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!
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/duk...=VMP7017097203
We begin by talking about the estimates of what Duke players could make from their social media accounts and then we move to a couple fun debates.
If you had to pick one player to win one game, who you got?
Sam - Grant Hill, Donald - Shane Battier, Jason - Christian Laettner
And then we ask, which is the best Duke team of all time?
Sam - 2001, Donald - 1992, Jason - 1999
Listen to our arguments and then tell us what you think.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
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!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
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I agree with both of Jason's picks.
"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
Agree with some others that 1992 team was the best. May have gone unbeaten if not for injuries in February. The '99 team would have been had they won against uconn in the title game. Also agree with sagegrouse that if Irving had stayed healthy, we would probably be talking about that team. And would also like to mention the '66 squad that lost to Kentucky with a sick Bobby Verga.Lot's of could have beens.
Ooops! I left out the 2001 team. They definitely qualify for consideration.
If I only have one shot to win, I’ll take Christian and live with the results.
I’m surprised this is much of a debate.
If you are going to measure by results, not sure how anyone can choose other than 1992 and Laettner.
Others can make the case, and fall short on the woulda/coulda/shoulda scale.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
1992 gets the nod. As mentioned above in the thread, but not on the podcast, the injuries to Hurley and Hill led to the 2 losses, by 2 at UNC and by 4 at Wake. They were dominating and were clutch, while fighting the challenges of staying hungry.
1999 dominated the ACC like no other Duke team ever, and also suffered only 2 losses, a neutral game against Cincinnati by 2 and to UConn in the title game by 3. I don't recall injuries contributing to either loss.
Remarkable how the two losses for 92 and 99 were by only 6 and 5 points in total respectively.
I agree had 99 won the UCONN game they could claim the best Duke team status.
2001 also overcame injuries but accumulated 4 losses. By 1 against Stanford at a neutral location, by 2 to UNC at home and 2 to UVA. An 11 point loss to Maryland was also home. This team won when it counted, but lost 3 games by 2 or less. I believe I heard an argument for JWill as a candidate for most clutch player. While I think he was one of the most explosive players, and he led the miracle minute, I am not sure his clutch moments compared to Laettner, and a few others.
I would rank the teams:
1992
1999
2001