Duke Basketball: 10 Blue Devil Hoops Records That Are Safe in 2012-13

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In a program like Duke men's basketball, the record book reads like a who's who of college hoops. As you move from one category to the next, it's easy to recall one outstanding player after another.

For some programs, most of their records were set in one "golden era." The Blue Devils have had an uninterrupted string of top-level players for the last three decades.

This coming season's Duke squad will be talented and deep, but I don't know how many of the school's records are in jeopardy.

Here are 10 that are most likely safe.

Special thanks to the 2011-12 Duke men's basketball media guide for the info!

Minutes Played

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Jon Scheyer was a playing-time marathon man. In 2010, Scheyer logged 1,470 minutes in 40 games.

That's 36.8 mpg.

This past year, Austin Rivers (33.2) and Seth Curry (30.2) were the only Blue Devils who were on the court for more than 30 minutes per game.

Coach K has always given his top players substantial minutes.

But with a strong returning cast this season, and added depth that comes with incoming freshmen Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson, and redshirt freshmen Marshall Plumlee and Alex Murphy, it is possible that none of this year's team will average much more than 30 minutes per game.

Blocked Shots

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Shelden Williams was a Blue Devil beast.

His size (6'9", 250 pounds), aggressive style of play and shot-blocking ability earned him the nickname "The Landlord."

In 2006, he rejected 137 shots (3.81 bpg), which was No. 4 in the nation.

Williams is also the school's career shot-block leader (422).

On the contrary, the 2011-12 Blue Devils were not known for their shot-blocking prowess. In fact, as a team, they blocked one less shot (136) than Williams did in '06.

Mason Plumlee was the Blue Devils' leading shot-blocker from this past season, throwing back 55 shots (1.6 bpg).

'Nuf said?

Steals

Jim Spanarkel was a multi-skilled player who was Duke's first 2,000-point scorer.

He set the Blue Devil standard for steals per game (2.74 spg). His mark (92), set in 1978, has stood for 34 seasons.

Last year, Duke's top two steals leaders, Seth Curry (43) and Austin Rivers (33), had 16 less combined than Spanarkel did by himself in '78.

Curry would have to more than double his steals output this year to come close to matching the 6'5" wing from Jersey City.

Not gonna happen.

Rebounds

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Before making this list, if you would have asked me to guess who was Duke's single-season rebounding average leader, I would have guessed either Shelden Williams, Mike Gminski or Christian Laettner.

But little did I know that Bernie Janicki set the record (15.9 rpg) in 1952.

In one game, the 6'3" forward from Ambridge, Pa., pulled down 31 caroms, also a school record.

Mason Plumlee is by far the best returning rebounder on this year's Blue Devil team.

Last year, the 6'10" post pulled down 9.2 boards. Ryan Kelly had the second most, with 5.4 rpg.

Together, they don't combine to knock Janicki off the top rebounding spot.

Offensive Rebounds

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Brian Zoubek had two roles on Duke's 2010 NCAA championship team: defense and rebounding.

Zoubek had serious offensive rebounding skills. In 2010, Z averaged 3.6 offensive rebounds (143 total). That's even more impressive when you consider that he only played 18.7 minutes per game.

Mason Plumlee is the best Blue Devil on the offensive glass, pulling down 2.9 orpg (99 total) last season.

While this may be the most reachable of the goals that are on this list, I think that Zoubek's standing in the school's record book is secure.

Assists

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Bobby Hurley was the best point guard in Duke men's basketball history.

With him in charge, the Blue Devils went to the Final Four three times, and he led them to back-to-back national championships in 1991 and 1992

Hurley owns just about every playmaking record, including the assists per game mark (8.2 in 1993).

One of the big questions for this coming year's team is "Who is going to run the show?"

Even if you add up all three of Duke's returning backcourt players' (Seth Curry, Quinn Cook and Tyler Thornton) assists numbers from last year (6.3 apg), you still fall short of Hurley's mark by almost two assists per game.

Charges Taken

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Has there been anyone who has been known more for taking a charge than Shane Battier?

He has been frustrating reckless ball-handlers for a long time.

Back in 1999, the talented wing "took it like a man" 36 times. Over his four years at Duke, Battier took an unbelievable 111 charges.

I couldn't find actual charges-taken stats for the current team. I will say that there is no way that this record will be broken by any one player or even the entire Duke team in the coming season.

Made FGs

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Johnny Dawkins, Duke's No. 2 all-time scorer, put in 2,556 points over his four-year Blue Devil career.

He shot a combined 50.8 percent for his career, outstanding for a backcourt player.

In his senior year (the 1985-86 season), Dawkins made 331 field goals.

To compare, Austin Rivers, Duke's leading scorer from last year, connected on 174 field goals.

If you add Seth Curry's made shots, you still are only at 315.

For further comparison, Creighton's Doug McDermott was the nation's leader last year with 293 made FGs, and he scored 23.2 ppg.

In this three-point shot era, it's not likely that this record is going to be broken any time soon.

Field Goal Percentage

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Very few college players' resumes compare with Christian Laettner's NCAA Tournament accomplishments.

Laettner started in four consecutive Final Fours, winning two national titles and one Most Outstanding Player award.

He is the all-time postseason scoring leader (407).

Along with all of his tournament triumphs, Laettner was a standard-setter during the regular season as well.

During his freshman season, he connected on an unbelievable 72.3 percent (115 of 159) of his shots from the field.

Mason Plumlee dropped in an exceptional 57.2 percent of his shots from the floor last season.

Even if MP2 makes huge strides forward in his senior year, I'm guessing Laettner's mark still stands at the end of the season.

Scoring Average

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J.J. Redick is Duke's all-time leading scorer with 2,769 points.

He was a great three-point shooter who could bury shots from anywhere.

He not only has the highest number of total points scored, but he also has the single-season scoring average mark with 26.8 ppg in 2006.

Seth Curry (13.2 ppg) and Ryan Kelly (11.8 ppg) are the Blue Devils' top two returning scorers.

If you add their scoring averages together, you only get to 25 points per game.

It's a safe bet that nobody is going to take down J.J.'s mark in '12-13.