William Avery being added to the staff

[jimlsumner]

RE: 2000. K brought in Andre Buckner late just so JWill would have a half-way decent point guard to practice against.

Boozer waited until Brand made it official before he signed with Duke. But Will and Dunleavy signed with Duke in the fall under the assumption that Avery and Maggette would be back. Now, that 1999-2000 team was awfully then so even if Maggette and Avery return, it's still and eight-man rotation, albeit one awfully skewed towards perimeter players.

And remember Avery and Langdon were the only real guards on that 1998-'99 team. Remember when Avery fouled out late against St. John's? Carrawell moved to point and lead Duke to an overtime win.

 

[timo0402]

RE: 2000. K brought in Andre Buckner late just so JWill would have a half-way decent point guard to practice against.

Boozer waited until Brand made it official before he signed with Duke. But Will and Dunleavy signed with Duke in the fall under the assumption that Avery and Maggette would be back. Now, that 1999-2000 team was awfully then so even if Maggette and Avery return, it's still and eight-man rotation, albeit one awfully skewed towards perimeter players.

And remember Avery and Langdon were the only real guards on that 1998-'99 team. Remember when Avery fouled out late against St. John's? Carrawell moved to point and lead Duke to an overtime win.

Thanks Jim!

 

[christophero]

Providence took us out in the second round I think. I remember Carrawell crying and coach K hugging him.

 

[jamsession3]

Exactly, JW was thrown into the fire right away. His first two games (going off pure memory here) he struggled mightily but it probably helped him in the long run.

I do agree with you in terms of Dunleavy though. He could have been limited if Corey came back.

I think Mike had a bout with mono as well...limited.

 

[jamsession3]

RE: 2000. K brought in Andre Buckner late just so JWill would have a half-way decent point guard to practice against.

Boozer waited until Brand made it official before he signed with Duke. But Will and Dunleavy signed with Duke in the fall under the assumption that Avery and Maggette would be back. Now, that 1999-2000 team was awfully then so even if Maggette and Avery return, it's still and eight-man rotation, albeit one awfully skewed towards perimeter players.

And remember Avery and Langdon were the only real guards on that 1998-'99 team. Remember when Avery fouled out late against St. John's? Carrawell moved to point and lead Duke to an overtime win.

That team was athletic...

 

[Devilinside]

Would he and Avery battled for the ball? Who would Coach K side with?

Jay would have been starting at either guard position. Just look at his freshman year stats. Truly amazing. OFC

 

[christophero]

I was going to mention the Dunleavy mono thing. He didn't seem physically ready for the big time until his second year. You could see the talent.

 

[Alaskan_Assassin_21]

First time I remember thinking - wow neutrals actually think we are cool and are rooting for us

 

[jamsession3]

First time I remember thinking - wow neutrals actually think we are cool and are rooting for us

That was a special team...

 

[dukesince91]

I was going to mention the Dunleavy mono thing. He didn't seem physically ready for the big time until his second year. You could see the talent.

I had mono while I was playing football in college. They wouldn’t let me play because my spleen was swollen and it could rupture if I was hit around it. I also lost about 20 pounds. If he had mono, he wouldn’t feel normal until at least 6 months later.

 

[christophero]

That Brand, Battier and Avery class turned things around quickly. Suddenly we were more athletic than anyone else.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

That Brand, Battier and Avery class turned things around quickly. Suddenly we were more athletic than anyone else.

It is crazy how talented and athletic we were from 1999-2004. I know how hard it is to cut down the nets, but 1 title during that period feels low. The Vegas O/U would probably be 1.5 IMO.

 

[christophero]

Brand is my favorite Duke player ever. I still think we might have won in 98 if he wasn't injured. He came back, but he was not the same after breaking his foot. That Brand, Wojo, Battier, Avery, Langdon, Carrawell, James, McCloud team was pretty good.

 

[Mac9192]

We lost in 99 for a couple reasons. First, we didn’t have enough experience, UConn did.
Our top eight were 1 freshman, 5 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 senior.
UConn was 3 sophomores, 3 juniors and 2 seniors.

The other was motivation. See Duke in 91 vs UNLV.

 

[christophero]

I blame Burgess lol. Seriously we needed more out of him. He was a top 5 recruit.
And yes, U Conn was a bad matchup for us. They were number 1 for about a third of the season.
tried watching that game again but only made it halftime. It just didn't seem like our night.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

Eh I think when it’s the title game that the quantity of juniors and seniors you have versus sophomores/freshman is irrelevant in a 1 game sample. Definitely need a leader, and I’m not sure who that leader actually was, Battier was too young. We played tight, we let off the gas and didn’t finish the job. Brand wasn’t Superman that night, and every loose ball and call seemed to go UCONNs way. But we got to the final game, which is what I always worry about with a young team (an early upset.) The 2015 title game every second half point was scored by a freshman.

Now motivation, I think UCONN had tons of that. We were a 9.5 point favorite I believe (the biggest ever, until this years title game.) We thought we had it won before the game tipped off.

 

[Mac9192]

Yeah it’s impressive that the 2015 team’s 2nd half points were all scored by freshmen, when comparing 99 to 15. But you’re comparing two different eras. A few years later, Brand is one and done.

I think Duke was tight because of our youth, and lack of a leader, and UConn was more experienced and motivated. That’s why Duke lost that night, imo.

 

[timritterus]

Wasn't Langdon a decent leader?

 

[Mac9192]

Wasn't Langdon a decent leader?

He was a solid shooter, and a good teammate, but I don’t think his name comes up when leaders are mentioned.

Of course, had we won that night, maybe he gets mentioned like Cook does.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

Wasn't Langdon a decent leader?

He was the oldest. Was he very vocal? I honestly don’t recall, I’ve killed way too many brain cells over the past 25 years.

 

[christophero]

It's hard to say what went wrong. I guess that team was a little young. Even Brand missed a good chunk of his freshman year, and Battier and Carrawell were a year away from being true impact players. Maggette was spectacular, but also inconsistent. Avery had a great year, but Moore seemed to have his number having played with him in high school. We also lost to a very good veteran team.

 

[jamsession3]

I blame Burgess lol. Seriously we needed more out of him. He was a top 5 recruit.
And yes, U Conn was a bad matchup for us. They were number 1 for about a third of the season.
tried watching that game again but only made it halftime. It just didn't seem like our night.

Burgess didn't play enough and he was not ready. We needed that second BIG.

 

[smashmouth5]

Remember Langdon being drafted by MLB out of high school. Wasn't he a 5th year SR in that title game? He's done well for himself. Hard to believe how much time has passed since that game.

 

[jamsession3]

Remember Langdon being drafted by MLB out of high school. Wasn't he a 5th year SR in that title game? He's done well for himself. Hard to believe how much time has passed since that game.

Yes, he redshirt a year. He was in the Wojo, Price and Todd Singleton class.

 

[Alaskan_Assassin_21]

Avery had a strong 3point shot. Along with much of that lineup.

1998 vs Kentucky was my original heartbrake.

But he couldn't defend. So it was Wojo trying to slow Kentucky's Turner. He torched us. Epic game though with big buckets late. They deserved the Win.

Roshown McLeod's goodbye

 

[Alaskan_Assassin_21]

Battier
Carrawell

 

[Alaskan_Assassin_21]

Hold me 1 last time

 

[jamsession3]

Wasn't Langdon a decent leader?

Good Leader!

 

[jamsession3]

Hold me 1 last time

Tubby coached his A#@ off that game. Wouldn't let Coach K regroup. He trusted his players.

 

[LetsGoDuke83]

99 was the worst loss ever for me, even worse than the ff loss vs unc. As a teen I was DEVASTATED

 

[christophero]

The Kentucky and U Conn games were two brutal ways to go out, considering our talent. Thank God for 2001.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

I’m of the opinion that the 1999 team is the best Duke team ever. Undefeated in ACC play, still hold the record (and it’ll never be broken) for largest average margin of victory in ACC games. 1 loss all year until the title game disaster. We won our Elite 8 game that year by 21 and it could have been 40. That was the end of a great era where we had the top recruits, AND the top recruits stayed multiple years.

The 1999 title game is the most painful loss ever for me.
1998 Kentucky, 2002 Indiana, and the 2004 UCONN (refs) are right behind. Crazy how all that pain happened in such a short stint.
1994 Arkansas title game loss stung too, but I was fairly young and I thought that Duke team overachieved anyway.
2011 Kyrie year, if he doesn’t get hurt then I think we rolled all season. 2018 Kansas: Wendell’s feet were set. And the 2019 Zion year: though the seeds were planted as we had already had some close calls.

I don’t acknowledge 2022 so I don’t know anything about a FF loss to the cheats.

 

[christophero]

2002 wasn't bad for me as we won the year before. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't devastated either.

 

[Mac9192]

Hard to put any team over the 92 one. Yeah, it still hurts that we didn't win it in 99. As it does in 86. They are two of the best teams ever. Honestly though, I'm not so sure I'd put the 99 bunch over the 01 squad.

Other than Brand, what position can we say was definitely better in 99 over the 01 team? And Boozer was no slouch. Plus, 01 had a senior Battier, who is probably the greatest leader to ever play for Duke.

 

[christophero]

Avery and Langdon were probably as good as J Will and Duhon, at least in college. Carrawell and Dunleavy about even. J Will had more highs than Avery, but Avery was more consistent.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

Hard to put any team over the 92 one. Yeah, it still hurts that we didn't win it in 99. As it does in 86. They are two of the best teams ever. Honestly though, I'm not so sure I'd put the 99 bunch over the 01 squad.

Other than Brand, what position can we say was definitely better in 99 over the 01 team? And Boozer was no slouch. Plus, 01 had a senior Battier, who is probably the greatest leader to ever play for Duke.

I would say Trajan Langdon at SG was definitely better than the combo of James/Duhon. James started 29 games in 01, freshman Duhon started 10. This is assuming J Will was the PG.

Avery/Jwill: 01 easy
Langdon/Duhon: 99 easy
Carrawell/Dunleavy: 01, fairly close
Battier/Battier: 01 due to age
Brand/Boozer: 99 easy

99 had the far superior bench with Maggette.

It’s close no doubt. But 01 had 3 ACC losses, including home losses to UNC and Maryland.
99 had ONE ACC GAME DECIDED BY SINGLE DIGITS. And it was a 8 point win at GT. Holy hell, I just looked that up and can’t believe it’s true.

IMO when it comes to sheer dominance. 99 was head and shoulders above the field. The 2001 team lived/died by the 3 as they shot 27 3s a game. Which is insane for 20+ years ago. Don’t get me wrong; they went in a lot. And the 2001 team had a senior Battier, so end of game execution was always spot on. But, If the 1999 team plays it’s A game, they beat 2001 pretty easily.

 

[Mac9192]

But, If the 1999 team plays it’s A game, they beat 2001 pretty easily.

You're building the 99 team up to mythical status, and you're shortchanging a really good 01 team.

 

[christophero]

99 was definitely more dominant, but you have to seal the deal. The 99 team went to Maryland and won by 30.