Is Kentucky the Best Team in Last the 10 Years?

Everyone knows this year’s Wildcats team is absolutely filled to the brim with talent—two lottery picks and at least one more player who will go in the first round (Wall, Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, respectively). Not to mention the very effective Patrick Patterson.

A friend of mine who knows college hoops even wrote, “Kentucky is the most talented college basketball team I have ever seen.” And he may be right. But it got me thinking: Who, in my lifetime, might have been even more talented?

I thought about the great UCLA teams with the O’Bannon brothers, the Vince Carter-Antawn Jamison-Ed Cota-Shammond Williams UNC squads of the 1990s. But for me, there is really only one team that enters the discussion, and that’s the 2000-2001 Duke Blue Devils.

OK, I know this one is from 2001-2002,

but look at all the familiar faces!

Over the past 20 years, Duke has gotten a bad rap for being unathletic and generally very fun to dislike. But do you remember that renaissance between Wojo and Redick? That golden time when Duke had the horses to implement that suffocating half court man-to-man defense? When the highest flying team in the ACC resided in Durham?

Let’s look at this lineup and where the players were drafted: the unguardable point guard formerly known as Jason Williams (second overall, 2002), Mike Dunleavy Jr. (third overall, 2002), Carlos Boozer (second round, 2002), Shane Battier (sixth overall, 2001), Chris Duhon (second round, 2004), Dahntay Jones (20th overall, 2003). Whoa.

That is an absolute squad. Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer may be a step below the tandem of Wall and Cousins (although as a sophomore Williams could do it all and would have been an NBA All-Star if not for his motorcycle accident), but I’ll take that supporting cast over that of Kentucky.

You certainly can’t go wrong with either team. Put them head-to-head and I think I’d take Duke’s shooting and experience. The ultimate test will be whether Kentucky, like Duke in 2001, can earn a national championship.

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