Favorite Duke players

[skysdad]

This is for those of us who can't hold it to five.

1. Jim Spanarkel
2. Mike Gminski
3. Gene Banks
4. Grant Hill
5. Marshall Plumlee
6. Art Heyman
7. Bob Verga
8. Mike Lewis
9. Randy Denton
10. Dick Devenzio
11. Bob Fleisher
12. Tate Armstrong
13. Billy King
14. Johnny Dawkins
15. Mark Alarie
16. Danny Ferry
17. Christian Laettner
18. Tony Lang
19. Shane Battier
20. J.J. Redick
21. Wojo
22. Kyle Singler
23. Vince Taylor
24. Bobby Hurley

OFC

 

[Dattier]

This is for those of us who can't hold it to five.

1. Jim Spanarkel
2. Mike Gminski
3. Gene Banks*
4. Grant Hill
5. Marshall Plumlee
6. Art Heyman
7. Bob Verga
8. Mike Lewis
9. Randy Denton
10. Dick Devenzio*
11. Bob Fleisher*
12. Tate Armstrong*******
13. Billy King
14. Johnny Dawkins
15. Mark Alarie
16. Danny Ferry
17. Christian Laettner
18. Tony Lang
19. Shane Battier
20. J.J. Redick
21. Wojo
22. Kyle Singler
23. Vince Taylor*

OFC

Johnny Dawkins' freshman year is the earliest Duke team I remember. (Danny Meagher overlapped by at least one year, right? B/c I remember him, too, in particular hitting his head on the backboard following a dunk, due more to his wildman recklessness than to off-the-charts athleticism and jumping.) I never saw any of the guys in bold play. I've seen some highlights of Gminski, Banks, and Heyman, but that's it.

K has us all pretty well conditioned to accept positionless players, but it's an old habit... What would you call the guys w/ asterisks, by position? I know Gminski, Lewis, and Denton were centers; Heyman was a PF; Verga and Spanarkel were 2s, right, w/ Verga playing some point? I'm under the impression Banks was more an under-sized 4 than an actual 3, yeah? And the rest, I don't know, really. I've looked into Armstrong fairly recently, and still couldn't really figure out what position he was, hence the extra asterisks.

And I don't know what it is, but I have very little memory of either Ferry or Lang. I have no explanation for this.

 

[Dattier]

If I'm not limited to 5, my list looks a little something like this, approximately chronologically...
Meagher
Dawkins
Alarie
D Henderson
Amaker
B King
Abdelnaaby
Laet
B Davis
Hurley
T Hill
Grant
Wojo
Brand
C-well
Shane
Nate
JJ
Dock
Melchionni
McClure
Scheyer
Zoubs
Nolan
Kyle
Kyrie
R Kelly
T Thornton
Quinn
Tyus
Justise
Marshall
Amile
Grayson
BI

A couple extras might have slipped in b/c I was thinking through it year-by-year, and some guys probably got left off for missing the tying FT vs IU, missing the winning put-back against IU, and leaving early w/o any advance warning after losing to IU.

 

[topps coach]

my favorites 1 Verga 2 Laettner 3 Denton 4 Jason Williams 5 Hurley.Really hard to get just five

 

[hailtoyourvictor]

As a Michigan fan, I'm morally obligated to not pick anyone from the '92 team.

As a Pistons fan, I'm morally obligated to not pick Winslow.


I'm going to go with Reddick. I've really come to appreciate players who can move well without the ball and Reddick was as good as it gets tat that.

 

[crazyduke3]

Kyle. So tough. So gritty and so talented. No year goes by that I Don't regret not appreciating his defense he brought. I miss it every year. Played more minutes than any duke player ever. Did every thing K asked him always, whether it was playing like a 2 or a 5. Fought his guts off and loved Duke. 4 years and FF MOP. The king.

 

[LTDukeFan]

This is for those of us who can't hold it to five.

1. Jim Spanarkel
2. Mike Gminski
3. Gene Banks
4. Grant Hill
5. Marshall Plumlee
6. Art Heyman
7. Bob Verga
8. Mike Lewis
9. Randy Denton
10. Dick Devenzio
11. Bob Fleisher
12. Tate Armstrong
13. Billy King
14. Johnny Dawkins
15. Mark Alarie
16. Danny Ferry
17. Christian Laettner
18. Tony Lang
19. Shane Battier
20. J.J. Redick
21. Wojo
22. Kyle Singler
23. Vince Taylor

OFC

Is Hurley really not on your list?

 

[LTDukeFan]

Hurley.

 

[spike05rk]

Sky I will just go with your list. OFC

 

[skysdad]

Is Hurley really not on your list?

Danged how did I miss that. He came close to my top five. Real close. I'll have to edit that. OFC

 

[LTDukeFan]

Danged how did I miss that. He came close to my top five. Real close. I'll have to edit that. OFC

I couldn't see you not having him on your list.