - Kyle and Nolan etc looked to him, the ball seemed to be on a string, and great 3-level shooter, and #1 NBA pick coming off injury)
Zion
Bagley
Jahlil
Brand

Second
Luol
Wendell
Jayson
Tyus
Brandon

Real students
First
Christian L
Johnny D
Shane B
Grant H
JJ R

Second
Jayson W
Tommy A
Danny F
Bobby H
Nolan S

Discuss . . .

What exactly constitutes a "Real Student"? Maggette deserves a mention, but would be hard to push out anyone in those groups. And who is Jayson W?

[rsvman]

What exactly constitutes a "Real Student"? Maggette deserves a mention, but would be hard to push out anyone in those groups. And who is Jayson W?

Pretty sure he means Jason Williams. Are you just trying to give him grief because he misspelled it?

[Teacherjrob]

Agreed. Christian Laettner was the baddest of the bada**es. He's my first overall pick if I'm choosing an all-time Duke team.

FYI, my all-time Duke team of greatest players that I have watched play, whether one, two, three, or four years, are Christian, Johnny Dawkins, Hurley, Battier, and Zion.

[Duke79UNLV77]

If I were to list most accomplished in terms of individual and team career success, I would say:

Laettner, G Hill, Hurley, Battier, J Will

If I were to compile a dream team of peak year performances, I would say:

Zion, Laettner, Redick, J Will, G Hill

Heyman before my time, but maybe should move into the latter group.

[quahog174]

FWIW
My guys (offense): Hurley, Redick, G Hill, Ferry, Laettner
But for defense: Woj, King, G Hill, Battier, Landlord
Be safe

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Not to be "that guy," but aren't there only four heads on Rushmore?

[Indoor66]

Not to be "that guy," but aren't there only four heads on Rushmore?

Picky, picky, picky. The details always kill ya!

[Teacherjrob]

Not to be "that guy," but aren't there only four heads on Rushmore?

Yeah, but none of those guys played basketball. I think we need to get ride of the Mt. Rushmore analogy anyway.

[Pghdukie]

This comes as a surprise, but nobody has included Jay Bilas in their summaries.

[rtally]

Seems like a fun idea.

My case in point would be Carrawell. He should be on the list over guys like Deng. He was ACC POY and a 1st team AA. You could even argue him over Dunleavy, Alarie and Barrett. His omission is glaring. If there was an all-time Duke team (12 spots), Chris Carrawell would be on mine. That guy was a Swiss army knife, the only ones better were perhaps GHill and Battier. With those long arms, Carrawell could even guard the post.

Other strong opinion - Quin Snyder is not the 6th best PG. I'd take either of the Jones brothers, Paulus, Bender, Avery, Curry, Wojo, Harrell or Capel before him. With all due respect, Snyder's not in the top 10. And I'd argue that Tyus Stones could be in over Nolan Smith, too.

Final strong opinion - Zion over Battier. And I love Battier. Zion over everybody except Laettner and GHill. Zion was what LeBron would have been in college.

A few other quibbles:

- Banks higher than Singler, any day of the week, though Kyle Gets Buckets is still on the list.
- You have Ferry, Brand and Gminski on the same team? Seems like 3 centers that you tried to fit into your top teams. They all belong, but... Mason Plumlee should be off the list as a center, and one those 3 should fill his spot in. And guys Carrawell and Tatum should be in as forwards. Deng would be out. I'd fit Carrawell and Tatum in, questioning Deng, Boozer and Alarie.
- I'd move Bagley up and Williams and Okafor down. Down but not out.


My top starting team with your restriction:

Hurley, Redick, GHill, Zion, Laettner (I really like this team. FTs shouldn't be an issue, though it was Zion's Achilles' Heel).

My top team without your restriction:

Hurley, Heyman, GHill, Zion, Laettner

9F

I take all these points, and it killed me to leave out Carrawell, who was always a favorite. Maybe I overestimated Snyder because he was the PG when I got to Duke in 1988, but he was like a freakin' Valkyrie on the court in 1988-89. (But, man, have we ever been blessed in the PG department?! Considering that many of our 2-guards (and some of our 3's) could also play the point well, and we could fill up many all-star teams with our former floor-leaders.

I differ about Zion vs. Battier; I love Zion, but Battier could do it all -- 3-time National Defensive POY, arguably one of the best 3-point shooters in the country his junior and senior year, plus he essentially played the 4 (power forward) most of the time; at his best, he player all five positions (see those Maryland games, esp. the 2001 final four game). I *love* Zion and think he's awesome, but he never came close to that kind of versatility.

[rtally]

Tate Armstrong. An interesting name to ponder for this list.

Armstrong was a little before my time, but I'd probably have to rate him below these other point- and shooting guards. But I will always like him a lot. When I was an 11-year-old kid with a broken leg, he signed my cast (along with Mike Gminski and Bob Bender.) Great guy!

[rtally]

Bob Verga, Randy Denton, Jack Marin, Jeff Mullins to just name of a few of great Duke players. Marin was a great college player that had an 11 year NBA career. Jack as a sophomore came off the bench and averaged 15 points per game. He had even better junior and senior years. His Duke teams had a 72-14 record and finished first all three years. He was a pure shooter and in my mind, a player for all decades. Duke fans that liked Kennard, would have loved Jack.

GoDuke!

Ouch, absolutely, I should have named Jack Marin. Sorry about that. (I was class on '91, but my father was class of '70, and Dad talked often of how terrific Marin was.)

[-jk]

Armstrong was a little before my time, but I'd probably have to rate him below these other point- and shooting guards. But I will always like him a lot. When I was an 11-year-old kid with a broken leg, he signed my cast (along with Mike Gminski and Bob Bender.) Great guy!

When I was 13, he let me hold his gold medal. Great guy, indeed!

-jk

[rtally]

For the time period the OP mentioned, I’d add Vince Taylor, Cherokee Parks and Chris Carrawell.

Good points. I already mentioned Carrawell, and it pains me to leave him off the lists. I loved Vince Taylor as a kid, and he carried us through that awful year in 1982 (10-17 record) -- I was so thrilled when we beat Clemson in the 2nd-to-last regular season game (we weren't going to be future National Champ UNC a few days later) to get that 10th win! -- but I didn't see him as being ahead of these other PGs. Cherokee also deserves more, and I actually wrote this homage to the 1995 team, highlighting Parks's great season, last fall:

https://medium.com/@roberttally/coac...m-85bc2cad6ab6

[rtally]

Thanks everybody! I enjoyed this "just-for-fun" thought experiment and conversation immensely!

[sagegrouse]

Armstrong was a little before my time, but I'd probably have to rate him below these other point- and shooting guards. But I will always like him a lot. When I was an 11-year-old kid with a broken leg, he signed my cast (along with Mike Gminski and Bob Bender.) Great guy!

Do we have an all-Olympic gold medal team?

1964-Mullins
1976-Armstrong
1992-Christian
1996-Grant
2008-Boozer (plus bronze in 2004)
2016-Kyrie

Silver
2000-Crawford Palmer (France)

How about an all-FIBA gold medal team? (It'll have to be 3-on-three.)

1986-Tommy Amaker
2014-Kyrie
2014-Mason Plumlee

[Steven43]

Do we have an all-Olympic gold medal team?

1964-Mullins
1976-Armstrong
1992-Christian
1996-Grant
2008-Boozer (plus bronze in 2004)
2016-Kyrie

Silver
2000-Crawford Palmer (France)

How about an all-FIBA gold medal team? (It'll have to be 3-on-three.)

1986-Tommy Amaker
2014-Kyrie
2014-Mason Plumlee

Wow, you provided a nice addition to this discussion that I hadn’t thought of. Strong 💪 take.

[DU82]

Wow, you provided a nice addition to this discussion that I hadn’t thought of. Strong 💪 take.

Here’s another sidebar. Only one Duke basketball player to my knowledge has ever been named MVP of his professional league. (I’ll let you think about this one, but it’s somebody already mentioned.)

[dukebballcamper90-91]

Great thread!

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