ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

Who's the best player in Duke basketball history?

by Ted Bauer

FOR BEST DUKE PLAYER EVER, WE'LL TAKE CHRISTIAN LAETTNER

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Thinking about the NCAA Tournament games on Thursday, and while Memphis/Missouri could be super fun as a fan, the real standout is probably Duke vs. Villanova. 'Nova: very similar program to Duke, so much so that you could argue Jay Wright used Coach K as a model (No. 2 to Rollie, naitch). You can say whatcha like about Coach K—personally, we think he's great but the floor slapping stuff needs to be reined in a little, ya know?—but he has built quite a brand down in Durham over the past three decades. Begs the question: even though Duke isn't necessarily about the individual, and even though most people love to say "Duke players flop in the pros," well…who is the best Blue Devil hoopster ever? Here now: an investigation.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (10)	CHRISTIAN LAETTNER	Again, say whatcha like about Laettner as the model for "limited pro success for Dookies," but man, what a college career this dude had. He hit "The Shot," he helped defeat an almost-unbeatable UNLV team, he won two titles, and he nabbed scores of individual awards. This seems only fair. Thoughts? E-mail us.
	2 (35)	JOHNNY DAWKINS	Dude was a straight baller in college, and frankly, if it weren't for Pervis Ellison, he'd have a ring to show for it too. Here's the thing we always wondered about Dawkins: he's a DC kid, right? He passed up the Georgetown job when it eventually went to JTIII, so at the time, we figured "Coach K gave him a timeline for when the Duke program is his." But then he went and took the Stanford job? So does that mean Coach K is sticking around for like, 10 more years? Is he trying to pass his man Bobby Knight? Curiouser and curiouser.
	3 (62)	ART HEYMAN	People forget this guy because he was there before K was the coach. In three seasons in the early 1960s, he averaged over 25 points and 10 rebounds. That's impressive. He also won a Tournament MOP award (ha, MOP. Shouldn't it just be MVP?) when Duke lost to Loyola University Chicago.
	4 (9)	JAY WILLIAMS	Cue the peanut gallery: "He works for ESPN! You're all a bunch of homers!" Honestly, Williams was pretty amazing at Duke, and was the cornerstone of their last NCAA Championship. And hey, if you want to see a guy just pull out all the stops, watch this.
	5 (42)	SHANE BATTIER	It's possible we need to flip-flop Williams and Battier (they were both on that '01 team, and you could argue Battier was actually more important to the squad), but frankly, we're resentful that everyone loved that New York Times article on how valuable Battier is to the Rockets. It's true: he's valuable. The Rockets might actually get out of the first round this year. You know what's gonna happen if they meet the Lakers? Kobe is gonna average 35 a night in that series. End of story.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	82 (139)	BOBBY HURLEY	Played in three Final Fours, won two of 'em, and was probably the best PG in the ACC for a bit of that period.
	103 (1,870)	J.J. REDICK	We didn't want to put him here—dude never did win a ring in Durham, and most of these other guys (excepting Dawkins, who was better than Redick) did—but he sure did torch a lot of nets in the ACC. All-time leading scorer until quite recently. (You been following the news? This Hansbrough guy?) Cool, though: he writes poetry.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		CARLOS BOOZER (We could put anyone here, but Boozer's been the best pro Dookie of recent vintage, so he fits.)
		JAY BILAS (Homers? Never!)

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