Coach K said....

[Quavarius]

the 2010’s was one of the best decades in Duke basketball. Not too bad with all of those OADs that most fans hated, but I disagree and think it’s the 90’s but the 2010’s is second best under K followed by the 80’s and 00’s.

How would you rank the best Duke decades under K?

1. 1990’s- 2 titles, 5 FF, 6 EE
2. 2010’s- 2 titles, 2 FF, 5 EE
3. 1980’s- 3 FF, 3 EE
4. 2000’s- 1 title, 2 FF, 2 EE

 

[timo0402]

the 2010’s was one of the best decades in Duke basketball. Not too bad with all of those OADs that most fans hated, but I disagree and think it’s the 90’s but the 2010’s is second best under K followed by the 80’s and 00’s.

How would you rank the best Duke decades under K?

1. 1990’s- 2 titles, 5 FF, 6 EE
2. 2010’s- 2 titles, 2 FF, 5 EE
3. 1980’s- 3 FF, 3 EE
4. 2000’s- 1 title, 2 FF, 2 EE

I love the stretch of ACCT championships we had at the end of the 90s into the new millennium but i think I’d agree with your order.

 

[df64]

I'll take 84/85 to 93/94. 2 titles, 7 FFs, two Finals that were 1 possession losses.

 

[jwill133]

The 2000’s should have been so much better between 02, 04, and 06.

The 2002 team is the only college basketball team ever to be #1 in Ken Pom offense and defense.

 

[Quavarius]

The 2000’s should have been so much better between 02, 04, and 06.

The 2002 team is the only college basketball team ever to be #1 in Ken Pom offense and defense.

I still remember that 2002 loss in the NCAA Tournament. I still get the sads!

 

[df64]

Just think of how depressed and or furious the haters would have been if Boozer got the foul call at the end giving us the win on a last second 5 point play! Never should have lost that game.

 

[Mac9192]

The 02 loss hurts for sure. So does 04. But to me, that was our last chance. We were real lean in terms of talent until we won it in 10.
The 06 JJ/Sheldon team had no one else. There was no one to pick up the slack for JJ being off.

 

[Fourteen44]

I’m still bent about 04. That team was tough.

06 wasn’t built to be a title winner imo.

 

[dukiejay]

The 2000’s should have been so much better between 02, 04, and 06.

The 2002 team is the only college basketball team ever to be #1 in Ken Pom offense and defense.

All three of those teams, one could say, underachieved. Especially 2002. Indiana should have never been in that game. How we blew that early 29-12 lead will always make me wonder.

Hard to be down on the 2004 club....after all, they made the Final Four and lost to the preseason favorite. That said, the last three minutes of that might be the worst officiated I’ve watched as a Duke fan.

I’d agree that 2006 was a lot of J.J. and Shelden and not much else. Thing is, the NCAA was down that year, too. On paper the only team who compared to us was UConn. They also fell short of the Final Four....and actually trailed the 16-seed they played by double-digits in the second half. It wasn’t a great Duke team that season, but people forget they pretty much dominated college basketball for four full months.

 

[timo0402]

The 2000’s should have been so much better between 02, 04, and 06.

The 2002 team is the only college basketball team ever to be #1 in Ken Pom offense and defense.

I cry myself to sleep multiple nights a week about those years.

 

[timo0402]

All three of those teams, one could say, underachieved. Especially 2002. Indiana should have never been in that game. How we blew that early 29-12 lead will always make me wonder.

Hard to be down on the 2004 club....after all, they made the Final Four and lost to the preseason favorite. That said, the last three minutes of that might be the worst officiated I’ve watched as a Duke fan.

I’d agree that 2006 was a lot of J.J. and Shelden and not much else. Thing is, the NCAA was down that year, too. On paper the only team who compared to us was UConn. They also fell short of the Final Four....and actually trailed the 16-seed they played by double-digits in the second half. It wasn’t a great Duke team that season, but people forget they pretty much dominated college basketball for four full months.

You’re the only person I’d admit this too, but you might have taken the 2006 loss worse than me. I don’t want anyone to know the damage i did do the basement during that game. (Sorry mom and dad).

 

[Duke Blu]

90 title game
91 title game
92 title game
94 title game
99 title game

The 90 game wasn’t close but man what could have been if not for Scotty Thurman in 94 and Alamin in 99.

I’m going with the 90’s as the best decade.

 

[pisgah101]

I was a sophomore in high school that 06 year.. no lie I was in a depression the few days after we lost to LSU. I cried myself to sleep, slept walked through Friday at school and that evening I can vividly remember sitting in the car waiting on my mom and “bad day” came on the radio and I lost it haha. JJ was the greatest thing I had ever seen and I couldn’t stand him not winning it all

 

[DukefanKY]

The 99 title game loss is to this day the most haunting to me. I could not fathom any CHANCE we loose that game. Plus I was such a big Jason Williams fan......then came the speech from their coach that pissed me off. I seriously think that is one of those losses that if we played a 7 game series, we win it in 5.
Anyway, back to the original question. I think I agree with the order as you listed it Q.

 

[DiehardDukeFan4Life]

To me it depends on how you want to look at if. If you go by postseason success then the 90’s was Duke’s beat decade but if you go by total wins then the 2010’a was Duke’s best decade. As far as post season success in each decade Duke won 2 titles but n the 90’s Duke had more Final Fours. As far as total wins 2010’s Duke had about 30 or so more wins than 90’s Duke had. That’s probably mosh due to the 1994-95 season when Coach K only coached the first 12 games of that season. Duke was 9-3 before Coach K left to have surgery and Duke ended up 13-18 that season and in 1995-96 duke ended up 18-13. In the 90’s Duke averaged about 24 wins per season, so in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons where we finished with only 13 and 18 wins were 6 to 11 wins below our average wins per season for the decade. On the flip side Duke’s fewest wins in the 3010’s has been 25 wins. Duke’s/Coach K’s 300 wins in the 2010’s are 28% of his wins at Duke and 26.2% of his wins in his career.

 

[Quavarius]

90 title game
91 title game
92 title game
94 title game
99 title game

The 90 game wasn’t close but man what could have been if not for Scotty Thurman in 94 and Alamin in 99.

I’m going with the 90’s as the best decade.

Agreed

 

[Quavarius]

The 99 title game loss is to this day the most haunting to me. I could not fathom any CHANCE we loose that game. Plus I was such a big Jason Williams fan......then came the speech from their coach that pissed me off. I seriously think that is one of those losses that if we played a 7 game series, we win it in 5.
Anyway, back to the original question. I think I agree with the order as you listed it Q.

What speech?

 

[HuffyJB]

90 title game
91 title game
92 title game
94 title game
99 title game

The 90 game wasn’t close but man what could have been if not for Scotty Thurman in 94 and Alamin in 99.

I’m going with the 90’s as the best decade.

To play in the championship game five times in a ten year window is pretty crazy.

 

[Quavarius]

To me it depends on how you want to look at if. If you go by postseason success then the 90’s was Duke’s beat decade but if you go by total wins then the 2010’a was Duke’s best decade. As far as post season success in each decade Duke won 2 titles but n the 90’s Duke had more Final Fours. As far as total wins 2010’s Duke had about 30 or so more wins than 90’s Duke had. That’s probably mosh due to the 1994-95 season when Coach K only coached the first 12 games of that season. Duke was 9-3 before Coach K left to have surgery and Duke ended up 13-18 that season and in 1995-96 duke ended up 18-13. In the 90’s Duke averaged about 24 wins per season, so in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons where we finished with only 13 and 18 wins were 6 to 11 wins below our average wins per season for the decade. On the flip side Duke’s fewest wins in the 3010’s has been 25 wins. Duke’s/Coach K’s 300 wins in the 2010’s are 28% of his wins at Duke and 26.2% of his wins in his career.

True. Duke certainly won more games in the 2010’s compared to the 1990’s, but the 1990’s brought home more hardware on the national level. It’s certainly a different time, but those 90’s teams would dominate our 2010’s team (not shocking).

 

[Quavarius]

To play in the championship game five times in a ten year window is pretty crazy.

Very. Outside of UCLA, I don’t think that’s been done by any other team in the last 60 years.

 

[topps coach]

Lord it is good to be a Duke fan.As a fifty plus year fan never thought we would ever debate about averaging thirty wins a year or more NCAA tourney win is better

 

[Quavarius]

For a decade to be dominated by OAD’s to be one of K’s winningest and no worse than 2nd best of his tenure at Duke says a lot. The man adapted and his program still stayed in contention for national championships. Gotta give him his props while he’s still alive!

 

[Quavarius]

Lord it is good to be a Duke fan.As a fifty plus year fan never thought we would ever debate about averaging thirty wins a year or more NCAA tourney win is better

It’s Great To Be A Duke Blue Devil!

 

[crazyduke3]

Man that missed free throw by jay.


Ugh

 

[Fourteen44]

All three of those teams, one could say, underachieved. Especially 2002. Indiana should have never been in that game. How we blew that early 29-12 lead will always make me wonder.

Hard to be down on the 2004 club....after all, they made the Final Four and lost to the preseason favorite. That said, the last three minutes of that might be the worst officiated I’ve watched as a Duke fan.

I’d agree that 2006 was a lot of J.J. and Shelden and not much else. Thing is, the NCAA was down that year, too. On paper the only team who compared to us was UConn. They also fell short of the Final Four....and actually trailed the 16-seed they played by double-digits in the second half. It wasn’t a great Duke team that season, but people forget they pretty much dominated college basketball for four full months.

I’m still pissed about the 04 UConn loss...we legitimately were hosed in that game. 3 bigs fouled out while Okafor had 3 fouls. Insanity.

 

[dukiejay]

I’m still pissed about the 04 UConn loss...we legitimately were hosed in that game. 3 bigs fouled out while Okafor had 3 fouls. Insanity.

It was more how everything just flipped in that last three minutes that was so maddening. We were up eight and in control.....15 minutes later it was over. I seldom complain about officiating, but that game was just outrageous. My blood is boiling again....because I had little doubt we were going to beat Georgia Tech on Monday night.

 

[Liftee]

I think K's point about the '10s is he had to build a new team each year for a decade and didn't skip a beat (OK, maybe a couple beats, but not many). Every year we were right in the running. That's an unbelievable achievement that only the GOAT could accomplish.

 

[Fourteen44]

It was more how everything just flipped in that last three minutes that was so maddening. We were up eight and in control.....15 minutes later it was over. I seldom complain about officiating, but that game was just outrageous. My blood is boiling again....because I had little doubt we were going to beat Georgia Tech on Monday night.

Yep I remember during free throws in the second half both fanbases were chanting together “let them play....”. The refs never allowed a flow until the end after Shav and Shelden fouled out. Then they swallowed their whistles, at least until Horvath started hacking at the end....

 

[DukefanKY]

What speech?

He was addressing the students I guess maybe the next day or something. He said we kicked their ass and broke their hearts. Not really that bad, but still pissed me off!!

 

[retiredsoldier]

It was more how everything just flipped in that last three minutes that was so maddening. We were up eight and in control.....15 minutes later it was over. I seldom complain about officiating, but that game was just outrageous. My blood is boiling again....because I had little doubt we were going to beat Georgia Tech on Monday night.

I remember watching that game in a makeshift relax and recreation building we had made in Afghanistan. I remember being so freaking pissed off and just wanted to go out on patrol and wreck havoc on somebody. That along with the 99 loss is something I never got over, I just learned how to deal with it.

 

[df64]

Was so pumped in 04. 4 plus minutes left, up 12 with the ball. Said to myself: Holy shit, we are going to win this. Someone takes a 3 way early in the shot clock, misses, leading to a transition 3 by their 2 guard. Immediately had one of those uh oh moments.
Total ref screw job the last 3 minutes. Shavs last foul and Deng getting mugged on the rebound of a missed UConn FT, which led to an and 1 and the lead change. Total BS.