Open Mic: All-Time Duke Basketball Team of Coach K's Era

So I already tried this with Virginia so I thought I would try again with Duke. 

Hope you enjoy!

NOTE: Not being 100 years old or having access to lots of old footage, this list is the top players of the COACH K era which means from 1980-present.  So for those looking for men like Art Heyman, Gene Banks and Jeff Mullins you won't find them.  Even though they would all be locks for the all-time team I simply do not know enough about them to give them justice.   

PG—Johnny Dawkins

Even with other greats like Bobby Hurley, Jason Williams, and Jeff Capel this is a no-brainer.  Dawkins is an amazing point guard who was always able to make the players around him better while still finding moments to take over the game.  Dawkins finished his career with 2,556 points, which is the third highest total in the history of the ACC. 

His senior year he won the Naismith award, as well as helped lead the Blue Devils to a 37-3 (which was an NCAA-record for wins in a season at the time).  Dawkins had 555 assists sixth best in school history and nearly 200 steals.  Dawkins simply did a little bit of everything. 

Dawkins was named one of the top 50 players in ACC history and was pegged as the 78th best college basketball player of all-time according to the Sporting News magazine.  He went on to a nine year career in the NBA and became a long-time assistant at Duke before recently accepting a job at Stanford. 

Undoubtedly, Dawkins will be a favorite to take over for Coach K when retirement eventually comes, a testament to his leadership and significance to Duke Basketball.

SG—J.J. Redick

Love him or hate him, Redick had one amazing career at Duke.  Redick is probably one of the best pure shooters in the history of the game and even if he was not a lockdown defender, he shattered some records that once seemed unbreakable. 

Redick broke former Cavalier Curtis Staples' record for three-pointers in a career, Jeff Lamp's ACC record for most consecutive free throws and became the all-time leading scorer at Duke and ACC history with 2,769 points in his career. 

Redick won eight different national awards his senior year for player of the year and simply knew how to hit big shots when it mattered.  The truth is that teams had to plan against Redick and most of the time that could never really stop him.

Redick will be remembered by Duke-haters for not being able to win a national championship, but he still led his team to a 112-23 and three ACC tournament titles. 

I think most teams will take that any day.

SF—Grant Hill

It's hard not to like Grant Hill.  As much as everyone remembers Laettner's miracle shot against Kentucky, it was Hill who made the equally impressive 75-foot pass that most Duke quarterbacks may not have been able to make. 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?