I began following Duke basketball after the War, the Second World War. In many ways, my connection with the Blue Devil program has defined my passion in sports.
Throughout the decades, I have maintained my relationship with the Duke basketball program and am proud to be associated with the school for over half a century.
Come with me on a tour of the greatest of the Duke players and coaches during the past 50 years listed decade by decade, position by position, and perhaps you will enjoy the experience while picking up some small chestnuts of information.
THE 1960s
Coach of the Decade—Vic Bubas: 1959–69 record, 213–67. Three Final Fours.
Player of the Decade—Art Heyman (pictured above), 1963 National Player of the Year. Runner-Up: Jeff Mullins, 1964 All-American and Olympic Gold Medal Winner.
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
PF: Art Heyman, 6'5" 208, 1960–63 PF: Doug Kistler, 6'9" 215, 1958–61
SF: Jeff Mullins, 6'4" 195, 1961–64 SF: Jack Marin, 6'6" 210, 1963–66
C: Mike Lewis, 6'7" 230, 1965–68 C: Jay Buckley, 6'11" 225, 1961–64
PG: Steve Vacendak, 6'1" 190, 1963–66 PG: Fred Schmidt, 6'3" 190, 1960–63
SG: Bob Verga, 6'0" 180, 1964–67 SG: Howard Hurt, 6'3" 190, 1958–61
THE 1970s
Coach of the Decade—Bill Foster: 1974–80 record, 113–64. One Final Four
Player of the Decade—Mike Gminski, All-American 1978, '79, and '80. Runner-up: Randy Denton, All-American 1971.
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
PF: Gene Banks, 6'7" 215, 1977–81 PF: Bob Fleischer, 6'8" 215, 1972–75
SF: Kenny Dennard, 6'7" 200, 1977–81 SF: Rick Katherman, 6'7" 180, 1968–71
C: Mike Gminski, 6'11" 240, 1976–80 C: Randy Denton, 6'10" 240, 1968–71
PG: Dick DeVenzio, 5'10" 165, 1968–71 PG: Johnny Harrell, 6'0" 177, 1977–79
SG: Jim Spanarkel, 6'5" 200, 1975–79 SG: Tate Armstrong, 6'2" 183, 1973–77
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THE 1980s
Coach of the Decade—Mike Krzyzewski: 1980–Current. Three Final Fours in '80s Decade.
Player of the Decade—Johnny Dawkins, 1986 National Player of the Year. Runner–Up: Danny Ferry, 1988 and 1989 National Player of the Year.
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
PF: Mark Alarie, 6'8" 215, 1982–86 PF: Danny Meagher, 6'7" 215, 1981–85
SF: David Henderson, 6'5" 205, 1982–86 SF: Billy King, 6'6" 205, 1983–88
C: Danny Ferry, 6'10" 230, 1985–89 C: Jay Bilas, 6'8" 240, 1982–86
PG: Tommy Amaker, 6'0" 155, 1983–87 PG: Quin Snyder, 6'3" 182, 1985–89
SG: Johnny Dawkins, 6'2" 170, 1982–86 SG: Vince Taylor, 6'5" 180, 1978–82
THE 1990s
Coach of the Decade—Mike Krzyzewski, 1980–Current. Two National Championships and Five Final Fours in '90s Decade.
Player of the Decade—Christian Laettner, 1992 National Player of the Year. Runner–Up: Grant Hill, 1994 National Player of the Year.
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
PF: Roshown McCleod, 6'8" 220, 1996–98 PF: Antonio Lang, 6'8" 210, 1990–94
SF: Grant Hill, 6'8" 215, 1990–94 SF: Brian Davis, 6'7" 215, 1988–92
C: Christian Laettner, 6'11" 230, 1988–92 C: Elton Brand, 6'8" 260, 1997–99
PG: Bobby Hurley, 6'1" 168, 1989–93 PG: S. Wojciechowski, 5'11" 180,'94-'98
SG: Trajan Langdon, 6'4" 195, 1995–99 SG: Jeff Capel, 6'5" 195, 1993–97
21st CENTURY
Coach of the Decade—Mike Krzyzewski, 1980–Current. One National Championship and two Final Fours in the decade, so far.
Player of the Decade—Shane Battier, 2001 National Player of the Year, three–time National Defensive Player of the Year. Runner–Up: Jay Williams, 2001 (shared w/ Battier) and 2002 National Player of the Year.
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
PF: Shane Battier, 6'8" 220, 1997–01 PF: Luol Deng, 6'8" 220, 2003–04
SF: Chris Carrawell, 6'6" 217, 1996–00 SF: Mike Dunleavy Jr., 6'9" 220 '99–02
C: Shelden Williams, 6'9" 260, 2002–06 C: Carlos Boozer, 6'9" 265, 1999–02
PG: Chris Duhon, 6'1" 190, 2000–2004 PG: Sean Dockery, 6'2" 185, 2002–06
SG: Jay Williams, 6'2" 196, 1999–02 SG: J.J. Redick, 6'4" 190, 2002–06
A point of clarification is in order here. These are all players I have watched play either in person or on television. I do not use any professional basketball experience—this is a ranking of how the players performed at Duke.
An issue of some concern is the situation where players appear to be of equal ability such as Mike Gminski and Randy Denton, Chris Carrawell and Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Shelden Williams and Carlos Boozer.
I give the heavier weight to Shelden's three National Defensive Player of the Year awards, Carrawell's ACC Player Of The Year Award, and Gminski the tiny edge over a statistically superior Denton because of his three time All-American status to big Randy's once. All three were tough calls, and I respect the performances of all six players.
Another item must be addressed. The players are positioned by where they played at Duke. Example, Elton Brand played center during his career at Duke, so he is listed as a center. Where he plays in the NBA or what position he could play in college is irrelevant.
In addition, let's get one thing straight: Johnny Dawkins and Jay Williams, as great as they were, were not point guards.
Both tried to play the position as freshmen. However, after Tommy Amaker came on the scene and took over the point in Dawkins' sophomore season is when Johnny was able to move to his natural two guard position and excel to the best of his ability, leading to National Player of the Year honors. Likewise with Chris Duhon and Jay Williams in Jay's sophomore season.
For this reason, I force the players to compete at the position they played instead of trying to just load up all the best players and say, "They could have played that way." They didn't, and so we don't do use those phony lineups just for the sake of name recognition.
Finally, no one appreciates J.J. Redick more than I do. However, despite his accomplishments, including National Player of the Year and All-Time scorer at Duke, these do not outweigh the multiple National Player of the Year Awards of Jay Williams and the collective National Player of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year awards of Shane Battier when ranking the two best players of the 21st century.
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about 1 month ago
Thank god Greg Paulus isn't on there! Great article!
from about 1 month ago
Travis, thanks for the comment. I understand the frustration. Paulus is a nice shooter but due to injuries and other circumstances he isn't up to being on a team where J.J. Redick is 2nd string for the decade as the shooting guard.
Some thought was given to his first three seasons as a point guard but, his defensive performance keeps him from being in front of a healthy Dockery. I acknowledge that Doc and Greg played together in 2005-06 but that was a shadow Dockery, having been the victim of a devastating injury the previous year. Doc was there as a heroic helper in his senior season to provide moral support for the freshman Paulus. Likewise, a gallant Paulus is supporting young Smith this season.
It could be time for Chris Collins to move on and become a headcoach. Chris' backcourt mate at Duke, Jeff Capel, has built a powerhouse out at Oklahoma and will challenge for the National Championship this season. If this happens, you could see Greg Paulus as a member of the coaching staff at Duke. You know how Mike likes to stay in the family.
from about 1 month ago
I disagree. Paulus will be a surefire Hall-of-Famer after a terrific 15-year career in the NBA ;)
Then, he might consider joining Coach K on the bench after he retires.
about 1 month ago
I just find it incredible that you do not have J.J. Redick on the first team when he is the all time scoring leader at Duke and ACC
from 24 days ago
Incredible but true. Jayson Williams is a superior player to Redick. The multiple national player of the year awards and national championship of Williams place Williams above Redick as the shooting guard of the 21st century without any debate, although we do give Redick credit for being the all–time scorer.
I have very little use for all–time scorer status at any level. That has more to do with the unbalanced lineup and desperation of the team to generate offense than true stardom. Art Heyman and Dick Groat are not the current alltime scoring leaders at Duke but, they are the two greatest basketball players of all–time who have ever played there.
Statistical scoring can be surpassed, greatness has no boundry.
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