Originally Posted by
OZZIE4DUKE
I haven’t listened yet, but I think ‘99 was our best team. 16-0 in conference, so dominate in virtually every game. Still can’t believe we lost to UCon in the final. LGD GTHc!
Originally Posted by
SouthernDukie
Agreed. Dominate team that should have won it all - easily.
"Should, wopulda, coulda... The best Duke team competes effectively every week and especially the last. Whether complacency or focus beyond college basketball or other stuff interfered, it detracts from the team and their ranking as the best Duke team. It isn't. That honor belongs to 1992, which toyed with its opponents, lost only when there were injuries and rallied to win a "lost game" in the Elite Eight against Kentucky before marching to the championship.
The best team that "could have been" was Kyrie's team in 2011. ACC coaches said that with a healthy Kyrie Duke could have been undefeated.
Duke is also blessed with have three breakthrough teams that brought Duke to the Final Four. First ever FF was the 1963 Heyman-Mullins team. Second was "next year's champion in 1978, bursting on the scenes with a talented lineup of Gminski, Banks and Spanarkel. Thirds was the Dawkins and Alarie team of 1986 -- the real beginning of K's reign.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013